Remember, the Ten Commandments are not about receiving salvation. They are about Christian virtue. Virtue means having a high standard of moral goodness. When Jesus taught about the Ten Commandments of God, He exhibited much higher standards than not doing something, but focused more on why we do what we do. His teaching was about more than the normal, human way of trying to be right for everyone to see, but at the same time on the inside desiring to do something that you know to be wrong. One example I recently heard was of a child who was told not to go into the pool, but instead lays beside it putting her hand in the water. Technically, she was not in the water, but just her hand was in the water. However, her attitude was not one of true obedience.
Christian virtue is about being right in your inner person and avoiding destructive behaviors; a lifestyle which your obedience to the Ten Commandments of God creates. While that lifestyle does honor God, He wants everything we do to reflect His positive ways, inside and out. As Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40, we must first love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. Then we must love our neighbor as ourselves. The following Commandments are specific to our neighbor. He is teaching us how we must love our enemies, and actively love each other, meaning to be actively involved in doing good for them.
When Jesus was teaching on the Ten Commandments in Matthew 5:21-22, He quotes the sixth Commandment and then goes on to say that whoever is even angry without a cause, or insulting toward his brother is in trouble. He is teaching that the action of murder begins in the inner person with anger, hatred, prejudice, even the desire for revenge. According to Jesus, that is the spirit of murder. We have to deal with the root causes; inner rage, our hatred and our need for revenge.
On the seventh Commandment, 'Do not commit adultery,' God protects the sanctity of marriage as ordained from the beginning to be between a man and a woman. He tells us that to even look at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Don't look at pornography, don't lust after other people. This goes back to the inner person again. Just because you are not sleeping around on your wife or husband doesn't mean you are being faithful to your spouse in your inner person. Actions are produced and are a product of our thoughts and emotions and motivations. The positive Christian virtue is to faithfully love your husband or wife, because the love between a husband and wife is one of the greatest gifts God has ever given humanity.
The eighth Commandment is “Thou shalt not steal.” Paul encourages us in Ephesians 4:28 to steal no more, but instead to work hard so you may have enough to give to those in need. In Acts 20:35 he also reminds the group of Ephesian elders that he showed them in every way by his hard work just how to support the weak, and reminded them of the words of the Lord Jesus that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Right there is the philosophy and way of life based upon God's Word. Be honest, be true, be fair. Don't forget to include time. Don't steal it away from your family, your employer, or from God.
The ninth Commandment tells us to not be a false witness against our neighbor. The underlying principle here is that false testimony, being a false witness, is wrong. All forms of lying, unfaithfulness, lack of truth, are against the law of God, because it undermines justice and righteousness. Anything that works against righteousness works against the character and ways of God Himself. “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne. Mercy and truth go before Your face" (Psalms 89:14).
The last of the Ten Commandments tells us not to covet – to have a passionate and obsessive desire – our neighbor's wife, home, or any of his possessions. The problem with that passionate and obsessive desire is that eventually it's going to either motivate you to try to get your neighbor's wife, do something bad against your neighbor, or maybe treat your own mate very poorly because she is not the same. It will come out in some wrong way. When you become obsessed, you begin to make immoral decisions. Covetousness is the same as idolatry, and we know we have gone over the line when we put anything between us and God, making it more important than obeying God, being faithful to God, or spending time with God. Covetousness produces anxiety and obsession, corrupts our behavior, destroys our relationship with God, changes our character, changes our life's priorities.
Rather than just a list of what we can and can't do, God's commandments are guidelines for our thoughts and the measure for our behavior. We can use them to shape our hearts and minds, or ignore them and choose another way. God really wants to change our inner person so we can experience love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; literally forming us into the children of God.
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