Why do we follow the 10 commandments?

[sirach2v4]

I was told growing up that Christians are no longer under the Law of Moses, since we are now under Christ’s grace. We no longer follow the laws given to the Israelites in the Old testament. So why do we follow the 10 commandments? Are they not from the Law of the Old Testament, as given to the Israelites?
Just curious. Can someone explain this to me?

Someone has already done this (on a general level):

ewtn.com/library/CURIA/PBCJWSCR.HTM

The cultic practices like circumcision and dietary laws have been superceded by the NT but the laws of love, like the Decalogue (ten words) remain or have been expanded in the NT.

The attitude of the NT is that even the 10 commandments are for those who need them, who do not live with the law of love in their heart. But, of all the OT, we surely need to observe the 10 commandments.

 

[ngill09]

The 10 Commandments are based on the morals of Natural Law, which are forever binding. These are laws that are laid on the hearts of all men (some just ignore them). So, the 10 Commandments are just as valid today as they are back then. They are God’s laws, instead of Jewish laws. All of the Jewish laws (circumcision, eating kosher, etc.) are no longer binding because Christ fulfilled the Old Law (referring to the Jewish laws).

Also, Jesus reiterates the 10 Commandments in a simpler 2 Commandment form, which boil down to:

1. Love and worship the one true God
2. Love others as yourself

The first few of the 10 Commandments fit within the first, and the rest fit within the second.

Hope that helps.

Really? This is an extraordinary claim and makes me think you don’t know what the 10 Commandments actually are.
The first, of course, is to worship only the God of Israel, and no other. The majority of the world throughout history didn’t even know that this God existed. It is quite ridiculous to say that everyone throughout history knew “in their heart” that they were only to worship the God of Israel.

The second commandment is against graven images. Considering the prevalence and variety of such images in cultures throughout the world, it is strange to claim this as a part of natural law.

The third is against taking the Lord’s name in vain. Most people throughout history didn’t even know the Lord’s name, so that’s a bit of a wash.

The fourth is to remember the Sabbath. Is it really your claim that all peoples in all cultures intrinsically believe that they should do no work on the Sabbath?

The rest are more universal, but 6/10 is hardly a good sign.

 

[COPLAND_3]

With so many Protestant sects out there, there are many different positions among them. Some of them have sensible understanding about the Old Law and how it applies, but some are really messed up. For someone to say that we are under grace and that we are no longer bound to avoid sin such as don’t commit adultery, don’t murder, don’t bear false witness, etc., that it absolutely ridiculous. We are not under the ceremonial part of the Old Law, but the parts of the Law that concerns avoiding sin, that is the part of the Law that Christ not only fulfilled by obeying it, but also taught us to obey it not because of fear of God alone, but out of love for Him. All the obedience in the world means very little without a change of heart and obedience lived out in our lives through love. So, we should not commit murder, not because we fear hell, but because we love the Lord and want to be more like Jesus. We shall keep the Lord’s Day holy, not because we fear hell, but because we love God!

 

[Jim_Baur]

Because they flow forth from the “heart” of God.

Taste and see His Goodness!

Or as Jesus said: “My Food is to do the Will of My Father.”

They are a part of Life’s Tree!

Compare the two trees: the Life’s Tree or the Fruits of the Flesh in Galatians 5. 50 ff
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” This is the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Now the Fruit of the Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
These are the Produce/Fruit of Life’s Tree.

Side note: Faith comes by hearing. The snake has no visible ears with which to hear.
Snakes, bad ones, kill by strangling (taking the breath away), or by poisoning the blood.

Let me know what you think!

 

[billcu1]

They are still commandments of God. They are natural law that can’t be undone. Jesus taught these commandments as well. He says that we should keep the commandments and love one another. Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. We can’t just completely throw out the old law.

Priez pour pape Francois

He also came to free us from the law. I asked my priest about this and he said yes 600 some old jewish laws. The law is to be written in the hearts.

 

[Semangelof]

The moral law was not abolished but fulfilled. Romans 7.

7What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”b 8But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

13Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.c For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
(continuing to Romans 8 )

1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,b God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.c And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

9You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

12Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

There is no part of the moral law that we ignore, but we do not live by it, in so much that it holds sin over us. We follow the law by faith, but we grasp hold of grace for our salvation, knowing that if we hold onto the law for salvation all grace is lost and we are convicted and suffer death. The law of sin no longer has any power through the blood of the Lamb, but it is not ignored.

Christian salvation is utterly and entirely dependent on receiving grace with a repentant heart, through the blood of Christ. The law is not ignored, the heart realizing its error repents and accepts the free gift of grace through the Lamb. Without the law there is no repentance, and without Jesus there is no grace. The two are fundamentally and irrevocably linked, and with the Lamb of God they are finally fulfilled.

As Christians we have to hold to grace with both hands. If reach for anything else we will lose grace entirely. Some use grace as an excuse to fulfill all the evils of their heart. They are not under grace, because they do not have a repentant heart. Their heart seeks evil and they desire it wholly. Our hearts, our flesh rather, seeks evil, but we deny it, refuse it, abhor it, and repent of it when we ultimately fail. One cannot be under grace and willfully and wholly desire and reach for what is against the law.

So if you see Christians who say. “Oh I can continue to lie, steal and murder because I’m free” then they are not free. We follow the law because it is good and we will to do good through the Spirit. We no longer follow it because it condemns us to death, it has no hold over us. We follow it because we love it. We are now Free to follow the law, not a slave to it.

 

[WhiteOnyx]

I am confused by some of these posts. Perhaps some of this is deeper than where I am at in my faith journey. My understanding is that Jesus did not do away with the ten commandments…however he helped us in following them by giving us two very simple ways to evaluate our hearts and actions…both involving love…love of God and neighbor. We are to look at the ten commandments in examining ourselves prior to confession. Do I have any of this wrong?

 

[fhansen]

I am confused by some of these posts. Perhaps some of this is deeper than where I am at in my faith journey. My understanding is that Jesus did not do away with the ten commandments…however he helped us in following them by giving us two very simple ways to evaluate our hearts and actions…both involving love…love of God and neighbor. We are to look at the ten commandments in examining ourselves prior to confession. Do I have any of this wrong?

Not at all. Until we, the clay, are perfected by the Divine Potter, probably sometime after this present life, the law continues to serve its original purpose of teacher as needed, showing us where sin still exists. The only other point I would make is that the New Covenant involves more then reducing the law to the two greatest commandments; it also gives us the grace to fulfill those commandments. The lesson to be learned by the Old Covenant is that man is powerless to achieve the righteousness God justly demands from us *without Him. * “Apart from Me you can do nothing”. I liked Benedict’s simple yet profound statement in Spe Salvi: “Let us put it very simply: man needs God, otherwise he remains without hope.” It takes time to learn just how true that statement is.

 

[WhiteOnyx]

Love that fhansen. Whenever I am having problems and suffering I always think that I am a pile of clay and God is sculpting me into something beautiful!

 

[John_Savage]

So, is the sabbath commandment part of the natural law or not?

 

[WhiteOnyx]

John Savage…good question because I am confused on this also. No luck on the same issue on other forums.

 

[COPLAND_3]

The Sabbath is designed to be by nature a benefit to man, to set aside work and to focus on God. It also forms a routine and habit for man, designed by God to be set aside universally, which by design makes it easily more acheivable because everyone else is suppose to have the same schedule to observe so that there is no conflicting schedules. But man has over time phased it out for the most part by greed, but the Church has kept it. The Jewish Sabbath has been adjusted by Christianity to observe the day of the Resurrection, which symbolizes a more important new creation in Christ.