The Ten Commandments Revisited

By Tom Kingery

Some people hate rules, and they are free to do so. God created humans with free will. But God doesn’t want us to run wild.

The Ten Commandments, which are repeated several times in the Bible, give us a roadmap on how to live life. But they are more than a moral code—and they are concerned with more than just appropriate conduct, correct values, and social order. They are a prescription for holiness, a spiritual life, and a life of faith.

Looking beyond their prohibitive language reveals something about the will of God. For example, “Honor your father and mother” can imply the notion that we should not dishonor them. “Do not steal” can imply the notion of sharing and giving.

By revisiting the Ten Commandments, Tom Kingery runs each law through a sieve that includes four perspectives important to the journey of faith—moral, ethical, social, and spiritual. By doing so, he breathes new life into the ancient laws.

Reading this book will shed light on the path we take as we walk with God in obedience and loyalty.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664251830

Tom Kingery

Tom Kingery retired from the United Methodist Church in 2017 and lives in Durand, Illinois. After serving 7 appointments in the Northern Illinois Confrence, he is blessed to continue in ministry as the preacher at The Church By The Side of The Road in Rockton, a non-denominational congregation with a close family spirit. He has published several other books concerned with faith and spiritual growth, all grounded in Scripture and relevant with respect to the journey of a believer. Tom grew up in a suburb of Chicago and went to the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. A daughter, Emily, lives in Davenport and teaches at St. Ambrose University. Tim, his son, lives with Jen and their son and daughter in Deerfield, Illinois.

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 Tom Kingery.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

[Scripture quotations are] from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-5182-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-5183-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021924530

WestBow Press rev. date:   12/13/2021

Contents

Introduction

PART 1

1 The Reality of God: Part 1

2 The Reality of God: Part 2

3 The Lord’s Name

4 Subjects of the Sabbath

5 Family Honorability

6 Life’s Enhancement

7 Respect for Intimacy

8 What’s Mine Is Yours

9 Truth or Consequences

10 You Shall Be Satisfied

Conclusion

Introduction

Then God spoke all these words:

I am the Lord your God,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

out of the house of slavery;

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol,

whether in the form anything that is in heaven above,

or that is on the earth beneath,

or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them;

For I the Lord your God am a jealous God,

punishing children for the iniquity of their parents,

to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,

but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation

of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name

of the Lord your God,

for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God;

you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter,

your male or female slave, your livestock,

or the alien resident in your towns.

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them,

but rested on the seventh day;

therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

Honor your father and mother,

so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house;

you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,

or male or female slave, or ox, or donkay,

or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

—Exodus 20:1–17

Everybody lives by rules. Some people hate rules, and they are free to do so. God created humans with free will. But God doesn’t want us to just run wild. We are given a purpose and are meant to live within that purpose. Life has a structure to it. That means there are boundaries, connections, hinges, a plan. If we all came up with our own personal plan for living, there might be a few common directions, but the odds are, I believe, that there would be so many divergent designs that they would rarely fit with one another. We are wiser if we all submit to a single plan that works for the greatest number of individuals. The best for the most. We need a common ethic, consistent values, and a singular spiritual inspiration.

The Ten Commandments are written in more than just one place in the holy scriptures. They are repeated several times. Let’s start with an overview of all ten. And as we do, let’s realize that certain categories are helpful for understanding them fully: the law in general, the law and faith, and the law and Christ.

Within those categories, I believe that there can be four perspectives that are helpful to examine them. The task of this study will include sorting out a moral perspective, an ethical perspective, a social perspective, and a spiritual perspective. A moral perspective is necessary because the Ten Commandments are generally seen as a moral code giving us a sense of right and wrong conduct. Ethical because they provide a system of values. Social because the Ten Commandments are able to construct a framework for the order of the social structure in which their adherents exist. And spiritual because they shed light or give guidance concerning the personal relationship we have with God. This includes the idea of righteousness and, by extension, holiness. The emphasis I feel most compelled to emphasize will be the dimension of spirituality, especially holiness, because I believe this to be the arena in which we are intended to construct the other points of view.

Looking at the law in general, we need to be concerned with the steps that are taken in forming any rules for living. Obviously, there are many actions for which we feel compelled to say don’t. But how do we go from don’t to can’t? Don’t is more of a warning. Can’t is an absolute directive forbidding a certain act. There may seem to be a gap between these two. Something is needed to fill this gap. I believe what fills this gap is a recognition concerning the subject mentioned in the warning don’t. For example, life is recognized as so important that don’t kill necessarily becomes can’t kill. This is an example of the ethical perspective. Not only is it because of life’s particular importance that life becomes a concern of the law but because we need each other—the social perspective—and then, because of that need, it becomes wrong to take it away: the moral perspective. And then the combination of these three perspectives leads us to an understanding that reveals the spiritual perspective that claims a sanctity to life. So there we have it: the recognition that moves us from don’t to can’t. This recognition might not always begin with the ethical perspective as I did in this example. It could just as easily proceed from the spiritual perspective of sanctity and move through the other spheres. What becomes recognized, we will learn, is God’s grace working in the law!

What laws do is create a system of guidelines that might sanctify not only life but certain aspects of it. Laws organize our values and give us the perspective needed to build a framework within which we can construct our lives. And because of all this, our laws give us a sense of order. We won’t get lost, you won’t get lost, and I won’t get lost in the chaos that seems to surround us all the time.

Laws seem prohibitive. Don’t and can’t are prohibitions. Most of the Ten Commandments tell us what we can’t do. They prohibit certain behaviors. They are like the sign that says, Dead End. And in the Ten Commandments are a lot of dead ends! But the context out of which they were written is that of a covenant, a promise, an orderedness that expresses a very divine relationship. We need to see the Ten Commandments as God’s will for God’s people. The prerogatives that affect our holiness are recognized as God, family, and others. Commandments one through five are concerned with religious (spiritual) duties. Six through ten are concerned with moral duties. The moral duties can even be divided: six, seven, and eight are directed against wrong deeds, the ninth against wrong words, and the tenth against wrong thoughts. The Ten Commandments are much more than just a moral code; they are concerned with more than just appropriate conduct, correct values, and social order. They are a prescription for holiness, a spiritual life, and a life of faith.

The Law and Faith—Paul saw the law as being the mainstay that holds us all accountable to God. Even though no human being can be justified in God’s sight by works of the law, the laws can still call us into accountability. Through the law comes knowledge of sin. The laws tell us exactly what sins are forbidden, so we can’t help but know what the sins are. One of Paul’s main points is that we are justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law (Romans 3:28). He would say that it takes more than never doing any acts prohibited by the law; we could do that by doing nothing at all. It’s like being a trapeze artist who refuses to swing so as never to fall. And in so doing, they refuse to exhibit the gifts they’ve been given. To avoid prohibited behaviors by doing nothing is to refuse to live while never giving any indication of having recognized the divine relationship that comes through the law from beyond it. There again is that recognition that fills the gap between don’t and can’t. So Paul mentions the principle of faith, which acknowledges God’s grace in the exodus from Egypt and the deliverance of the Israelite people. This is the same principle of faith that acknowledges God’s grace in the manifestation of His righteousness apart from the law: through faith in Jesus Christ and His redemption. And it says, Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23–24).

This faith is the gift of recognition that moves us toward a willing obedience to the law. But we must move somehow from not disobeying, not breaking the law, to actually doing the will of God that stands behind the law. We need to move from what is prohibited to what should be exhibited. From dead ends to this way. And that comes, again, from the recognition of God’s will in determining our actions under the law. Grace.

As we come to the law and Christ, we realize that Christ, by His Spirit, brings us that recognition in His fulfillment of the law. He didn’t change even an iota of the law. He merely acted out the will of God. To state the Ten Commandments conversely—repeating what they might mean by turning them around a bit—would be one way to offer the recognition God exhibited by Christ’s example. The laws are not just coercive in how they limit behavior; they are persuasive in their implications. So to state the intended behaviors that are (or might be) expressed from behind the prohibition would be to recognize the will of God that can compel us not only to obey the prohibitions but to follow Jesus Christ in faith.

Here then are the Ten Commandments Revisited:

1. You shall have no other gods. ⇒ Be loyal to Me as the only God!

2. You shall not make for yourself a graven image … ⇒ You shall worship in the Spirit; no images can ever represent God; God is more than we can imagine.

3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain … ⇒ You shall revere God; you shall use God’s name only to express the divine reality.

4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy … ⇒ You shall practice your