Simple Explanation Of Each Commandment

Simple Explanations of God’s Scriptural Ten Commandments, along with a brief explanation of each. 

1. Do not have any “gods of others” before My Presences. (No trespassing against the TRIUNE GOD.)
We should fear, love and trust in God [God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit] above all things.
The most common English translation of the First Commandment is, “You shall not have other gods before Me.”  This translation is the main source of confusion for many people who want to serve the One True God but reject Jesus Christ as God.  The first commandment does not prohibit worship of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit along with God the Father.  This view is reinforced in Psalm 45:6-7 (where God the Father calls Jesus Christ "God"), Acts 5:3-4 (where Peter calls God the Holy Spirit "God"), Genesis 16:7-14, 21:17-20 (Hagar, mother of Ishmael, declared Jesus Christ, God who sees and cares), Genesis 22:10-18 (when pre-incarnate Christ stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac), Genesis 31:10-13,32: 24-32  (when pre-incarnate Christ met Jacob), Exodus 3:2-22 (when pre-incarnate Christ met Moses), Exodus 14:19 (when pre-incarnate Christ led Israel through the Red Sea), Joshua 5:13-15 (Joshua bows down with his face on the ground and worships Jesus Christ, the Captain of the Lord's Army), Zechariah 3:4 (Jesus Christ pardons the guilt/sins of Joshua, the high priest), to name a few.

2. Do not make an idol for yourself. Do not worship or serve them. (No trespassing against the TRIUNE GOD.)
We should fear and love God, that we may not spend our God-given resources and energy on worthless idols, even in the name of the Triune God.  Idols have always been a trap in the life of God’s people.  God-given resources and energy should only be used to meditate and spread the Gospel.  Idols can take many forms including extreme devotion to family, other human beings, tradition, education, career, wealth, even church building instead of devotion to the Triune God. 

3. Do not use the name of the LORD your God in a useless way. (No trespassing against the TRIUNE GOD'S NAME, REPUTATION.)
We should fear and love God that we may not curse, swear, use witchcraft (includes astrology, palm reading, observing omen, talking to dead and similar activities), lie, or deceive by His (the Triune God’s) name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.

4. Remember to keep the Sabbath day [rest day] holy. (No trespassing against the TRIUNE GOD'S WORD.)
We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. Christians should refrain from using Sundays for shopping, entertaining, catching up with work, exercising, sporting activities, etc. Sabbath should be used to worship and learn more about the Triune God.

5. Honor your father and your mother. (No trespassing against AUTHORITY.)
We should fear and love God that we may not despise our parents and other authorities (e.g., a country's premier / president / prime minister, government authorities, boss at work, teachers, pastors, etc.), nor provoke them to anger, but give them honor, serve and obey them, and hold them in love and esteem.

6. Do not murder. (No trespassing against HUMAN LIFE.)
We should fear and love God that we may not hurt, harm or insult (Matthew 5:22) any human being in his/her body or soul, but help and support him/her in every physical and spiritual need.

7. Do not commit adultery. (No trespassing against SEXUAL CLEANNESS.)
We should fear and love God that we may lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say (no obscene words) and do, and each love and honor his/her spouse.

8. Do not steal. (No trespassing against YOUR NEIGHBOR'S PROPERTY AND BUSINESS.)
We should fear and love God that we may not take our neighbor's money or possessions, nor get them in any dishonest way, but help him/her to improve and protect his/her possessions and income.

9. Do not lie concerning your neighbor. (No trespassing against YOUR NEIGHBOR'S GOOD REPUTATION.)
We should fear and love God that we may not tell lies, betray, slander our neighbor, or hurt his/her reputation, but defend him/her, speak well of him/her, and put the best construction on everything.

10. Do not covet your neighbor's house. Do not covet your neighbor's wife, his male or female servant, his ox, donkey, or anything that is his. (No trespassing against having HOLY THOUGHTS or HOLY DESIRES.)
We should fear and love God that we may not scheme to get our neighbor's inheritance or house, nor get it in a way which only appears right, but help and be of service to him/her in keeping it.  We should also fear and love God that we may not estrange, force, or entice away our neighbor's wife/husband, workers, animals, or gadgets [stuff] or turn them against him/her, but urge them to stay and do their duty. This commandment also requires us to guard against pursuing unethical profits (e.g. interest bearing loans), greed, materialism or consumerism. 

Christ's take on the Ten Commandments

“One of them, an expert in the Law, tested Jesus by asking Him, 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law (Ten Commandments)?’

Jesus answered the lawyer by first quoting "the Shema"; "Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is One. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" [the first 4 commandments].  This is the greatest and the most important commandment.  Jesus then said, the next greatest commandment is like it: Love your neighbor like yourself [the last 6 commandments].  All the Law (Ten Commandments) and the prophets depend on these two commandments.

Matthew 22: 36–40 & Mark 12:28–30

NOTE: Although one should strive to lead a holy life, the 10 commandments are simply "impossible" for any human being to keep, except for Jesus Christ (who is also Creator of the heavens and earth, along with God the Father and Holy Spirit).  According to the Bible in James 2:10, one can keep the Ten Commandments 99.999% of the time and still not found to be worthy of heaven.  Also, one can steal a worthless pencil and end up breaking all the Ten Commandments at once.  Heaven according to Christians is a place where Jesus Christ is worshiped as Lord and King, along with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.  The only way to heaven is to repent of one's sins and have faith that Jesus Christ paid for all your sins and kept the Ten Commandments perfectly for you.  A repentant sinner’s belief in Jesus Christ equals heaven—no matter how bad the sins have been.

NOTE:  Several of the brief explanations are modified from The Small Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther.

The First Commandment

In the last post, we saw the Members of the Trinity -- God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit -- appear to the Israelites on three different mountains during the giving of the law. The Israelites already knew about God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, for in Exodus 14:19 we read that Malek of [All] the Gods [haElohim] and the Pillar of Fire and Cloud [the Holy Spirit] were leading Israelites out of Egypt. I should add that the very famous golden calf story and its retelling in Nehemiah (read the LXX version) and Acts (Stephen’s account) also reveal that the Israelites understood that both Malek Yahveh and God the Holy Spirit is God (we'll discuss this further in a later post).

Now, what exactly did God the Father say when He gave the first commandment? The most common English translation is, “You shall not have other deities before Me.” This translation is the main source of confusion for many people who want to serve the One True God but reject the Trinity. The English translation is very clear: God the Father commands the Israelites not to worship any god (which may also include God the Son and God the Holy Spirit) other than Him. While this translation may lead one to believe that the first commandment is Unitarian, we should be clear that it is not. In fact, the original Hebrew translation tells a different story, making both a distinction (against false gods) and an allowance (for God the Son and Holy Spirit).

Let there be [singular verb] to you no Elohim [plural noun] Acharim [plural adjective] before My Presences [plural noun Panim] (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 5:7).

By using the words Elohim Acharim (which literally means deities of others) and Panim (or "My Presences" – God the Son and God the Holy Spirit) God the Father makes both a distinction and an allowance. The inclusion of "deities of others" (human's or devil's) is interesting, because since there is only one true God, other so called “gods” are just human imaginations given “god”-like status (Isaiah 44:14-20). However, the deities of others clause makes an allowance for the Divine Beings whom God the Father calls God - i.e. His Presences. In the first commandment, God the Father clearly makes it known to Israelites that His Presences are co-equal to Him and worthy of worship. This view is reinforced in Psalm 45:6-7 (where God the Father calls God the Son God) and Acts 5:3-4 (where Peter calls God the Holy Spirit God), to name a few.

Living Gods -- Part 1

The phrase translated in English as “living God” appears at least 15 times in the Old Testament and another 20 times in the New Testament. However, in the Old Testament Hebrew both singular (Khayyim El – living God) and plural (Khayyim Elohim – living Gods) forms of this phrase exists. In this post, I will focus on the very first occurrence of the plural phrase (Khayyim Elohim or chai·yim Elohim), which is found in Deuteronomy 5:26.

For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living Gods [Khayyim Elohim] speaking out of the middle of the fire, as we (Israelites) have, and lived?

Deuteronomy 5:26

In Deuteronomy 5, Moses re-recited the ten commandments and “replayed” what the Israelites said during during the delivering of the law recorded in Exodus 19 and 20. In Exodus 20:19 we read “Then they (Israelites) said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not Elohim speak to us, or we will die."
Deuteronomy 5:26 is interesting because Moses really did mean that the Israelites saw the “living Gods” during the giving of the ten commandments recorded in Exodus 19 and 20. Moses expanded this further when he blessed the Israelites before his death in Deuteronomy 33:1-2. The blessing implies that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit stood in three separate mountains during the delivering of the law recorded in Exodus 19 and 20. This also has a huge implication in the interpretation of the first commandment, which I will discuss in my next post.

This is the blessing that Moses the man of [All] the Gods [haElohim] pronounced on the Israelites before his death:

Yhovah [the Father] came from Sinai, and [the Son] dawned over them from Seir; He [the Spirit] shone forth from Mount Paran. He [the Father] came with myriads of holy ones from the south, from His [the Father’s*] mountain slopes.

Deuteronomy 33:1-2

Deutronomy 33:2 could be translated either “from Sinai…from Seir…from Paran,” or “at Sinai…at Seir…at Paran.” These mounts are in comparative proximity to each other. What’s important, here, is that the supernatural event recorded in Deutronomy 33:2 is one event, with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit appearing simultaneously to the sons of Israel during the giving of the law.

Note: It is clear from Exodus 19:20 that God the Father came down on Mount Sinai. However, Deutronomy 33:2 does not assign Mount Seir to the Son and Mount Paran to the Holy Spirit. This can be deduced from the order we use during worship - i.e. Father (Sinai), Son (Seir) and the Holy Spirit (Paran). Mount Paran is also related to the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit rested on seventy elders at Paran (Numbers 11:25).

The Holy Trinity at a Glance

The ultimate goal of this blog is to educate Christians and non-Christians that the Bible, taken as a whole, is greater than the sum of its parts (Old Testament (or Torah) and New Testament). Toward that end, we cite passages, from throughout the Bible, that illustrate God's tri-unity.

The Tri-unity of God

The only true God is the Triune God (Trinity):

three distinct Persons–

God the Father, God the Son [Jesus Christ], God the Holy Spirit–

in one divine Being or Essence.

(The Holy Trinity–3 in 1 and 1 in 3)

The teaching of Trinity (3 in 1 and 1 in 3) is, to be sure, a “great mystery” (1 Timothy 3:16), a very non-understandable “article of faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Note: Tri-unity is not be confused with tritheism, which erroneously contends there are three Gods. To repeat, there is only one God in three Persons, as a triangle has three angles and three sides but is still just one triangle. Compare Mark 12:29 (cf. John 10:30) with Matthew 28:19.

Psalm 82:6-8

6. I [God the Son] say, " you are gods; you are all children of the Most High.

7. But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler."

8. Rise up, O God [the Son] and judge the earth, for all the nations are your [the Son’s] inheritance!

In John 10:30 (read John 10:22-40), Jesus (Yeshua) declares, “I and the Father are one” – that is, (Jesus) is God. The non-believers quickly accuse Him of blasphemy. In affirming He is God, Jesus alludes to Psalm 82:6-8 and interprets these versus for them. In verse 6, the human beings who receive “the Word [God the Son]” are made into “gods.” Thus, it stands to reason that the Word Himself (i.e. Jesus Christ – Word became flesh) should be God.

Verse 8 must be God the Father addressing the Son as “God,” since God the Father cannot have the earth as an inheritance; only as a possession. The Father, however, can give the earth to God the Son as an inheritance.

It should be noted that God the Father calling the Son “God” is not limited to Psalm 82:8; the writer of Hebrews says God the Father calls the Son “God” in Psalm 45:6-7 (Hebrews 1:8-9). Psalm 82 also parallels the prophecies that God the Father would give Israel (Deuteronomy 32:8-9) and the nations to his Anointed Son (Dan 7:13-14). The Great Commission verse (Matthew 28:18-19) also comes into mind when one reads Psalm 82:

Then Jesus came up and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to me. So wherever you go, make disciples of all nations: Baptize them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Psalm 110:4-6

Psalm 110:4-6 is also Trinitarian (and messianic, though it has yet to be fulfilled):

4. The LORD [God the Father] has sworn and will not change His mind: "You [God the Son] are a Priest forever like Melchizedek."

Christian scholars believe that Psalm 110 is messianic, for David prophesizes that the messiah will be the eternal priest / king (verse 4). This is fulfilled in the NT, as God the Son after his death and resurrection indeed became a king priest in the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:6).

Here are two key messianic takeaways from verse 4:

- David’s master, God the Son, is a priest forever

- David was not a priest and was not even allowed to build the Temple (so how could the Messiah be David’s son?)

The mentions of three persons – e.g., “the Spirit was the witness to a conversation between David’s Lord, the Father and Son” – make it undeniably Trinitarian.

5. The Lord [God the Holy Spirit] is at Your [God the Son] right hand; He [God the Holy Spirit] will shatter kings in the day of His wrath.

If we read Psalm 110 carefully, we will notice that in verse 1, God the Father asks God the Son to sit at His right (So God the Father is at the Son’s left-hand side). Then, we read in verse 5: The Lord [God the Holy Spirit] is at Your [God the Son] right hand. Thus, we see there are two different Lords who are helping God the Son to claim his kingly priesthood.