From the "Gracevine" newsletter from Grace Lutheran Church in Thornville, Ohio, February 2024
Note: I begin this month a year long series on the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments: Introduction
I am the Lord your God. - Exodus 20:2 ESV
Among the many things that people associate with the Christian faith, the Ten Commandments rank high on the list. It is common to see Christian homes display replicas of the two stone tablets that God first gave to Moses in the time of the Old Testament. The Ten Commandments are certainly important, but there is some confusion about them and the role they play in Christian life. It is important to understand them properly and how they fit into our broader faith.
In the year 1528, Martin Luther took a tour of the churches in his general area. He wanted to see firsthand how life in the churches was being conducted. What he discovered shocked him. Later he wrote, “What misery I beheld.” To his dismay, he learned that most church members and even the pastors themselves knew little to nothing about the Christian faith. For many years, people had been accustomed to practicing their faith through mere ritual observance. Luther felt strongly that people should know about basic matters of the faith so that they can actively participate with understanding. To that end, in 1529 he wrote his Small Catechism and Large Catechism. Both these books are still used in Lutheran congregations today.
When Martin Luther set out to explain the Christian faith in his Small Catechism, the first thing he did was list and explain what we know as the Ten Commandments. Throughout this year of 2024, I will devote these newsletter articles to discussing each of these Commandments.
The Ten Commandments are found in two places in the Old Testament. The first is Exodus chapter 20, where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments after God led the people out of slavery in Egypt and into freedom. The Ten Commandments are repeated in Deuteronomy chapter 5.
One surprising thing is that even though everyone agrees that there are ten of these commandments, Jews and Christians themselves disagree about how exactly to number the commandments. The Bible itself provides no system of numbering, and so different groups have interpreted differently what comprises separate commandments.
For example, Lutherans and Roman Catholics number the Ten Commandments in the following way:
1. I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his workers, or his livestock, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
Most other Protestant churches, influenced by the Reformed theological perspective, number the Ten Commandments differently because they interpret the explanation of the first commandment as a separate commandment, dealing with the issue of worshipping “graven images” or “idols” rather than God Himself:
1. I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not kill.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.
Interestingly, many Jewish people number the Ten Commandments even differently than the two systems above. In the Hebrew language, the word that is translated as “commandments” (davarim) can mean “words” more generally. So, they sometimes refer to the Ten Commandments as the “Ten Words” that God spoke to His people. This is because Jews believe that the first “Word” that God spoke is not really a commandment at all, but simply a declaration:
1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
2. You shall have no other gods beside me.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not kill.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.
I have come to believe that thinking of the Ten Commandments as the “Ten Words” is helpful for us as Lutherans. Martin Luther was clear that we do not earn our salvation by obeying the Ten Commandments. In fact, we cannot, as we do not possess the ability to live up to God’s righteous standards. If we did, we would have no need for Jesus Christ to be our savior. Instead, just as God declared to the Israelite people that He had saved them from Egypt that He was their God before listing his expectations of them, we believe that God has first saved us through Jesus Christ and then gives us guidance for how to conduct ourselves.
The word “commandment” sometimes conjures negative images in our minds. Human beings do not always like rules. But we believe that the Ten Commandments are actually a precious gift from God. True, we do not earn our salvation by obeying them. But without guidance from God as we live our lives, chaos rules in our world. When these Ten Commandments are broken, there are often devastating consequences. When Martin Luther explained these commandments, he not only focused on what Christians should not do, but he explained what Christians should do in response to their faith in the God who graciously declared to us: “I am the Lord your God.”
Pr. Tom Jacobson
Note: I begin this month a year long series on the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments: Introduction
I am the Lord your God. - Exodus 20:2 ESV
Among the many things that people associate with the Christian faith, the Ten Commandments rank high on the list. It is common to see Christian homes display replicas of the two stone tablets that God first gave to Moses in the time of the Old Testament. The Ten Commandments are certainly important, but there is some confusion about them and the role they play in Christian life. It is important to understand them properly and how they fit into our broader faith.
In the year 1528, Martin Luther took a tour of the churches in his general area. He wanted to see firsthand how life in the churches was being conducted. What he discovered shocked him. Later he wrote, “What misery I beheld.” To his dismay, he learned that most church members and even the pastors themselves knew little to nothing about the Christian faith. For many years, people had been accustomed to practicing their faith through mere ritual observance. Luther felt strongly that people should know about basic matters of the faith so that they can actively participate with understanding. To that end, in 1529 he wrote his Small Catechism and Large Catechism. Both these books are still used in Lutheran congregations today.
When Martin Luther set out to explain the Christian faith in his Small Catechism, the first thing he did was list and explain what we know as the Ten Commandments. Throughout this year of 2024, I will devote these newsletter articles to discussing each of these Commandments.
The Ten Commandments are found in two places in the Old Testament. The first is Exodus chapter 20, where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments after God led the people out of slavery in Egypt and into freedom. The Ten Commandments are repeated in Deuteronomy chapter 5.
One surprising thing is that even though everyone agrees that there are ten of these commandments, Jews and Christians themselves disagree about how exactly to number the commandments. The Bible itself provides no system of numbering, and so different groups have interpreted differently what comprises separate commandments.
For example, Lutherans and Roman Catholics number the Ten Commandments in the following way:
1. I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his workers, or his livestock, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
Most other Protestant churches, influenced by the Reformed theological perspective, number the Ten Commandments differently because they interpret the explanation of the first commandment as a separate commandment, dealing with the issue of worshipping “graven images” or “idols” rather than God Himself:
1. I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not kill.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.
Interestingly, many Jewish people number the Ten Commandments even differently than the two systems above. In the Hebrew language, the word that is translated as “commandments” (davarim) can mean “words” more generally. So, they sometimes refer to the Ten Commandments as the “Ten Words” that God spoke to His people. This is because Jews believe that the first “Word” that God spoke is not really a commandment at all, but simply a declaration:
1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
2. You shall have no other gods beside me.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not kill.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.
I have come to believe that thinking of the Ten Commandments as the “Ten Words” is helpful for us as Lutherans. Martin Luther was clear that we do not earn our salvation by obeying the Ten Commandments. In fact, we cannot, as we do not possess the ability to live up to God’s righteous standards. If we did, we would have no need for Jesus Christ to be our savior. Instead, just as God declared to the Israelite people that He had saved them from Egypt that He was their God before listing his expectations of them, we believe that God has first saved us through Jesus Christ and then gives us guidance for how to conduct ourselves.
The word “commandment” sometimes conjures negative images in our minds. Human beings do not always like rules. But we believe that the Ten Commandments are actually a precious gift from God. True, we do not earn our salvation by obeying them. But without guidance from God as we live our lives, chaos rules in our world. When these Ten Commandments are broken, there are often devastating consequences. When Martin Luther explained these commandments, he not only focused on what Christians should not do, but he explained what Christians should do in response to their faith in the God who graciously declared to us: “I am the Lord your God.”
Pr. Tom Jacobson