The Ten Commandments & The Great Commandment

Theologians have commonly divided up the ten commandments into two parts (or “tables”). The first part consists of the first four commandments (i.e. Exodus 20:3-11), while the second part consists of the last six commandments (i.e. Exodus 20:12-17).

The first four commandments deal with our relationship to God, while the last six commandments deal with our relationship with our neighbor. The Westminster Larger Catechism says that “the first four commandments [contain] our duty to God, and the other six our duty to man” (Q.98).

This distinction is also clearly implied in Matthew’s Gospel, where someone asks Jesus the question, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:36, KJV). Jesus answered:

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40, KJV)

Notice that Jesus basically includes two (2) commandments there: Love God and love your neighbor. When he says, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets,” he is essentially saying that in some way those two commandments can be considered the summary of the entire Old Testament.

Not surprisingly, those two commandments are also a summary of the two parts of the ten commandments as well. In other words, the first four commandments show you what it means to love God, while the last six commandments show you what it means to love your neighbor.

And so if you truly love God, you will not have any other gods before him (Exodus 20:3). If you love God, you will not worship him through images or idols (Exodus 20:4-6). If you love God you will not take his name in vain (Exodus 20:7). And, finally, if you love God you will remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy (Exodus 20:8-11).

That is what true love for God looks like.

Likewise, if you truly love your neighbor as yourself, you will honor your father and your mother (the first authority figures in your life – Exodus 20:12). If you love your neighbor as yourself, you will not commit murder against him or her (Exodus 20:13), commit adultery against him or her (Exodus 20:14), steal from him or her (Exodus 20:15), bear false witness against him or her (Exodus 20:16), or even covet anything that belongs to him or her (Exodus 20:17).

That is what true love for your neighbor looks like.

In future posts I hope to spend some time examining each of the ten commandments, in order. May the Lord Jesus be pleased to use these studies to help you and I learn more about what it means to truly love Him and love our neighbor as ourselves.

Sinclair Ferguson on the Law and Love

Many in our day seem to pit law and love against each other, as if love somehow renders the law of God unnecessary, or as if rules and relationships (or loving ones anyway)  were mutual exclusive. But is this the biblical way of looking at it? What is the right way to view the relationship between law (specifically the ten commandments) and love?

In his book, Devoted to God, Sinclair Ferguson writes,

“In fact love was always at the heart of God’s law. It was given by love to be received in love and obeyed through love. The divine commandments could be summed up in the great commandment to love God with heart, soul, and strength. Thus Jesus himself teaches that if we love him we will keep his commandments. Paul adds that rather than nullify[ing] the law the gospel strengthens it. Moreover specific laws from the Decalogue are almost casually sprinkled throughout the New Testament. Not only does love not abolish the law, but the law commands love!” (p.162-163)

Even in the very text of the ten commandments themselves this is explicitly stated. Look at the text of the 2nd commandment (as stated in Exodus 20:4-6):

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (ESV, italics mine)

Those who commit the sin of idolatry are said to “hate” God. Why? Because they commit idolatry. In other words, if they truly loved God, they would not commit idolatry (or have other Gods before Him, or take His name in vain, etc.). Love, in many ways, is defined by its actions. So while love certainly involves more than our outward actions (i.e. it includes right motives), it does not involve less than our outward actions (i.e. it doesn’t render them meaningless or unnecessary).

And how does God Himself describe those who love Him? As those who “love me and keep my commandments” (v.6). So love and commandment-keeping go together – and they always have. And (as the saying goes), what God has joined together, let no man separate.