Removing the 10 Commandments

By Clif Dennis

Riding through neighborhoods, we observe signs in many yards posting the 10 Commandments. Most are more a political protest than a religious statement of faith. A cottage industry has arisen manufacturing these signs and each time another court orders the removal of the 10 Commandments from a public building, it spawns another flurry of political indignation and protest. Political heroes are born of this movement when a public official refuses to obey a court order to remove the 10 Commandments. He/she acquires an immediate following, more political/emotional than religious.

So many "religionists" today fail to understand the teaching of Scripture in its proper context. In a proper Biblical context, it is understood that the 10 Commandments was given to Moses by God to  a specific people, the children of Israel, for a specific purpose, "that you may live" Deut. 4:1. Moses addressed Israel. "Now , O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you (Israel) to observe,..." Deut. 4:1. Later in Deuteronomy 4:13-14, The words of Moses: "So He (God) declared to you (Israel) His covenant ....that is the Ten Commandments; "And the Lord commanded me (Moses) at that time (which time?, during the time they were wandering in the wilderness after leaving Egypt’s bondage, with no law to guide them) to teach you (Israel) statutes and judgments, that you (Israel) might observe them in the land which you (Israel) cross over to possess."  Understand that these people, the Israelites, had been in slavery in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years, with no law of their own, subject only to the laws of their masters. Once they left Egypt, and on their own, God established them as a people with their own culture and His guidance, namely, the 10 Commandments and the statutes following. This was the Law of Moses, intended for Israel. These were to be observed by Israel, only, even after crossing Jordan into Canaan.  But God had given a broader promise for man.  He spoke with Abraham many centuries before this. Genesis 12:1-3: "Now the Lord said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation;....and in you all families of the earth shall be blessed." This promise to "all nations" would then include Gentiles. Jeremiah 31:31-32, "Behold, the days are coming (future) when I will make a new covenant, (Christ’s' law to govern His Kingdom on earth, the church)  with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- not according to the covenant I (10 Commandments) made with their fathers (those fresh out of Egypt’s bondage) in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my Covenant (which covenant?, law of Moses, including the 10 Commandments) which they broke...."

The Kingdom of Christ, Christ’s' church, fulfilled Jeremiah. Acts 2 verifies that the church was established on the first Pentecost after the resurrection, when the apostles preached the first gospel sermon, putting into place that new covenant so plainly predicted by Jeremiah. Since then Christians, (those who have met the requirements of God as Peter laid them out in Acts 2:38) both Jews and Gentiles, worship and serve God under the "perfect law of liberty" James 1:25. God's promise to Abraham of a Savior for all mankind, many centuries before Moses, over-arched the law of Moses. Moses' law was a parenthetical, added because of Israel’s constant sins until such time as "that which is perfect has come" (the complete revelation of the New Testament to the apostles) 1 Corinthians 13:10.

To further verify this, Paul in Galatians 3:23-25 says: "But before faith came (during the Law of Moses) (faith being the law of Christ) we were kept under guard by the law, (of Moses) kept for the faith (law of Christ) which would afterward (after the cross) be revealed. Therefore the law (of Moses) was a tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith (law of Christ).  But after faith has come, (law of Christ) we are no longer under a tutor (the law of Moses).

He who has ears to hear, let him hear! Jesus--Matthew 11:15

[Via The Reminder, Volume 5, Number 6]

THE CHURCH AND ITS WORK

By Gilbert Alexander

The first local church assembled at Jerusalem. It came into existence through obedience to the plan of God for salva­tion (Acts 2:37-41, 47). That first church became an example of church organization, work, and diligence regarding evangelism. Brotherly love was evident among them. The first several chapters of the book of Acts tell of the growth and development of the church there as "they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42).

The focus of the first church of the Lord was upon spiritu­al things. The physical things mentioned concerning them were related directly to the spiritual responsibility of the church collectively and of individual Christians. They were not called to play and have entertaining parties. We read nothing about horseshoes, bingo, upward basketball, soft­ball, recreational retreats, carnivals, rock concerts, festi­vals, yard sales, and such like. Read Acts 1-12 and see if such things are even hinted at.

We can read in the Scriptures about a people who "sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play" (Exodus 32:6). It is not a flattering picture. "The kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17); nor is it recreation and enter­tainment. How can people take something as holy and rev­erent as worship to God, and turn it into a thing of carnal indulgence?  The local churches in the New Testament which were approved in their conduct were not guilty of profaning the kingdom of God or its work and worship. Are people today so benighted that they cannot distinguish between the spiritual things and the carnal things? Have people concluded that the way to touch a man spiritually is to draw him with fleshly pleasures? The Greeks loved sports and competitions, but Paul refused to use those inter­ests or pride in human wisdom as a way to reach them with the gospel (I Corinthians 2:1-5). As we read of the first church or subsequent churches of the Lord, we find them instructed in spiritual things and making those things their faith and practice. Let us do likewise. &!