God's Commandments

God has given us His guidance through the Bible.  It is in the Bible that we find what our purpose is and what we are supposed to be doing in our lives.  This information comes in stories, history, and commands.  On this page we are going to address the commands given to us.

The Bible has a lot of instructions in it and many are considered commandments, or laws.  Over time theologians have categorized these laws, into three types: societal, ceremonial, and moral.  Typically within Christian circles, the societal and ceremonial laws are only considered as supporting information rather than currently binding upon us.  This view is because these laws applied to the times and communities in which they were written (centuries ago in now nonexistent communities).  The moral laws, though, are considered to be universal and still in effect upon us.  Two sets of moral laws, or commandments, are of particular interest.  The first are the those described in the Bible as the "greatest commandments".  The second group of commandments are the popularly known Ten Commandments.  Just as the book of Genesis provided an introduction to the foundational issues of morality, these two groups of commandments give us a place to begin to implement God's morality in our lives.

The Greatest Commandments

These commandments are mentioned first in the Old Testament and then again by Jesus Christ in the New Testament.  These commandments are:
As mentioned on the introduction page, morality plays a significant role in how we all get along with each other; including, and perhaps especially, with God.  These are succinct commandments and most of us understand their basic statements.  One word though is pivotal to understanding them, love.

God is love and knowing Him lets us know love.  We therefore need to know God before we can truly love our neighbor.  Love is the connection between us and God, and the connection between each other.

The Ten Commandments

Although the "greatest commandments" are a moral foundation, we need to break things down to cases and the Ten Commandments does that.  Although there are generally recognized to be ten commandments in the Biblical text referred to as the Ten Commandments, the verses are divided up slightly differently between some religious groups.  These are the Bible verses without being divided up into commandments:
1 And God said all these words, saying, 2 I am the LORD your God, which has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 you shall have no other gods before me. 4 you shall not make for yourself any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 you shall not bow down to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 7 you shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain. 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shall you labor, and do all your work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor a stranger that is within your gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 12 Honor your father and your mother: that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God has given you. 13 you shall not kill. 14 you shall not commit adultery. 15 you shall not steal. 16 you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 you shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is your neighbor's. (Exodus 20:1 - 17)
Now a reasonable depiction of the Ten Commandments is:
1 I am the LORD your God you shall have no other gods before me
2 You shall not make for yourself any graven image
3 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain
4 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy
5 Honor your father and your mother
 6 You shall not murder
 7 You shall not commit adultery
 8 You shall not steal
 9 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
 10 You shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is your neighbor's
We can see that the Ten Commandments can be categorized into two categories.  The first category is the, "love God," category and it comprises the first four commandments.  The second category is the, "love our neighbors," category and it comprises the rest of the commandments.  Notice that most of the text is dedicated to the first four commandments.  Furthermore, it is not unreasonable to consider the Fifth Commandment to be a transition commandment.  God is our creator whom we are to honor, our parents owe their creation to God just like all people, but they are also our creators.

The Ten Commandments are probably the most well know commandments of the Bible.  With their popularity has come a view that they are all encompassing.  That view is probably not correct.  For example, it would take some creativity on the part of the reader to find which of the Ten Commandments would be applicable to drunkenness.  Yet, drunkenness is condemned in the New Testament and given at least dim view in the Old Testament.  Likewise, violence is not mentioned in the Ten Commandments, only murder.  Yet, in other parts of the Bible it is condemned.  Therefore, the Ten Commandments should not be considered the end of the commandment trail, but as a significant landmark along the trail.

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