The Purpose of the Ten Commandments
In his Small and Large Catechisms, Martin Luther begins by teaching Christians the Ten Commandments. But the purpose of the giving of the Ten Commandments is almost universally misunderstood. A most helpful way to understand them is by picturing God, not as a Law-giver, but rather as your Protector in life. What do I mean by that? Well, as your Protector in life, God has placed a fence, or a barrier, around both you and all the good gifts he desires to freely give to you. He puts up a line of protection around each gift to stop someone trespassing, in order to get at or take away what’s yours. Think of the Ten Commandments firstly as a high chain-mail fence with barbed wire on top, or a steep and slippery embankment, or a castle wall, or the Great Wall of China, or a mote, rather than just a list of “must not do’s” and “must do’s.”
Consider the Table below. The most important thing is to remember what God’s gifts to you are.
Number The Gift The Commandment
1 God himself I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods.
2 God’s holy name You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
3 God’s holy Word Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy
4 Your Rightful Authority Honour your father and your mother
5 Your life You shall not murder
6 Your marriage & family life You shall not commit adultery
7 Your property You shall not steal
8 Your good reputation You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour
9 &10 Your contentment You shall not covet your neighbour’s house, & You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife or his servants or any of his possessions
Think of yourself surrounded by a fence with all of God’s gifts he wants to keep safe for you!
As your Protector in life, God desires to gift you with everyting that’s inside the safety & protection of the fence. God freely provides you with Himself, His Name, His Word, Parental Authority, your Life, your Family, your Property, your Good Reputation, and your Contentment. God truly desires that each gift remains safe with you, so he gives the Ten Commandments as a wall of protection. The fence would have to be knocked over, tunnelled under, or jumped over, that is, tresspassed, in order for those gifts to be taken away from you. God truly wants you to keep what's yours.
The Function of the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments firstly, curb outright anarchy (1), profanity (2), false worship and false teaching (3), rebellion (4), murder (5), sexual immorality (6), theft (7), false testimony (8), & enticement/seduction (9 & 10). The numbers in brackets refer to what trespassing the Commandments looks like in real life. Because all people are equally capable of falling into temptation and rebelling, swearing, stealing, lying, etc, the Ten Commandments therefore also act as a mirror to expose a person’s sinful thoughts, words and deeds. In other words, the Commandments shine a spotlight upon our dark deeds.
A biblical example of the human condition in not being able to diagnose personal sin reliably and accurately (i.e. without the use of the Ten Commandments), is when Pharoah wants to build Egypt’s economy and protect its national security. In his mind, he justified the enslaving of the Hebrews to help build his kingdom. He thought he was doing good for the advancement of his people, that is, all who lived in Egypt.
Lastly, the Ten Commandments act as a guide. Because the Christian always carries around with him his sinful flesh, he is still always susceptible to falling into temptation and making bad decisions and therefore, tresspassing. Therefore the Ten Commandments also act as a guide for your good decision making (i.e. making right choices) and therefore, also as a guide into fulfilling the demands of the law.
For example: The 5th Commandment: You shall not murder. We are not only to withhold our hands from murdering, but also our mouths and brains from speaking or plotting hurtful words. But on the flip-side, the 5th Commandment also demands that we are to help our neighbours in all their physical needs. In other words, we are to act like God, that is, godly, in helping keep God’s gift of life safe and uninjured for our neighbour. (The parable of the Good Samaritan – Luke 10:25-37)
Therefore the Ten Commandments are given by God to us for our protection. You only need to have something stolen from you or have your name “dragged through the mud” for instance, to feel unprotected and therefore, violated. The technical term for this would be transgression, it means trust was broken.
The Old Testament uses 3 different Hebrew words for SIN. “Sin” is to fail or miss the target or goal. Essentially, it desrcibes moral failure. Characteristically it is failing to love God and your neighbour by not treating them with the honour they deserve. “Transgression” is breaking trust. It’s basically rebellion, or a betrayal of a relaitonship. While “Iniquity” is behaviour that is crooked, like worshipping other gods or also a failure in morality – lying, adultery, murder, corruption and even describes cycles of retaliation.
Therefore God puts the fence up (i.e. the Ten Commandments) for very positive reasons! This is the best way to meditate on the Ten Commandments. We can thank God for his protection over our souls, over our bodies, over our families, over our possessions, over our reputation and over our contentment.