Right Attitude To God's Law

“The Ten Commandments is so incomplete. There are sins that are not covered in it, such as drug abuse, gluttony, abortion, dishonoring grandparents, etc.”

"Where is the mandate to be baptized in the Ten Commandments?"

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The Letters Of The Law
The statements above are so common for preachers who avoid the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath. The Sabbath is in the middle of the Ten Commandments, and thus to avoid it is to get rid of God's Moral Law.

When I was young I never heard of a preacher that considered the Ten Commandments as literally ten precepts alone. Even at that age, I understood that it is not only the letter that one should follow but also the spirit of the law (principles behind each precept). Maybe I'm not yet exposed to those kind of teachings then.

This legalistic view of the law, strictly following every letter of the law without considering its spirit, is actually an old problem of humanity. Man always wanted to enumerate the "do's and dont's" and try to find holes in it.

This was exactly the mentality of the people when Christ came to this earth. Obeying the law became a burden to them. Consider the story of the rich young man in Matthew 19:16-30 and another story with the one "well-versed in the Law" in Matthew 22:35-40.

Young Man: “What good things should i do to have eternal life?”
Jesus: “..keep the commandments.”
Young Man: “which?”
(In Tagalog, “Alin-alin?”)

Pharisee: “Which of the commandments are the most important?”

You see? That is how most humans regarded the law. They want it to be enumerated to them, just like a checklist. But that is not what God wants us to do. God wants us to obey His law in SPIRIT and in TRUTH (John 4:23).

It is the 10th commandment that the young man disobeyed.

Exodus 20:17 "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's." KJV

Maybe somebody will ask, "Where is the 'giving of wealth to the poor' in the 10th commandment?" Yes, we cannot read it word-for-word but the essence, the spirit, the principle is there. The 10th commandment is about contentment or being satisfied.

Jesus followed the young man's way of thinking toward God's law by enumerating it for him, and immediately the young man said "All these things have I kept from my youth up..". At this very moment it is evident that the young man regarded the law in letters only.

When the young man continued with "what lack I yet?", Jesus steered his mind towards the "keeping of the law in spirit". The story tells us that the young man "had great possessions". So Jesus told the young man to "go and give your wealth to the poor", the young man was saddened.

Thus, the story tells us that giving wealth to the poor is another way of obeying the 10th commandment. If we are satisfied to the blessings that God is giving us, then don't "covet others' possessions". It means be satisfied. And the result of this is by "giving our wealth to the poor" especially if we are "in great possessions". This is how the spirit of the law works.

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The Spirit of the Law
James told us that the Moral Law should be regarded as one entity (James 2:10). The first four is about loving God, and the next six is loving co-creatures. So the Moral Law is all about love. “Love your God..and your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-40). This is the ultimate spirit of the law: LOVE.

Many said that this is the new commandment of Christ as a replacement to the Ten Commandments. But it is not.

Deut. 6:5 “Love Jehovah thy God with all your heart..”
Lev. 19:18 “..love thy neighbor as thyself”.
Lev. 19:34 “..the stranger that journeys with you..thou shall love him as thyself.”
Zech. 8:17 “..and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against your neighbor..”

These are texts from the Old Testament, and Christ connected it to the Moral Law as what we had read from Matthew chapters 19 and 22. So both in the Old and New Testament, the spirit and letters of the law are in effect.

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The Example of Jesus
Isaiah 42:21 "The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable."

Matthew 5:17-19 "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.."

Keep this in mind: Destroying or abolishing the law (Ten Commandments) is not making it honourable.

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Examples of the Godly Man Both From Old and New Testament
David: “Great peace have those who love Your law..nothing causes them to stumble..Your law is my delight. The law is perfect, converting the soul..” Ps 119:165,174; 19:7.

Paul – “the law is holy, just, and good. For I delight in the law of God.” Rom 7:12,22

James – ‘it’s the law of liberty.” James 1:25

How did they arrive in such statements if their thinking of the Moral law is that it is limited and burdensome?  The answer?

They viewed the Ten Commandments in a broader sense, not word-by-word, not as checklist, but even in its spirit. This is how God expects us to view it also.

The Purpose of Israel

Rom 3:1-2 "What advantage, then, does the Jew have, or what value is there in circumcision? There are all kinds of advantages! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the utterances of God."

Exodus 19:3-5 “..Say to the children of Israel, if thou shall hear my voice, and keep my covenant..ye shall be my own possession’..”.

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No doubt, God had chosen the Israel from the very start through Abraham (Genesis 17:4-5). God entrusted them to be the keeper of His laws and covenants. Immediately after the bondage from Egypt, God gave them instructions and ordinances for them to exist as a nation even before they entered Canaan. God does not want disharmony and lawlessness for His chosen people. From religious activities, to healthful living, to civil orderliness God gave them all they needed for them to be a nation, a model nation indeed.

These laws (moral, ceremonials, dietary, civil, etc.) were all written into a book. All of these were put in a book and was sometimes called as “laws of God” or “laws of Moses”. In matters of giving distinctions between Moral and Ceremonial laws, the Bible is very clear on that that the moral laws can be separated with the ceremonial laws. (See “Moral Law vs Ceremonial Laws”)

The giving of the Moral law to the Jews after they were moved out of Egypt does not mean that the moral law started only that time, else it would only mean that God created the world without giving standards of behavior for mankind.

Others may argue that God gave "other laws" , not the moral itself, for each generation or period of time. They believe that God gave a separate moral law for Adam and Eve, another one for Noah and his generation, for Abraham's time, for Moses' time, for the new testament era, etc. But I believe that God has one set of standards for all humanity. A trustworthy judge should not have so many standards, after all we are all one family, i.e. the humanity.

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What was God’s plan for the Jews?

Ezekiel 5:5 “.. This is Jerusalem; I HAVE SET THEM IN THE MIDST OF NATIONS, and countries are round about her..”

Why setting them in the midst of all nations?

Deuteronomy 4:6 “Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of all the peoples, that shall hear all these statutes, and say, surely this great nation is wise and understanding people.”

Isaiah 60:1-3 “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee...but Jehovah will arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And nations shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.”

Exodus 10:5-6 “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be mine own possession from among all peoples: for ALL the earth is mine. and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.

From the verses above it is clear that God had chosen the Jews to be "the light that shines among the nations", i.e. the model nation for humanity.

The other nations were not excluded in God’s plan of salvation. The choosing of the Jews is part of God’s plan for saving the fallen humanity.

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Was the keeping of the laws for the Jews ALONE?
Leviticus 17:8, 10; 20:2 Ezek 47:22; 14:7

Leviticus 19:34  "But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God."

“For every  one of the house of Israel, or of the STRANGERS THAT JOURNEY with them, that separates himself from me..I, Jehovah will answer him by myself..”

The laws were not meant for the Jews alone. They were supposedly to keep it as an example for other nations, so that even the strangers will proclaim that Jehovah is God.

Ruth, as well as Rahab and her family were some of the ‘fruits’ from the Israel’s ‘evangelization’ of the other countries. In Jonah's time, Nineveh (a gentile nation) was spared from punishment because they turned back to God. God sent Obadiah as a prophet for the Edomites, not Jews.

Read the books of Jeremiah and other minor prophets (as what they called it). You might be surprised that most of the contents of these books are warnings and admonitions to the gentile nations. And the reason why God rebuked them is that these nations did not adhere to the message of salvation; and it is all evident by their actions which were all against the universal law of God, the Ten Commandments.

If the set of the Ten Commandments were not meant for the gentile nations as well, then there's no reason for God to rebuke these nations THROUGH the prophets from His chosen nation, the Israel.

If God has separate standard of character for the gentile nations then God should use the gentiles' prophets and prophetesses in rebuking them.

The strangers were part of the blessings and curses that come from obeying or disobeying God's moral law.

Of course, there were also civil laws in the Jewish nation which were made only after they were moved out of Egypt which only apply to its citizens. As such other nations were not obligated to obey it. But the Moral law is a standard that shows God's characters and He gave it to humanity even from the very start of this world. Not a single Jew even existed then. (See The Ten Commandments Exist Even Before the Israelites)

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Israel Failed To Keep Its Promise
Israel should have acted as a role model. As such, they had the responsibilities; and some of these were the keeping of the Moral Law, observing Hygienic and Dietary laws, etc.

Time came that this entrustment of God's covenant to the Israel came to an end. See Hebrew 8:7-13. The Israel failed to hold on to their promise of keeping it.

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So whose group are now expecting by God to be the role model for this earth?


1Peter 2:9 “But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:”

Matthew 5:14, 16 “Let your light shines upon all men that they might see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

One can only show "good works" by fulfilling the moral law of God.

The Jews were chosen by God as a model. As such they were entrusted with God's standard of character, the Moral law. It is not for them alone. But since they failed in keeping their promise, God is calling us, Christians, to continue to the obedience of His Moral law. By obeying God's law, Christians are reflecting His light to this darkened world.