What Are the Ten Commandments For? (Back to Basics: Revisiting the Catechism)

[This message was shared tonight as part of the Lenten midweek devotional series at Living Water Lutheran Church, Back to Basics: Revisiting the Catechism.]

Exodus 20:1-17
During these Wednesdays in Lent, we’re going back to the basics of Christian faith with Martin Luther’s Small Catechism as our guide. 

Luther wrote this catechism after he and his Reformation colleagues had visited the by then-Lutheran evangelical churches in Saxony soon after they were let go by the Roman Church. Luther and the other Reformation leaders wanted to see if the Gospel was being rightly proclaimed and the Sacraments--Holy Baptism and Holy Communion--were being rightly administered.

Luther was horrified by what they saw! He writes in the preface to the catechism, published in 1529: “[Most Christians, he said]...live like dumb brutes and irrational hogs. Now that the Gospel has come [through the Reformation], they have nicely learned to abuse all [the] freedom [of the Gospel] like experts.” 

You can’t be a Christian if you don’t know something of what the Bible teaches, what Christians believe. Apart from that, one’s Christianity may be habit or superstition, but it isn’t saving faith in Jesus Christ. 

To cast the light of God’s truth and the Gospel of new and everlasting life with God for all who repent and believe in Jesus, Luther wrote his catechism. It was composed of six chief parts, plus a table of duties for everyday tasks and living. Today, in our instruction, we tend to focus on only five of the chief parts: 

• The Ten Commandments 
• The Apostles’ Creed 
• The Lord’s Prayer 
• Holy Baptism 
• Holy Communion 

We talk about the content of the other article Luther included, one on confession, but in other contexts. Luther composed the catechism in a simple question-and-answer form and urged that believers review some section of it each day.

So, tonight, a quick overview of the Ten Commandments. (I urge you to read it for yourself this week.) 

The commandments were, of course, given by God to the people of Israel through Moses. In the Hebrew language in which the Old Testament was written, the Ten Commandments are Torah, or instruction or the way. These commandments are the ultimate expression of what theologians call God’s moral law. God gives moral laws elsewhere in the Old Testament; for example in the holiness code of Leviticus. But the Ten Commandments are the ultimate summation of God’s moral law, as valid today as when God first gave them to Moses.

There are other kinds of law in the Old Testament. Two other kinds, in fact. 

One is the ritual/sacrificial law. These are the laws and regulations surrounding the offering of sacrifices to God that include mandates on things like diet and feast days. But, of course, the need for sacrifices ended at the moment Jesus died on the cross. The New Testament book of Hebrews says, after referencing the constant sacrifices offered by priests at the Jerusalem temple that could never completely cover human sins, “But when this priest [Jesus] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God…” (Hebrews 10:10-12) While reading about Old Testament ritual / sacrificial law helps us understand Jesus, unlike the moral law, it’s no longer necessary or valid. 

The third kind of law in the Old Testament is civil law. Ancient Israel functioned as a theocracy. The civil law God lays down in the Old Testament is like the laws we have today that are administered by courts and law enforcement. Obviously, no nation on earth is a theocracy. (Even the ones that claim to be.) So, those laws, while helping us understand God’s heart, aren’t valid any longer either.

But the moral law, as we see in the Ten Commandments, is forever valid. They express God’s unchanged and unchanging will for the human race. Jesus was referring to this moral law when He said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.:” (Matthew 5:17)

Wait, you might be thinking. We’re saved by God’s grace through our faith in Jesus Christ. Why do we need the moral law? Isn’t salvation a get-out-of-hell-free card? While it is true that God’s Law can’t save us from sin or death because none of us are capable of perfectly obeying it--only Christ does that, God has given us this law for three major reasons.

First, God gives us the law as a hedge to prevent all people, Christian or otherwise, from violating God or others. The Bible says that God’s law is “written on our hearts.” Every human being, though sinful by nature, knows the difference between right and wrong. And even the evilest person, when caught in some sin will try to justify it on the basis of the moral law that we all know. 

Second, God gives us the law as a mirror to show us that we are sinners in need of the forgiveness God makes available only in Jesus Christ. When I read the Ten Commandments and know, as Jesus tells us in the New Testament, that I violate them even when I think about doing them, I realize I need Jesus as my Savior. (See here and here.) The Law as a mirror of my soul drives me to repentance and new life through submission to Jesus. 

Third, God gives us the law as a guide for Christians. In them, God instructs us on how a Christian who wants to live out their gratitude for being saved by grace through faith in Jesus, can do so. When you realize that God has saved you from eternal separation from Him, you’re ready to hear God’s will for you. In the Ten Commandments, God says, “It’s within these gracious boundaries that the blessings of life with Me are experienced.”

In The Small Catechism, Luther penetrates to the underlying meaning of the commandments God gives to the human race He loves.

For example, when explaining the Eighth Commandment, ”You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor,” Luther explains that this isn’t just about refraining from outright lies about others. “We should fear and love God,” he says, “so that we do not betray, slander, lie, or gossip about our neighbors, but defend them, speak well of them, and put the most charitable construction on all that they do.” 

He does the same thing with the Third Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” Luther shows that with Christ’s death and resurrection, every day is holy, every day is a time to honor God and receive God’s Word. “We should fear and love God,” he says, “so that we do not despise His Word and the preaching of it, but acknowledge it as holy, and gladly hear and learn it.”

Someone has pointed out that what God has given to the world is the Ten Commandments, not the Ten Suggestions. But Luther shows that every one of the commandments was given to us by God to point us to Jesus, the One Who has obeyed the Law perfectly and won salvation and new life for the rest of us who don’t keep it perfectly. 

In them, God invites us to hold a mirror to our lives and, seeing the ways in which we don’t reflect Jesus living in us, to confess our sins in Jesus’ name and be reconciled again to God. 

Over the next week, I’d like to ask you to spend a few moments each day looking at each of the eleven sections of the catechism’s explanations of the Ten Commandments and their conclusion. That means that several days, you’ll look at two sections. That’s OK; they’re really short. 

If you don’t have a copy of the catechism, let me know; I’ll order one for you. 

You can also find several versions online. 

As you look at each command and its explanation, you might want to ask God, “What do you want me to confess, Lord? What new habit do you want me to incorporate into my life today?” 

Then, thank God for the gift of Jesus Who brings forgiveness of sin to all who confess their sin and believe in Him for both forgiveness and new and everlasting life with God. 

And, no longer a dumb brute or an irrational hog, be at peace with God and yourself. More on The Small Catechism next week.

[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

"God is Love"

"God is love." God revealed this central truth about Himself in both Old and New Testament times. It's why 1 John 4:8 says, "Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love."

So, would a loving God ever describe His human children with names like wicked, fools, or stupid?

As Dave Branon points out in this piece, the loving God of the universe Who ultimately disclosed Himself in the crucified and risen Jesus, has used these names for some people.

I hope that you'll read Branon's piece, especially if your notions about what the Bible means in saying that "God is love," has created a false image of God as an indulgent grandparent who doesn't care how we defile ourselves, hurt others, or dishonor Him.

Take it from someone who has done lots of wicked, stupid, and foolish things, for which God still calls me out each day, if God didn't love you, He wouldn't call you out for sins or willful ignorance of His will.

It's when God calls us out and we dare to hear what His Word tells us about His will for human beings, that we can exercise the gift of repentance and experience a fuller relationship with Christ.

Two other passages of Scripture come to mind as I think about the tough and tender love of God that loves you just as you are, but loves you too much to leave you there.

One comes from King David, the adulterer and murderer who the Bible describes as a "man after God's own heart." David knew all about having his deeds exposed for being wicked, foolish, and stupid. Remember that David had an affair with another man's wife and then arranged to have that man murdered. For two years, David went on merrily with his life before being confronted for his sins by the prophet Nathan. David repented. Psalm 51 is his song of repentance. But, here's something he wrote for the benefit of his fellow sinners who may be less than inclined to accept God's judgment of them for wickedness, foolishness, or stupidity:

Do not be like a horse or mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.

And then there are these words, from the same New Testament book which reminds us that, "God is love." (Some of what's said in 1 John 1:8-10, will be familiar to most Lutherans, who hear words drawn from this section of Scripture regularly in our liturgy):

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

God's enduring will for the human race is laid out clearly for us in what scholars call the Mosaic Law, the Ten Commandments, here. Unlike Old Testament ritual and civil laws, the Ten Commandments are valid for all time.

They're well interpreted for us in 1 Timothy 1:8-10.

It's wicked, foolish, and stupid for us to willfully flout the law of God because doing so separates us from Him and His desire to be with us forever.

But when we confess our sins--when we acknowledge that God is right in calling us out for our sin--and seek and accept the forgiveness God freely offers in Jesus Christ, God not only forgives us, God also gives us the power of the Holy Spirit to resist our inborn inclinations to sin.

God is love!

Faith Tidtbit #54

As Christians gather to worship this coming Sunday, they'll likely remember what we call "the first Pentecost," an event that happened fifty days after Jesus' resurrection. But strictly speaking, Pentecost, or what the ancient Jews called Shavuot was already a firmly established feast day on the Jewish religious calendar.

Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Ten Commandments by God to Moses. This accounts for why in Acts 2:1-42, the New Testament passage that recounts the Jerusalem events that Christians will remember this Sunday, there were Jews from throughout the Mediterranean basin, particularly the eastern Mediterranean region, present in Jerusalem at that time. Shavuot, also known as the Festival of Weeks, is mentioned, among other places in the Old Testament scriptures, in Deuteronomy 16:16, and also was a celebration of the harvest. It was one of the three great pilgrimage festivals on the Jewish calendar, referred to as the Shlosha Regalim, along with Pesach (Passover) and Sukkot (Booths or Tents), when pious Jews would travel to the temple in Jerusalem.

The events of the first Christian Pentecost, which we'll discuss in more detail in the next few installments, couldn't have happened at a more strategic moment for spreading the message about Jesus. Jesus' first followers--disciples--were all Jewish and believed Him to be the Messiah (Anointed One in English, Christos in Greek) for whom Jews had long waited. On the first Pentecost after Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension, the disciples were empowered to tell Jews from throughout much of the known world about Jesus so that they, in turn, could carry that news back to with them to other Jews in their adopted homelands.

The term Pentecost comes from Greek, the language in which the New Testament was originally written and means fiftieth, as in fiftieth day.

More tomorrow, I hope.

Faith Tidbit #25

A third kind of law or commandment appearing in the Old Testament is the moral law. It's also sometimes called the Mosaic Law, because it was first revealed by God to Israel through Moses, in the ten commandments. The commandments appear in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. They're also explained in much Leviticus, chapters 18-20. The moral law reflects God’s will for all humanity for all time, including today.

A Troubling Encounter with Jesus

[This was shared during worship with the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, this morning.]

Mark 10:17-31
Once, my wife Ann was having some skin cancers removed at a hospital in Cincinnati. I kissed her, watched her go away, prayed for her, and then began to read a book in the surgical waiting room.

Two women walked in. One was loud, forceful, and authoritative-sounding. The other was quiet and submissive, hanging on every word from the other woman’s mouth. (And believe me, a lot of words came from her mouth!)

What became clear was that the wordy one saw herself as an expert on Christian faith and the Bible. She was instructing the other woman. Also clear was that this “instructor” noticed that in the waiting room, she had a largely captive audience, an audience with whom she was more than willing to share the benefit of all her "knowledge."

She must have gone on non-stop for about five minutes, though it seemed like thirty, when I found I was barely able to mentally tune her out and concentrate on what I’d been reading before she barged in.

But then she said something that sliced through my resistance.

“The Ten Commandments,” she told the other woman, “don’t apply to we Christians. We don’t need God’s Law!”

I still don’t know whether I was right in choosing to be polite rather than walking over to that windbag—forgive me, Jesus, but that’s what she was—and telling her, “Please be quiet, or you’re going to make that poor friend of yours as confused as you are!”

Where did she get the idea that the Ten Commandments had been rescinded because of Jesus? She certainly couldn’t have gotten it from Jesus. In today’s Gospel lesson from Mark, for example, in His conversation with the rich man who yearns for eternal life, Jesus mentions the Fifth through Eighth Commandments:

“You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness..”

Then Jesus cites the Fourth Commandment:

“Honor your father and mother.”

Sandwiched between them, Jesus also seems to amplify the proscription against stealing by saying, “You shall not defraud.”

On the bases of this passage alone, a Christian would know that the waiting room instructor was all wet. The law of the Ten Commandments still applies to Christians and to the whole world today.

You see, if you read the Bible and are paying attention, you observe that there are really three kinds of laws that God gave to the ancient Israelites in the Old Testament. (This isn’t rocket science, by the way, folks. Even I can understand it.)

The first is ritual or sacrificial law. These were laws that regulated what—be it a lamb, a dove, or a stalk of cereal--was to be sacrificed for sin, along with stipulations about things like where, when, and how.

We no longer need to offer sacrifices for our sin, though. Remember that John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, “Here is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!” And the New Testament book of Hebrews says of Jesus, “…He has appeared once for all…to remove sin by sacrifice of Himself.”

If the waiting room woman had said, “Old Testament ritual law doesn’t apply to we Christians,” I might have given her a mental standing ovation. (I wouldn't have actually stood up and said it. After all, I’m a Lutheran; I can't be too demonstrative.)

A second kind of law you see in the Old Testament is civil law. Remember, that ancient Israel wasn’t a pluralistic democracy like we have in the United States. It was a theocracy. The people were all of one religion and they were ruled by God Himself.

Ancient Israel is in the distant past, though. The civil laws that occupy much of Old Testament books like Deuteronomy, Leviticus, and Numbers no longer apply. If the waiting room woman had said that, I would have applauded her, too.

But there’s a third kind of law in the Old Testament law. It’s called the Mosaic Law, the moral law, or simply, the Ten Commandments. These are the laws God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai.

Our Gospel lesson isn’t the only time that Jesus talked about the Ten Commandments. He returned to them repeatedly, expounding on them, deepening our understanding of them.

This moral law reflects God’s will for all humanity for all time. That must be the reason why, when Martin Luther wrote The Small Catechism for families sitting around their dinner tables and The Large Catechism for clergy who were ignorant of the Bible, he started by talking about the Ten Commandments.

Yet the Ten Commandments, important as they are, cannot save us from sin, death, or futile living. In the New Testament, the Ephesian Christians were reminded that, “by grace you have been saved through faith” in Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ and not obedience to the Ten Commandments is what saves us.

All of which is why I used to find Jesus’ encounter with the rich man in today’s Gospel lesson so puzzling.

Remember that it begins with the man asking Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” How, the man wonders, can he be saved from sin and death and futility?

Jesus doesn’t say, simply and directly, as He does elsewhere, “Follow Me.”

He doesn’t say, as He also does elsewhere, “Repent, and believe in the Good News.”

He doesn’t even say, “For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Instead, Jesus tells the man, “You know the commandments…,” then recites a few of them.

What puzzled and frankly bothered me about Jesus’ answer is that He seems to be saying, contrary to what He said many other times in many different ways, that a person could be saved by obeying the moral law. But we know from our reading of the rest of the New Testament that isn't true, don't we?

I remained mystified until I noticed two other things in this passage.

First, there’s the response of the rich man. “I’ve kept all these commandments since I was a kid.” You only have to know the thoughts that go on in your own mind and the things you’ve done that you hope nobody else has ever observed to know that his statement isn’t true. The man may have thought he’d kept the commandments his whole life, but only Jesus can really make the claim of perfect obedience of the moral law of God.

But here are the words what unlocked the meaning of this passage for me:

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own…give the money to the poor…then come, follow Me.”

Jesus loved this man who earnestly wanted eternity with God, just as Jesus loves every human being. Jesus loves those who reject Him and the will of God as embodied in the Ten Commandments and who so choose hell over life with God.


Jesus had held up the moral law to this man like a mirror in which he could see all of his shortcomings, his sins, his need of forgiveness, his need of repentance, and his need of faith in God rather than in himself or his money. But he refused to look into the mirror. He was sure that he was a good guy whose slate was clean.

But Jesus, Who loved the man, could see the idols that the man worshiped, the things that he turned to in order to give his life meaning, his money and his possessions.

The Twelve Step movement tells us that when an addict is controlled by alcohol, or drugs, or gambling, or pornography, or whatever it may be, it does him or her no good to ignore the addiction. The addict must acknowledge it, drop the thing that keeps them from being whole and healthy, and rely totally on their higher power, God, to help them through.

The rich man’s addiction, his idols, were, as I say, money and possessions. In order to grab the free gift of eternal life, Jesus was telling him, he had to drop his fake god.

Now, there are two things I want to say and then I’ll close.

First: Jesus is looking at you today and He is loving you. And this is no mere abstraction. God-in-the-flesh Jesus loves you as a person with a specific birth date and a specific identity which God has known since before you were born. The Bible tells us that you and I were put together by God in our mothers' wombs. Jesus looks at you and loves you.

On a daily basis, Jesus challenges you to hold the Ten Commandments, His moral law, up before you like a mirror in order for you to do a self-inventory. Psalm 139 has a prayer that might serve well as a daily prayer for every Christian:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

God, Who loves you, will answer that prayer if you will dare to pray it.

Second: Even though Jesus loved the man with the question about eternal life, Jesus watched the man walk away from Him.

The man was unwilling to let go of the sin that kept him from following Jesus and though Jesus loved the man, Jesus let the man reject Him.

The easiest thing to do in all the world is to pursue our own agendas and ignore the call of Christ to follow Him—in our homes, at work and school, in our marriages and in our leisure time, every moment of every day. Even though Jesus offers forgiveness and eternity as free gifts, it’s hard to follow Him.

It means laying down the life we would prefer and, instead, taking our direction from Him. That’s why Jesus taught us to pray to “our Father,” “Thy will be done.”

Jesus looks at you with love each day. Be willing each day to lay aside the things that keep you from receiving the life He wants to give to you. You don’t want to face a single moment of adversity without Jesus’ help. You don’t want to miss out on a single blessing Jesus has designed just for you.

Amen