The Ten Commandments, and No, You Can't Keep Them

I knew a man in St. Louis who taught ethics at a Christian high school. He used to say that he was qualified to teach the Ten Commandments because he had broken every one of them. I use this story to say that even people who preach and teach can't perfectly do what they are preaching and teaching.

But more often than you think, this story causes confusion and consternation. Recently, a mature Christian lady, without a second's thought, asked, "well, did he murder anybody?" Yes, I told her, he had murdered plenty of people (Matthew 5:21). I had, too. So, probably, had she.

I got news: when Jesus showed up, he didn't abolish the law. He amplified it. He made it harder. Murder, as far as Jesus was concerned, extended beyond simply whacking somebody. If you hated someone in your heart, you were guilty of murder. And adultery went beyond a roll in the hay. Now, if you simply looked at a woman with lust, you were guilty.

I don't know anyone who hasn't broken all ten at some time or another. That doesn't mean we give up and do whatever we like. We try. We work out our salvation with fear and trembling. But the whole point of the Ten Commandments, or decalogue, is to point out our sin and drive us to God. Jesus kept the law because we couldn't (and still can't).

Certain ultra-conservative brands of Christianity would call me antinomian (against the law). People like me are turncoats, quitters. We should be trying harder. Maybe so. I wish you all best of luck. But do me a favor, eh? When you get old and ready to die, give me a call and let me know how it went.

Comments

[Alecto]

Well thank you then, Antinomian for existing at all. I stumbled over your blog by accident and come back fairly frequently for a dose of faith and sense. It isn't that I don't have any faith, I have plenty, but I was raised outside of any church with one lapsed Methodist and an athiest (was gonna be a preacher but lost his nerve) Dutch Reform. It is hard to keep searching when nearly every church or temple door says, no, not you, unless you can get squarely in this little box of religion we've got right here, and really, I just can't do that. I do love your site, very much. Thank you.

[DB]

Thanks, Alecto. You are exactly the kind of person for whom I write.