ARE 10 COMMANDMENTS STILL RELEVANT (2)?
(Message by Tanny Keng)
0. Introduction
a) Can the ten commandments bring liberty? A generally accepted principle among many professing Christian churches is that all aspects of the old covenant served to point the nation of Israel to the coming sacrifice of Jesus Christ; once that sacrifice was made, the entire package of old covenant laws became obsolete. According to this concept, adherence to a written code of laws, like the ten commandments, is not relevant to Christianity because Christ now writes the laws He wants to be obeyed on our hearts.
1. Existing before Moses
a) Did the law exist BEFORE the time of the Exodus? A good place to begin is in the Garden of Eden. Paul tells us it was there that sin first entered the world (Romans 5:12-14). Three important points can be ascertained from this section of scripture:
i) Sin entered the world through Adam (verse 12).
ii) Until there was law, sin could not be imputed (verse 13).
iii) Death reigned from Adam to Moses (verse 14).
b) For Paul to make these statements means that there had to have been a law in place from the very beginning. If there had been no law, there could not have been sin (verse 13 and Romans 4:15). Keep in mind that sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). There was definitely sin before Moses was born because its penalty was administered upon every man and woman from the time of Adam forward (verse 14 and Romans 6:23). The sin that was committed was no different than the sin Paul wrote about in Romans 7, as it all led to death.
c) If the ten commandments are God's eternal law that, when transgressed, leads to death, Adam and Eve must have transgressed them when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Genesis 3. The question is, however, which ones?
0. Introduction
a) Can the ten commandments bring liberty? A generally accepted principle among many professing Christian churches is that all aspects of the old covenant served to point the nation of Israel to the coming sacrifice of Jesus Christ; once that sacrifice was made, the entire package of old covenant laws became obsolete. According to this concept, adherence to a written code of laws, like the ten commandments, is not relevant to Christianity because Christ now writes the laws He wants to be obeyed on our hearts.
1. Existing before Moses
a) Did the law exist BEFORE the time of the Exodus? A good place to begin is in the Garden of Eden. Paul tells us it was there that sin first entered the world (Romans 5:12-14). Three important points can be ascertained from this section of scripture:
i) Sin entered the world through Adam (verse 12).
ii) Until there was law, sin could not be imputed (verse 13).
iii) Death reigned from Adam to Moses (verse 14).
b) For Paul to make these statements means that there had to have been a law in place from the very beginning. If there had been no law, there could not have been sin (verse 13 and Romans 4:15). Keep in mind that sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). There was definitely sin before Moses was born because its penalty was administered upon every man and woman from the time of Adam forward (verse 14 and Romans 6:23). The sin that was committed was no different than the sin Paul wrote about in Romans 7, as it all led to death.
c) If the ten commandments are God's eternal law that, when transgressed, leads to death, Adam and Eve must have transgressed them when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Genesis 3. The question is, however, which ones?
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