Morality In The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments represent a basic framework for understanding morality. Without the guidance of the Ten Commandments, morality would be purely relative to an individual or culture. The Commandments, however, were given as part of a broader covenant agreement between God and the nation of Israel. No other nation in history has the type of covenant relationship that Israel had with God. Consequently, Christians, nor the United States, are not under the same law as the Israelites.

The Decalogue in the Old Testament (Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5) is part of broader context of 613 laws that Israel was to obey to live in the land God had promised them. The laws God gave to Moses established the Old Covenant for the nation of Israel. This Covenant

This position is justified by dividing the Law into three parts: moral, civil, and ceremonial. The moral aspects of the Law, it is claimed, have been reaffirmed in the New Testament and, therefore, are still valid. Unfortunately, as Arnold and Beyer (2015) point out, “this division into moral, civil, and ceremonial law was unknown in Jesus’s day” (p. 98). Consequently, when the New Testament writers teach that Christians are no longer under the Law, they include the moral aspects of the Law, not only the civil and

Paul explains to Timothy, “We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers” (1 Timothy 1: 8-9, NIV). Paul’s statement suggests a proper use of the Law and implies an improper use. An improper use of the Law, as has already been discussed, is to live under it. In making his argument that Christians are no longer under the Law, Paul asks the question, “What, then, was the purpose of the law?” (Galatians 3:19, NIV). Paul’s immediate answer is, “It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come” (Galatians 3:19, NIV). The meaning of this text is somewhat obscure, but Paul clarifies the two reasons for the Law alluded to here. First, the Law reveals sin: “I would not have known what sin was except through the law” (Romans 7:7, NIV). In other words, the Law was given “in order that sin might be recognized as sin” (Romans 7:13, NIV, cf. Romans 3:20). Second, the Law was given to point people to Jesus Christ: “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24, NIV). Clowney (2013) clarifies that the Law “shows what God’s righteousness requires, and therefore show us that we cannot satisfy God’s just demands. We need Christ to save us from the curse of the law by bearing its penalty for us (Gal. 3:10-14)” (p. 108). Consequently,