10 Commandments

QUESTION: 10 Commandments - Where did we get them?

ANSWER:

There are controversies and court cases regarding the 10 commandments, but few people really understand the story behind the commandments. God gave us the 10 Commandments as a guideline for daily living.

The 10 commandments are presented twice in the Bible - the first in Exodus 20 and then again in Deuteronomy 5. The versions are almost identical to one another. God gave many laws in the Old Testament, but the 10 commandments are the only laws that were actually spoken by God Himself. In fact, God wrote these laws on tablets of stone. Deuteronomy 10:4 says, "The LORD wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments he had proclaimed to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me."

Exodus 31:18 says, "When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God."

Even though God declared the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai over 3000 years ago, these commandment are still relevant today. They originated from God and their moral value cannot change.

Unger's Bible Dictionary says, "That the Ten Commandments contain the essential principles of the moral law, and are therefore of permanent obligation, is affirmed in the NT [New Testament]. Jesus held the Ten Commandments up as the perfect code. When the young man asked Him the way of attaining eternal life, Jesus quoted from the Ten Commandments and told him to obey them and live (Mark 10:19; Luke 18:18-20).

Jesus summed up the law this way: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:37-40).

Nelson's Bible Dictionary says, "The Ten Commandments are still relevant today. The world desperately needs to see the name and character of God displayed in the lives of Christians who still take His Word seriously. These Commandments, particularly coupled with the teachings of Christ, are still the best guidelines for practical daily living known to man."