From The Christian Reader:
Understanding the Moral Law
by Brian Carpenter
(This is Part Two. Click here to read Part One.)
When we look at the Christian’s relationship to the Moral Law of God, we need to understand some things. In the last post I mentioned that the Ten Commandments are a synecdoche. That is, they stand for more than they actually say. When you ask a rancher in Western South Dakota about how many cows he has, he may say, “I have 2500 head of cattle.” Now, we understand that unless he owns the Little Ranch of Horrors, there are more than just cow heads littering the prairie. The head stands for the whole cow. “Head” is a synecdoche.
Jesus gave an even more concise summation of the Law in Matthew 22. The whole Law can be summed up as “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.” The first four commandments, often called the First Table of the Law show me how to love God. If I love God I will have no other gods. I will not commit idolatry. I will not misuse His Name. I will remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. The second six commandments show me how to love my neighbor. If I love my neighbor, I will honor those who are in a position of superiority over me. I will not murder. I will not commit adultery. I will not steal. I will not bear false witness. I will not covet. We will examine all the various things that are implied by each commandment in later posts.
We also need to say that it is a sin to violate any particular commandment of the Law of God in the least little way. There are, for instance, no “little white lies.” Lies are lies and are damnable. It’s not okay to “look at the menu, as long as you eat at home.” Lust is heart adultery. It’s not okay to indulge in revenge fantasies against my next door neighbor when his stereo is thumping at 11:30 at night and I can hear it in my bedroom. That’s murdering him in my heart. It’s not okay to just sort of not say anything when you notice the cashier has given you too much money back. It’s stealing. Speeding is not a minor nuisance. It is a violation of the Fifth Commandment. It’s also important to say that mere external obedience is not the answer. We must obey with our whole being. And since the best of men are men at best, we must confess and repent of these real sins of the heart, the mind, the will, and the gestures.
The second thing we need to notice is where there is a sin to be avoided, there is also a duty to be performed, and vice versa. So, for instance, we are to avoid adultery. But that also means that we are to perform our conjugal duties to our spouses in order to keep the other from being inflamed with lust. Paul commands such in 1 Cor 7:4-5:
But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
And again, the Fourth Commandment begins with “Six days shall you labor and do all your work…” This means that laziness and idleness and wasteful, profligate living are forbidden by the Fourth Commandment just as much as Sabbath-breaking. Once again, Paul is helpful:
For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12)
We are also to do whatever is within our power to keep our neighbors from breaking the Law of God. For instance, our children are certainly also our neighbors. And so we don’t encourage them to break the Fifth Commandment (honoring father and mother) and the Sixth Commandment (heart murder) we are not to provoke or exasperate them. Paul says as much in Ephesians 6:5: Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Finally, there is much overlap in these commandments, once you have eyes to see. Greed is a violation of the Tenth Commandment’s prohibition against covetousness. But it is also a violation of the Second Commandment’s prohibition against idolatry: Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry (Colossians 3:5).
In the coming weeks, I’ll spend some time meditating on each commandment and show how it is quite relevant for today. I pray it will be a blessing to you. If you’d like some ancillary reading, I recommend Thomas Watson’s The Ten Commandments. Watson was one of the Westminster Divines and a fine exegete and preacher. I think he is my favorite Puritan author.
To be continued…
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