Q: What is the law of God stated in the ten commandments?
A: You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below—you shall not bow down to them or worship them. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. You shall not covet.
Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me”
The commandments show us what is right. The commandments are the reflection of the character of a good God. When Romans 2:14-15 says “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them” the “law” written on their hearts is God’s commandments, and by his common grace all people are blessed with an underlying moral law, or conscience, derived from this law.
The commandments also tell us what is wrong. By the same virtue, his law defines for us what is forbidden in order to live a life pleasing to God. Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” When left to our own devices we are quick to choose a path of moral ruin, repeatedly in Judges it is recounted how “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” (Judges 17:6, 21:25) This is shown in sharp contrast to what the Bible recounts of “good” kings like David and Asa who the Bible says “Did what was right in the eyes of the Lord” (1 Kings 15:5, 11)
Laid out in Genesis 1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” was the first mandate God gave to man over his created order. In order to fulfill that mandate, God gave Adam one law to adhere to, Genesis 2:16 “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Adam and Eve were created perfectly, in a perfect world in perfect relationship with God. They were perfectly equipped in every way to fulfill the mandate given to them.
What we see in the giving of the ten commandments is in stark contrast to the giving of the first law. An utterly rebellious people that are no longer equipped to fulfill the mandate in any way. A people that have defiled themselves by seeking their own sovereignty, and are now constrained to slavery. Until recently physically enslaved in Egypt, but more foreboding by far, to their sinful nature. No longer in a perfect garden, but wandering through the desert, still wholly reliant on God for their provision, but now just bread and water, instead of what was once all that the earth had to provide. And yet they treat even what they miraculously receive with disdain because of the worst contrast of all, their broken relationship with God. Where once they walked in the garden with God, now they were unable, and unwilling, to even approach His mountain, lest they die, so contemptible had they become to a Holy God.
God, in his mercy, did not abandon his people however, in order that we would one day fulfill his mandate, he provided his law, that laid out a roadmap to living a righteous life.
Paul says in Romans 7:7-8 “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.” So the question arises, as he states in verse 13, “Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.” Apart from the law, we would not know that we live in sin. Sin, revealed fully through the law, brings us death, but the revelation of our sin through the law allows the opportunity for repentance and sanctification. 1 Tim 1:8-11 “Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.”
What then is our appropriate response to the commandments? First off, they should cause us to worship. When we see the commandments of God, we should be in awe of his character revealed. In his law we see righteousness revealed perfectly to a people who apart from his revelation cannot even hope to comprehend righteousness.
We see that God, even after we rebelled, unable to keep his mandate, pursued us and made a covenant with his people.
Our response to this revelation of his character, should naturally be a desire to obey. There “should” be a longing inside us to please God as he has revealed the way in which he can be pleased. Unfortunately, on our own we are unwilling and unable to obey his law.
As opposed to common grace in which we see the law written on all hearts, by his prevenient (or special) grace we see the work of the Holy Spirit on the elect by which, the law, and expressly, our inability to keep it, drives us to Christ. Romans 8:3 “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” His law should give us joy in that through it we are so much more keenly aware of our need for the saving work of Christ. Romans 7:22-25 “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”