Reflecting on the Ten Commandments - Introduction

There's a detail I have to explain here at the outset. There are two different common enumerations of the “Ten Commandments”. They both refer to Exodus 20, but divide one commandment from another differently at two points. In the enumeration used by Catholics and Lutherans (and possibly others), Exodus 20:4-6, which forbids making and worshiping idols, is regarded as explanatory of verse 3, which forbids having other gods. On the other hand, Exodus 20:16 and 17, which, respectively, forbid coveting and forbid coveting a list of items are separated into two commandments. The enumeration I'll be using, common among many Protestants (not my reason for using this enumeration, though), considers Exodus 20:4-6 to be a separate commandment from verse 3, and considers Exodus 20:16-17 to be one commandment, with verse 17 providing examples to explain verse 16. As a child, growing up in a Lutheran church, considering Exodus 20:16 and 17 to be two separate commandments didn't make sense to me. And if you think about Exodus 20:3 and Exodus 20:4-6 as circles in elementary school Mathematics Venn Diagrams, the two circles intersect substantially, but not entirely. Exodus 20:3 forbids having other gods, whether physical idols or gods not represented physically. Exodus 20:4-6 forbids idols, whether of other gods, such as in Egypt or those used by the Canaanites, or physical representations of the true God.

Well, that was long-winded! Why am I doing this? First, while Christians' salvation does not depend on keeping the law, right and wrong did not change. And if Christians truly love God, disobeying Him is something they should desire to avoid, because of that love. Second, and to me oddly, basic teaching about right and wrong seems scarce in some Evangelical circles.

In succeeding posts, each about one of the commandments, I'll include the relevant verse plus Martin Luther's Small Catechism explanations (http://bookofconcord.org/smallcatechism.php#tencommandments - which seemed rather good to me when I was learning the Ten Commandments) along with my own comments. Since I haven't written these reflections in advance of this post, I won't promise these to be daily or not to publish other blog posts between.

The Christian Faith Is a Lifestyle

Some Christians - nominal believers and real believers - don't get that they can't compartmentalize their faith into a my-religious-life compartment and a the-rest-of-my-life (i.e., my-real-life) compartment. Having different rules for different compartments of life is a recipe for incongruity and hypocrisy. Many Christians latch onto a part (or perceived part) of Christianity and ride that hobby horse to the neglect of the whole of the Christian faith. For real believers, it's what I call error-by-emphasis; for nominal believers, it's Cafeteria Christianity, picking what one likes (real aspects of Christian teaching or baptized personal views) and leaving behind the rest (things like sin, redemption and personal need for salvation are almost always left behind).

An example of error-by-emphasis that I think is pervasive among Evangelical Christians is a fairly tight focus on the basics of sin, redemption and salvation. It's not an error-in-fact; what is taught is true. The problem lies in what is not taught or given little emphasis. Fundamental things, like what God says is right and wrong, what God says is justice - essentials in practical everyday life - are much less taught, leaving believers to do what they think to be right.

This latter problem was brought home to me a while ago when I realized that I had failed a Christian friend. He was a new Christian and was in a serious dating relationship. He moved in with her. I assumed he realized that this was not right, until, some months later he mentioned that he had been reading his Bible and had come to realize that what he was doing was contrary to what God said was right. Soon after, they realized that she was pregnant, and they got married (there's much that I'm leaving out for the sake of brevity). I should have known better, or at least known enough to say something, but I really did not realize that he had never learned what God had said about sex outside of marriage. The Ten Commandments (in age-appropriate detail) had been part of my upbringing from elementary school and for some reason I didn't imagine others' upbringing being that much different.

A time came a year or two later when I was in a similar situation with a Christian friend who was taking his relationship with a girlfriend too far. That time I did say something. It still didn't go well, but I had the satisfaction – very small, because of how it all turned out – of not having failed my friend.

In reflecting on my church experiences up to that time and the decades since, I've realized that basic foundational things like what God says is right and wrong receive insufficient attention in Evangelical circles. Teaching the basics of salvation is necessary, it's truth. The problem isn't untruth but imbalance.

Kingdom of the World's Beatitudes

While I'm posting about my recent reading, I found this gem in Robert C. Girard's 1979 book, Brethren, Hang Together. As a commentary based on the Beatitudes on what the world values (attitudes that invade churches!) he wrote these Kingdom of the World's Beatitudes:

Blessed (to be envied) are those who are completely adequate and strong, who never display weakness or personal spiritual need
... for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the positive, light-hearted, and those who never cry
... for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the aggressive, demanding and cocky, those who know and claim their rights and advantages
... for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who desire the glory of power, goods, success, and acclaim
... for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the organizers, motivators, and manipulators of people, who have their corporate growth objectives clearly in mind, who see people as a means to reach their objectives, and will not be distracted from their "higher work" by personal involvements with misfits or cripples
for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are those who are careful in their commitment to God, not to become too "other worldly"
... for they shall see God.
Blessed are the fighters and scrappers, who knowing they are right, tear all who disagree with them to shreds, and noisily separate from those who are "wrong"
... for they shall be called the sons of God.
Blessed are those of whom all men speak well, with whom the world is comfortable
... the kingdom belongs to them.

One of Girard's themes in his book, which was about small groups in churches and spiritual leadership, was relying on God to work in and through His people.

A Bit More on Augustine & Education

I'm good at saying 3/4 of what I had in mind ...another aspect of his moral-spiritual concern about education is that something that God created - knowledge and human capability to learn - was/is corrupted or truncated into something far less than what God intended. If he didn't say it somewhere explicitly - very possible, from what little I've read - he definitely would have agreed with the idea that evil, or much of it, was something good distorted.


Augustine's Confessions is written in a manner - it's like a public prayer of confession to God - that some readers, even Christian readers, might find trying. I'm finding it interesting, though, and insightful regarding human nature. I don't anticipate making a habit, though, of frequent blog posts about Augustine.


Just a short quote ... we imagine Maria Montessori or John Holt to have been education pioneers?


... free curiosity has greater power to stimulate learning than rigorous coercion.

Knowing to Walking

This idea came up last evening in our home group. As I mentioned yesterday, knowing is one thing, living what you know is another. Two of the scripture passages in what we discussed were from Psalms 119 and 1. Afterward, three words stuck out to me as capturing the process: Learning, Meditating, Living. The first is obviously necessary. One can't consciously live something one doesn't know. And "Living" is the point at which knowledge has become integrated into one's life. Meditating on scripture - whether intentional study/focus or less formally mulling over something, thinking of its meaning, implications and what it would look like in practical life.

I've recently started reading Augustine's "Confessions". In the part about his school days, he speaks of his experiential disconnect between education and being a good person. Taken carelessly, one might think he was arguing, eloquently and skillfully, against education. His actual meaning is the moral outrage of the two - being educated and being good - being separated. His ideal would be to be both, but in an either-or choice, being good is better. It's sad - a token of mankind's deep flaw, sin - that our society doesn't "get" this, some fifteen centuries later, making the same simplistic choice of education the mind but not the heart.

Stuff 'n' Such

It's been a couple of days since I last posted. There's much happening here at Soapy Villa.

I've known this for over a week and suspected it well before, but for the first time in this century, possibly in 2 decades or more, my weight is under 300 pounds. And, thankfully, well under 300. So some clothing items that had migrated to corners of my closet and dresser drawers have reemerged to regular usage, and I've even done some clothes shopping (BTW, my beloved wife is having "problems" of similar kind and magnitude).

I've also been preparing for this week's home group. I like teaching, but that isn't really the focus of our church's home groups. The big focus - rightly so - is on "encouraging each other" through fellowship. It is this kind of setting and ministry environment that Christians can discover, develop and exercise the spiritual gifts God has given them. Still, there is preparation to do.

The latter has brought to the fore for me the tension between knowledge and walking. There's a lot regarding Christianity and the scriptures that one can know. And, strictly speaking, one need not be a believer to know spiritual "stuff". Looked at another way, the requirements to be a believer are not high - acknowledge God, believe one has acted wrongly in God's eyes, understand God provided reconciliation and forgiveness through Jesus, and put one's faith and trust in what Jesus did. On the other hand, learning to live and actually living the Christian life is a lifetime endeavor. The bottom line is that knowledge is important and good, but the critical thing is how much of what one knows one is living.

Meditation for Easter Sunday

Sometimes, when you know a story really well it is difficult to realize what the people were feeling and experiencing as they went through that "story". It wasn't a "story", it was their life. So it is with Easter. We know what happened: Jesus had risen from the dead; the various people discovered and reacted to what they saw in their various ways. As day was dawning that first Easter morning, several women left their homes and headed for a tomb outside of Jerusalem. They weren’t going there anticipating any great surprise or joy. They were going there to perform the customary funerary tasks for a beloved friend that had been left undone two days earlier. They anticipated at least one obstacle, a large stone blocking the entrance of the tomb, but went hoping to find some one willing to aid them by rolling it aside.

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." And they remembered His words, and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened. (Luke 24:1-12, NASB)


Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him." So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. So the disciples went away again to their own homes. But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had said these things to her. (John 20:1-18, NASB)

Coming to the tomb, the grieving women expected to see its entrance blocked; it isn’t clear whether they knew a guard had been placed there by the Jewish religious leaders and Pilate. Arriving, they found a mystery. The stone had been rolled aside (no mean task, as it was large and was resting in a depression to keep it where it had been placed) and the entrance to the tomb was wide open. Walking in, they found it was empty! Coming out, mystified as to what happened, they found themselves in the presence of two “men” in bright white clothing (this was before the age of modern washing detergents!), who told them very incongruous, astounding, things. Alarmed, excited, probably only half understanding and less than half believing what they had been told, they ran and told the Disciples. A similar scene was replayed with Peter and John. Of all who came to and went from the empty tomb that morning, probably only Mary Magdalene, having seen and spoken with Jesus, fully understood and really believed Jesus had risen from the dead.

It would be easy to criticize Jesus’s followers, but then, we know the story. We imagine hindsight to be 20-20. These followers of Jesus had just come through the mental horror of seeing their beloved Master cruelly executed! Jesus’s death was excruciatingly real to them. And they had been living in fear of the prospect of being next! And now … an empty tomb? … two mysterious “men” saying Jesus was alive? They just could not wrap their minds around all of this in an instant! Knowing "the rest of the story", we know Jesus soon appeared to them, they became convinced that He was again alive, and after Pentecost these very ordinary people started on the task of turning their world upside down. Just so. But their initial shock and disbelief were entirely natural. Had we been in their place we probably would not have responded much differently.

Were this but a neat story about a cool moment in history, we could be justified in asking, “So what?” Well, indeed! Why is Jesus's resurrection so very important? Paul explained:

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. (1 Corinthians 15:16-24, NASB)

The resurrection of Jesus is not merely important in the Christian faith. The resurrection is at the very core of the Christian faith, of the redemption Jesus accomplished. No resurrection, and Jesus was an usually pleasant, sometimes profound, but seriously deluded dead guy. The resurrection was the triumphant culmination of the redemption Jesus accomplished. More than that, the resurrection is a promise, a prototype of believers’ future resurrection … to eternal life with God.