Since we are saved by grace through faith in Christ, are the Ten Commandments still relevant in the Christian life?
As we walk through Scripture, we see that Jesus doesn’t merely follow and fulfill the Ten Commandments—He utterly transforms them. Rather than diminishing them, He deepens and widens them. Because of Christ, the primary impact of the Ten Commandments in our lives should be to overwhelm us with His glory and cause us to fall down before Him in worship.
Reviewing the Ten Commandments
Culturally speaking, the Ten Commandments are widely recognized. Most people have some familiarity with them, but how well do we understand their meaning? The Ten Commandments can be divided into two groups.
The first four focus on a person’s heart, thoughts, and actions toward God. (Note: the following are short summaries, not the full text of the commandments).
1. Have no other gods before Him
2. Neither create nor worship an idol
3. Do not misuse the name of the Lord
4. Remember the Sabbath—keep it holy
The last six focus on a person’s heart, thoughts, and actions toward other people.
5. Honor your father and mother
6. Do not murder
7. Do not commit adultery
8. Do not steal
9. Do not bear false witness (or false testimony) against your neighbor
10. Do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor
Some are “dos.” Some are “don’ts.” While the Law is more than these ten directives, in essence, this is the heart of what God requires. This is what righteousness, holiness, and godliness looks like as God’s people live out their days before Him and others.
Did you know Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments? He did this when an expert in the Law came to Jesus, asking, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” — Matthew 22:36-40
What Jesus did here is mind-blowing. He went beyond the question. He summarized the Ten Commandments, distilling their essence into those two categories—toward God and toward other people. But Jesus did more than that. After distilling the commandments into His own words, Jesus then labeled His words as commandments themselves.
Who is this Teacher with the authority to speak like this?
Let’s think back to where the Law—and the Ten Commandments specifically—came from. It was given by God to His people through Moses. We find this in Exodus 20. The Ten Commandments were carved into stone tablets by the finger of God Himself on a mountaintop and were handed to Moses.
It’s hard to miss the symbolism. Even today we say things like, “It’s not like it’s written in stone.” In other words, it’s malleable or can be changed.
But if it’s written in stone, it cannot be changed … not even in the smallest detail.
It is not a coincidence that when Jesus begins to teach the crowds in His greatest sermon, it is also on a mountain. Let’s do a little comparing and contrasting between those two epic moments in the history of redemption.
The presence of God on both mountains
In Moses’ day, the Israelites do not go with Moses to the top of Mount Sinai to meet with God. It is just Moses and God, the Great I Am.
At Sinai, God meets Moses in a great cloud of glory as He speaks with Moses and reveals how His covenant people must live under His rule.
In Matthew 5 at the Sermon on the Mount, the presence of God, now incarnate, is doing this again. Except now, His glory is veiled in human flesh. Jesus is, in a sense, reenacting the giving of the Law. What He speaks is from His own authority. He’s telling people how they must live as citizens of the Kingdom of heaven.
The Law at Sinai was written in stone. And it is with that kind of permanence Jesus speaks of it in the Sermon on the Mount. He says:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
—Matthew 5:17
That final phrase matters: fulfill them. This is the single most important thing to hear from Jesus about the Law. Jesus has come to fulfill it. But that begs another question. What does it mean to fulfill the law?
For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
—Matthew 5:18-20
The boldness of Jesus here is breathtaking. He is upholding the law as authoritative, totally complete in its perfection. Sometimes people get the impression that since Jesus is “gentle and lowly” it means He’s soft and lenient—but that’s not true!
For a long time, not just in ancient Israel but today as well, people think their good behavior or obedience is what makes them acceptable before God. That if they can do enough good things to outweigh the bad, their spiritual account moves into a positive balance. But Jesus shatters that notion. The most impressive spiritual people in that day (at least in people’s eyes)—the Pharisees and teachers of the law—came up woefully short.
Throughout history, all of Israel repeatedly falls short, which is why the covenant has to be renewed between God and His people again and again. People like Joshua, David, Solomon, and Josiah come with a moment of rededication and renewal of covenant. There was a reason it was being renewed.
The people had utterly forsaken the law but now were returning to it.
Jesus upholds the authority of the law over all of humanity. He says there’s not a single part of the law—not even a pen stroke—that will be erased or even bent a little bit. It’s going to be that way until heaven and earth pass away, and just as true on the other side of the cross.
Yet, from the rest of the New Testament, and especially the writings of Paul, we see believers in Jesus are no longer under the Law, but under grace. Salvation is not by works. But to reiterate the opening question of this article, if it’s true that we’re saved by grace, how can the Law remain in force?
The answer is fulfillment. Christ came to fulfill the Law on our behalf. Because of this, we can be confident that the Ten Commandments speak to an even greater reality—one that causes us to fall to our knees in worship.
And in our worship and adoration of Christ, out of gratitude, we now strive toward Christlikeness even as the Spirit of God works that transformation in us. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “…beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Where we go from here
Years ago, Dr. Edmund Clowney was a bit of a pioneer to help Christians in the West return to something that too many had forgotten, but which Christians in centuries before had known well—that the Old Testament points to Jesus, in some way, on every page of every book of the Bible.
Dr. Clowney’s final book was literally finished and accepted by the publisher when he was lying on his deathbed. More accessible than his more academically focused books, it shares the same title as the article you’re reading now: How Jesus Transforms the Ten Commandments.
If you want to take your study of Jesus and the Ten Commandments even further, that book is a great place to start. You can also listen to this podcast with Dr. Clowney’s daughter who worked closely with him on bringing this final book to publication.
Wherever you go from here, I hope these words help you better fix your eyes upon Jesus in all of Scripture and all of life.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
President of Haven Ministries since November 2023, David Wollen is the host of the daily Haven Today radio broadcast. He resides in the greater Chicago area with his wife, Marci, and their three children. They are active leaders in their church where David serves as an elder and part of the preaching team, and Marci leads women’s ministries. David is passionate about teaching God’s Word with God’s heart. He sees this as synonymous with Haven’s longtime tagline: “Telling the Great Story … it’s all about Jesus!”
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