Ten Commandments and New Commandment (Exodus 20:1-17)

Ten Commandments and New Commandment

 

Exodus 20:1-17

 

Today’s text is the Ten Commandments that God gave to the people of Israel just after the exodus from Egypt. The Old Testament is often called “the law and prophets” (Matthew 7:12) or “the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms” (Luke 24:44). Through Moses, God gave various laws to be observed by the people of Israel. And the Ten Commandments were the “Supreme One” among the laws. They were like today’s constitution. The constitution of a country is a collection of the basic principles and laws that all the people should agree, support, and observe. The Oath of Allegiance, which is taken at the naturalization ceremony, includes this promise: “I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Based on this promise, this nation and all of its citizens can promote an organic community moving together for a better future while maintaining order, security, and peace. A difference of the Ten Commandments from constitutions is that it is a covenant between God and men, not among people. Exodus 34:28 says, “Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.” Here, the Ten Commandments are called “the words of the covenant.” God made a covenant with his people Israel through the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 19:5-6, the Lord God says, “Now if you obey my voice fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” In this covenant, God poses the condition, “if you obey my voice fully and keep my covenant ……” That is, the Ten Commandments are the mediator of this covenant. Those who defend the constitution are given the privileges of the citizen, but those who violate it are branded enemies even if they are citizens. In the same way, these Commandments of God opened the people of Israel the blessed way to be God’s treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation, but at the same time, they could condemn the people to be God’s enemies.

 

The Ten Commandments may not sound very strict. It is because they generally stipulate people’s acts. They are required, toward God, to keep themselves from making idols and misusing the name of the Lord and to keep the Sabbath holy, and toward others, to avoid serious crimes such as adultery, murder, stealing, and false testimony. We may be able to keep the laws without big difficulty. But the Ten Commandments also include not only the laws of act but also laws of the heart. Verse 6 says, “(I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God) …… but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” That is, what God is seeking in the commandments is the people’s love to him. Verse 17 also says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” God warns against coveting in our hearts. Furthermore, Jesus redefines the laws of act. With regard to the commandment “You shall not murder,” Jesus says, “I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” (Matthew 5:22) And for the commandment “You shall not commit adultery,” Jesus says, “Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28) It’s not too difficult to keep the laws in this world. It is because they rule our obvious acts. Even if I hate my brother to death, I am not guilty unless I touch him. But God’s laws rule our heart. And they demand “love” the highest virtue, and they never allow even a tiny bit of coveting, hatred, and immoral desire. Furthermore, God, one party of this covenant, examines and judges our hearts (1Chronicles 28:9; Hebrews 4:12). Therefore, we cannot hide our thoughts and motives from God. God is truthful. Therefore, all of God’s laws are laws of heart. In this sense, the first covenant that God entered through the Ten Commandments was almost unfeasible to the people. That is, the condition “if you obey my voice fully and keep my covenant ……” was hardly attainable to the Israelites.

 

Then why did God give this first covenant to the people of Israel? With regard to the use of the law, Paul says in Romans 7:13, “…… through the commandment, sin might become utterly sinful.” And he takes an example, “I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘Do not covet’” (Romans 7:7). Galatians 3:22-24 also says, “Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.” We may think that we can be righteous through keeping the law. On the contrary, however, the law locks up us under the control of sin. And it leads us so that we may be justified by faith in Jesus Christ. By giving the Ten Commandments, God locked up the people of Israel under the sin. Now they had to live under the burden of sin. In fact, the laws God gave to his people include many regulations about sacrifices. In order to solve sin problems that they faced every day, the Israelites had to offer various forms of sacrifices including sin offerings, guilt offerings, and peace offerings. And in order to carry out the sacrifices, the job of priesthood took the central position among the Israelites, more important than any other jobs. In this way, the history of Israel was always a breathtaking confrontation between God’s holy commandments and people’s sins. The first covenant that God made with the people of Israel needed a new breakthrough.

 

Hebrews 7:18-19 says, “The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless for the law made nothing perfect, and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.” The Hebrews writer says that the former commandments were weak and useless, and the law made nothing perfect. In what sense are the commandments weak and useless? It is because they cannot make people perfect. As mentioned above, God’s laws are laws of heart. However, the offerings and sacrifices under the first covenant cannot clear the conscience of the worshipers (Hebrews 9:9). Therefore, even if the priests stand and offer the same sacrifices again and again, day after day, the offerings cannot take away sins (Hebrews 10:11). So God prepared a new priest and a new sacrifice. It is Jesus. Jesus is “a priest forever” (Psalm 110:4). With regard to Jesus, Hebrews 7:26 says, “Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” And it is said, “Because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” (Hebrews 7:24-25) In the new covenant, God set up his son Jesus, who is perfect, as the priest. And Jesus, with a permanent priesthood, obtained eternal redemption once for all by means of his own blood (Hebrews 9:12). This blood not only redeems our sins but also cleanses our consciences so that we may serve the living God. So, Hebrews 10:10 says, “By the will of God, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” The new covenant gives us the true hope of salvation.

 

In John 13:34, Jesus gives a new commandment to his disciples. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” In addition, he says in John 15:12-14, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” In these words, Jesus gives the commandment, “Love one another.” And the foundation of this commandment is: “As I have loved you.” Accordingly, this new commandment of Jesus is only for those who know Jesus’ love and remain in the love. And Jesus’ love is love that lays down his life for his friends. In his life-giving love, Jesus redeemed our sins, and in his life-giving love, Jesus rose again and became our everlasting High Priest, and in his life-giving love, Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ life-giving love means that the entire law of God was fully fulfilled. It is because love sums up all the commandments (Romans 13:9), and one who loves others has fulfilled the law (Romans 13:8). When we remain in Jesus’ life-giving love, we are living on the righteousness that the Lord achieved through his blood, living by the prayers that the Lord offers for us to

the Father, and living in the guidance of the Holy Spirit sent by the Lord. Figuratively saying, we are riding on a train pulled by an engine of millions of horsepower. In the first covenant as well, we received the same holy commandments of God. But we didn’t have any power to obey the law. It was like tugging a heavy train with my own body. It is bearing an unbearable burden. In Jesus, however, it is not. Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). What is the yoke and the burden that we should take? It is Jesus’ new commandment “Love one another.” However, this commandment is not heavy at all. It is because we are in the love of Jesus who is gentle, and we learn from Jesus who is humble.

 

Jesus gave the new commandment, “Love one another as I have loved you.” This commandment stands upon “a covenant already fulfilled by Jesus.” Then, what should we do or what should we fulfill? It is believing that the covenant has already been fulfilled by Jesus and living by that faith. Giving the Ten Commandments, God said to the Israelites, “If you obey my voice fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” But in his letter, Apostle Peter says, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1Peter 2:9). Yes, we are. God’s covenant has already been fulfilled in Jesus. We don’t live for fulfilling something. We live what Jesus already fulfilled for us. The new commandment is not our duty or responsibility. The new commandment is God’s blessing and our privilege. May the Lord open our eyes so that we may see the Kingdom of God that is already here in Jesus, and we, as the citizens of the kingdom, fill up our every day with the holy and beautiful life of “loving one another.”