Introduction: The Ten Commandments are an expression of God’s personal and covenantal relationship with His people.
Lesson Themes: This week’s lesson emphasizes three main points:
God’s law refers to relationships, rather than to abstract principles. God’s law is not a set of abstract principles but an expression of relationship. The description of the Ten Commandments implies covenantal relations between God and His people. God’s dialogue with Moses underscores this relational language, in which God is depicted as an eagle, carrying His people on His wings in deliverance from Egypt. The main idea of this depiction is that the people had been brought to God Himself.
The Ten Commandments describe the correct expression of our love to God and to others. Before the list of “shall nots,” the Ten Commandments start with a personal loving note: “ ‘I am the Lord your God’ ” (Exod. 20:2, NKJV). The list of commandments is a relational loving response to the God of Israel, who saved them. The first four commandments describe the loyal love that people are supposed to show to God. The last six commandments express specific forms of love to others, which ultimately indicate that we love God.
God’s law finds its fulfillment in love. In Romans and Galatians, the idea of the fulfillment of the law is related to serving one another through love. Paul, in Galatians, explains that the law is fulfilled as we love our neighbor. In Romans, to love one another is the fulfillment of the law. The last six of the Ten Commandments spell out what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.
Life Application: How does your relationship with God change when you understand that the Ten Commandments are not just a set of rules but an expression of love and a response to God’s personal and loving relationship?
Part II: Commentary
1. God’s Law Refers to Relationships Rather Than to Abstract Principles.
The idea that God’s law consists of cold abstractions or impersonal principles is incompatible with the biblical picture of God giving the Decalogue to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. It is important to read the description of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) in light of the covenantal relationship being formed, in Exodus 19. From the time of Israel’s arrival at the wilderness of Sinai (Exod. 19:1), the dialogue of God with Moses at Mount Sinai underscores the notion of a covenantal relationship between God and the people of Israel. More specifically, Moses was told by the Lord that he should say to the children of Israel the following words: “ ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’ ” (Exod. 19:4–6, NKJV).
The relational language of this passage is impressive. The divine deliverance from Egypt is depicted as God bearing or carrying the children of Israel, as an eagle. Interestingly, the emphasis is not merely on the people leaving Egypt or going to the Promised Land. Rather, the main point is that the people had been brought to God Himself.
In this context, the people of Israel are invited to keep God’s covenant in the personal sense of hearing the voice of God. While many Bible translations correctly render the Hebrew verb šmʿ in terms of obeying the voice of God (see NKJV, ESV, NASB, NRSV, NIV), the verb in Hebrew describes more literally the act of hearing or listening to His voice (see NET, HCSB) (Ludwig Koehler et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament [Leiden: Brill, 1994–2000], p. 1571). If they decide to listen to the voice of God, the children of Israel shall be God’s own “possession” (Exod. 19:5, HCSB) or His “personal property” (see the meaning of the noun sĕgūlâ in Ludwig Koehler et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, p. 742). This expression also attests to the personal nature of the covenantal relationship that is being formed between God and His people, which is formalized by the exposition of the Ten Commandments in chapter 20.
2. The Ten Commandments Describe the Correct Expression of Our Love to God and to Others.
It is noteworthy that before the list of “shall nots” in the Decalogue, God introduces the Ten Commandments, in Exodus 20:2, with a personal note (“ ‘I am the Lord your God,’ ” NKJV; emphasis supplied) and emphasizes His loving salvific action on behalf of Israel (deliverance from slavery in Egypt). In other words, the commandments do not start with a cold “shall not” but with a personal loving tone. Moreover, the list of commandments that follow are not to be understood as mere abstract laws but as a relational loving response to the God of Israel, who powerfully and compassionately saved them from Egypt.
It is in light of the personal loving tone of Exodus 20:2 that the first four commandments clearly delineate how the children of Israel are supposed to express their loving relational response toward their personal God. First, they shall not have other gods before the Lord. Love toward God is spelled out here in terms of exclusive loyalty. Second, this loyal love necessarily implies that they shall not make for themselves a carved image (idol) to worship. True worship, instead of idolatry, is a genuine expression of love toward God. Third, love to God is revealed in a respectful reference to His name. As Kenneth Harris points out, to take the name of God in vain particularly refers to “taking a deceptive oath in God’s name or invoking God’s name to sanction an act in which the person is being dishonest (Lev. 19:12). It also bans using God’s name in magic, or irreverently, or disrespectfully (Lev. 24:10–16).”—ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), p. 176. Fourth, to love God means that the seventh-day Sabbath is kept holy as a necessary reminder of God’s creation. While we are supposed to love God every day, the Sabbath is a special time to express our loving relationship with Him.
To be sure, the first four commandments spell out more directly what love to God entails, whereas the remaining six commandments elaborate specifically on how to love others. However, from a broader perspective, inasmuch as the identification of the Lord as the Savior God of Israel (Exod. 20:2) constitutes the introduction of the Ten Commandments as a whole, the specific ways in which we are supposed to express love to others in the last six commandments are, by implication, important forms of loving God in an ultimate sense. The fifth commandment, for instance, connects the love toward parents, which highlights the idea of honoring them, with a long life in the land that the Lord is giving to Israel. Therefore, the loving promise of God is directly related to the way in which the children of Israel love/honor their parents. Likewise, to love the other, and ultimately love God by means of this horizontal love, necessarily involves valuing life (not murdering), being sexually pure and cherishing marriage (not committing adultery), respecting what belongs to others (not stealing), standing for the truth about your neighbor (not bearing false witness against him/her), and nurturing desires shaped by a spirit of contentment (not coveting what belongs to your neighbor).
3. God’s Law Finds Its Fulfillment in Love.
The apostle Paul highlights the idea of the fulfillment of the law in Romans and Galatians. After exhorting the Galatians to serve one another through love, he explains that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ ” (Gal. 5:14, NKJV). Likewise, in Romans 8:4, Paul speaks of “the righteous requirement of the law” being “fulfilled in us” (NKJV) by means of Christ and the Holy Spirit. In Romans 13:8–10, he mentions twice that love fulfills God’s law: “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (NKJV; emphasis supplied).
Moving from the discussion of the Christian duties before civil authorities (Rom. 13:1–7), which includes paying taxes (Rom. 13:6, 7), to the Christian obligation of love, Paul employs the language of financial debt in both discussions. With regard to the Christian obligation of love, “The Christian is to allow no debt to remain outstanding except the one that can never be paid off—‘the debt to love one another.’ The obligation to love has no limit.”—Robert Mounce, The New American Commentary: Romans (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), vol. 27, p. 245. Just as financial debt implies an obligation to another person or institution, the law imposes obligations upon us to others. In the context of God’s law—with special reference to the last five commandments, concerning our relationships with our neighbors, which goes beyond our obligation to our own family—the essence of our continuous obligation or debt is love.
Part III: Life Application
Discuss the following questions in class:
How can you respond to someone who questions the law of God and considers it merely a bunch of rules?
How can your experience of the Sabbath be more meaningful, a reminder that God’s law invites us to a relational loving response?
How can you show God’s love in practical ways to those whom you encounter each and every day, including strangers, friends, and family?
Notes
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Key Text: Romans 13:8
Study Focus: Exod. 20:2, Rom. 13:8–10.
Introduction: The Ten Commandments are an expression of God’s personal and covenantal relationship with His people.
Lesson Themes: This week’s lesson emphasizes three main points:
God’s law refers to relationships, rather than to abstract principles. God’s law is not a set of abstract principles but an expression of relationship. The description of the Ten Commandments implies covenantal relations between God and His people. God’s dialogue with Moses underscores this relational language, in which God is depicted as an eagle, carrying His people on His wings in deliverance from Egypt. The main idea of this depiction is that the people had been brought to God Himself.
The Ten Commandments describe the correct expression of our love to God and to others. Before the list of “shall nots,” the Ten Commandments start with a personal loving note: “ ‘I am the Lord your God’ ” (Exod. 20:2, NKJV). The list of commandments is a relational loving response to the God of Israel, who saved them. The first four commandments describe the loyal love that people are supposed to show to God. The last six commandments express specific forms of love to others, which ultimately indicate that we love God.
God’s law finds its fulfillment in love. In Romans and Galatians, the idea of the fulfillment of the law is related to serving one another through love. Paul, in Galatians, explains that the law is fulfilled as we love our neighbor. In Romans, to love one another is the fulfillment of the law. The last six of the Ten Commandments spell out what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.
Life Application: How does your relationship with God change when you understand that the Ten Commandments are not just a set of rules but an expression of love and a response to God’s personal and loving relationship?
Part II: Commentary
1. God’s Law Refers to Relationships Rather Than to Abstract Principles.
The idea that God’s law consists of cold abstractions or impersonal principles is incompatible with the biblical picture of God giving the Decalogue to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. It is important to read the description of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) in light of the covenantal relationship being formed, in Exodus 19. From the time of Israel’s arrival at the wilderness of Sinai (Exod. 19:1), the dialogue of God with Moses at Mount Sinai underscores the notion of a covenantal relationship between God and the people of Israel. More specifically, Moses was told by the Lord that he should say to the children of Israel the following words: “ ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’ ” (Exod. 19:4–6, NKJV).
The relational language of this passage is impressive. The divine deliverance from Egypt is depicted as God bearing or carrying the children of Israel, as an eagle. Interestingly, the emphasis is not merely on the people leaving Egypt or going to the Promised Land. Rather, the main point is that the people had been brought to God Himself.
In this context, the people of Israel are invited to keep God’s covenant in the personal sense of hearing the voice of God. While many Bible translations correctly render the Hebrew verb šmʿ in terms of obeying the voice of God (see NKJV, ESV, NASB, NRSV, NIV), the verb in Hebrew describes more literally the act of hearing or listening to His voice (see NET, HCSB) (Ludwig Koehler et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament [Leiden: Brill, 1994–2000], p. 1571). If they decide to listen to the voice of God, the children of Israel shall be God’s own “possession” (Exod. 19:5, HCSB) or His “personal property” (see the meaning of the noun sĕgūlâ in Ludwig Koehler et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, p. 742). This expression also attests to the personal nature of the covenantal relationship that is being formed between God and His people, which is formalized by the exposition of the Ten Commandments in chapter 20.
2. The Ten Commandments Describe the Correct Expression of Our Love to God and to Others.
It is noteworthy that before the list of “shall nots” in the Decalogue, God introduces the Ten Commandments, in Exodus 20:2, with a personal note (“ ‘I am the Lord your God,’ ” NKJV; emphasis supplied) and emphasizes His loving salvific action on behalf of Israel (deliverance from slavery in Egypt). In other words, the commandments do not start with a cold “shall not” but with a personal loving tone. Moreover, the list of commandments that follow are not to be understood as mere abstract laws but as a relational loving response to the God of Israel, who powerfully and compassionately saved them from Egypt.
It is in light of the personal loving tone of Exodus 20:2 that the first four commandments clearly delineate how the children of Israel are supposed to express their loving relational response toward their personal God. First, they shall not have other gods before the Lord. Love toward God is spelled out here in terms of exclusive loyalty. Second, this loyal love necessarily implies that they shall not make for themselves a carved image (idol) to worship. True worship, instead of idolatry, is a genuine expression of love toward God. Third, love to God is revealed in a respectful reference to His name. As Kenneth Harris points out, to take the name of God in vain particularly refers to “taking a deceptive oath in God’s name or invoking God’s name to sanction an act in which the person is being dishonest (Lev. 19:12). It also bans using God’s name in magic, or irreverently, or disrespectfully (Lev. 24:10–16).”—ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), p. 176. Fourth, to love God means that the seventh-day Sabbath is kept holy as a necessary reminder of God’s creation. While we are supposed to love God every day, the Sabbath is a special time to express our loving relationship with Him.
To be sure, the first four commandments spell out more directly what love to God entails, whereas the remaining six commandments elaborate specifically on how to love others. However, from a broader perspective, inasmuch as the identification of the Lord as the Savior God of Israel (Exod. 20:2) constitutes the introduction of the Ten Commandments as a whole, the specific ways in which we are supposed to express love to others in the last six commandments are, by implication, important forms of loving God in an ultimate sense. The fifth commandment, for instance, connects the love toward parents, which highlights the idea of honoring them, with a long life in the land that the Lord is giving to Israel. Therefore, the loving promise of God is directly related to the way in which the children of Israel love/honor their parents. Likewise, to love the other, and ultimately love God by means of this horizontal love, necessarily involves valuing life (not murdering), being sexually pure and cherishing marriage (not committing adultery), respecting what belongs to others (not stealing), standing for the truth about your neighbor (not bearing false witness against him/her), and nurturing desires shaped by a spirit of contentment (not coveting what belongs to your neighbor).
3. God’s Law Finds Its Fulfillment in Love.
The apostle Paul highlights the idea of the fulfillment of the law in Romans and Galatians. After exhorting the Galatians to serve one another through love, he explains that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ ” (Gal. 5:14, NKJV). Likewise, in Romans 8:4, Paul speaks of “the righteous requirement of the law” being “fulfilled in us” (NKJV) by means of Christ and the Holy Spirit. In Romans 13:8–10, he mentions twice that love fulfills God’s law: “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (NKJV; emphasis supplied).
Moving from the discussion of the Christian duties before civil authorities (Rom. 13:1–7), which includes paying taxes (Rom. 13:6, 7), to the Christian obligation of love, Paul employs the language of financial debt in both discussions. With regard to the Christian obligation of love, “The Christian is to allow no debt to remain outstanding except the one that can never be paid off—‘the debt to love one another.’ The obligation to love has no limit.”—Robert Mounce, The New American Commentary: Romans (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), vol. 27, p. 245. Just as financial debt implies an obligation to another person or institution, the law imposes obligations upon us to others. In the context of God’s law—with special reference to the last five commandments, concerning our relationships with our neighbors, which goes beyond our obligation to our own family—the essence of our continuous obligation or debt is love.
Part III: Life Application
Discuss the following questions in class:
How can you respond to someone who questions the law of God and considers it merely a bunch of rules?
How can your experience of the Sabbath be more meaningful, a reminder that God’s law invites us to a relational loving response?
How can you show God’s love in practical ways to those whom you encounter each and every day, including strangers, friends, and family?
Notes