Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.
Ecclesiastes 12:13
Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 5
Memory Verse: Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:37-39
Introduction:
As we read through the Ten Commandments, we see it divided into two divisions. The first four describe our relationship to God and the last six our relationship to man.
The Ten Commandments are not just a part of the Law of Moses. Look at how they are described in the introduction in Exodus 20. The LORD is not just telling Moses to go and relay a message to the people. The Lord is speaking these words directly to the Israelites. At the end of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:19, the Israelites were terrified after hearing from God in this manner and they asked for Moses to be the mediator between them and God. The giving of the Ten Commandments was a high point in the life of Israel. The Ten Commandments, along with Aaron’s staff and manna, were placed inside the ark of the covenant (Hebrews 9:4).
The same level of importance is placed on the Ten Commandments by Jesus and then later by Jesus’ apostles. When the rich young ruler asked what he needed to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus quoted the commandments relating to loving his neighbor. Jesus challenged the Jewish leaders for their hypocrisy and failure to worship the Heavenly Father from the heart. When Paul gives a summary of what it means to live as a Christian in Romans 13:8-9, he summarizes several of the commandments. Over and over in the New Testament, we see the commandments restated in various ways.
The Ten Commandments were important to God’s people in the Old Testament. They also were taught by Jesus and were key to God’s people in the New Testament, and they need to be a central teaching for us today. There is, in mankind, a rebellion against authority; the desire for freedom to do what we want when we want. The Ten Commandments are often rejected because they are wrongly seen as a form of bondage to the law. In this first lesson, we will learn the history of the Ten Commandments and demonstrate their importance to us today.
Lesson Questions:
- When and where were the Ten Commandments written down? Exodus 19:1; 31:18; 34:1; Deuteronomy 5:22; 10:4
- The Ten Commandments were written in stone by the finger of God (Exodus 31:18). How does the way in which the Ten Commandments were given affect our view of God’s law? Exodus 32:15-16; Deuteronomy 4:15; Psalms 111:10; Ecclesiastes 12:13
- Why were the Ten Commandments called the “two tablets of Testimony” in Exodus 31:18? Exodus 24:12; 25:16; Romans 7:7
- What was the purpose of the Ten Commandments? Exodus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 5:29, 33; 7:6-9
- What did Jesus teach about the law? Matthew 5:17-20; Luke 16:17
- In what sense are the commandments like a mirror? Psalm 19:7-8, 11; Romans 7:7-9
- In Romans 7:22-23 we see that we can delight in the law, but that our sinful nature does not delight in God’s law. How can we truly delight in God’s law? Psalm 1:1-3; Romans 7:22-23; Galatians 3:3-5; Philippians 1:6
- Discuss what commandments of God that people of this present world reject so that they may keep their own traditions.
- The Ten Commandments define our relationship to God and to our fellow man. How does the law bring greater clarity to what it means to love God and our neighbor? Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:14
- In what ways were the series of commands and ordinances that were given by God to Moses different from the Ten Commandments? Deuteronomy 5:31-33; 31:18, 24-26; 33:4; 2 Kings 22:8