The Ten Commandments: God’s Heart

The Ten Commandments: God’s Heart

Before we spend time talking about the Ten Commandments, let’s remember that both Jesus and Paul had much to say about the law and how we should view it.

This is a subject that could fill entire books and libraries, but let me try to address it briefly here. It begins with this: as Christians, we are no longer bound by the law. Paul explains it this way:

Galatians 2:19

“For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.”

The law cannot bring life. It only brings judgment and death. But Jesus came with a very different message:

John 10:10

“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

That abundant life is not found by being enslaved to the law. So why spend time looking at the Ten Commandments? Aren’t they part of the very law we are no longer bound to?

Yes—but they are also something more. While the law exposes the true nature of our sinful hearts, the Ten Commandments also reveal God’s heart.

God gave them to Moses to show us what matters most to Him. Obeying the Ten Commandments is not the way of salvation, but obedience becomes the joyful expression of salvation once we are redeemed.

The children of God love the Ten Commandments and long to obey them because walking with God is our deepest desire. Living out the Ten Commandments is the natural outpouring of our relationship with Christ. We cherish them—not because we are bound by them, but because we want what God wants.

So, we will approach the Ten Commandments with that perspective: they reveal the heart of God to us. These commands should stir our desire and passion, even while we recognize that they cannot save us. Jesus has already done that.

Micah 6:8

“He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”