By The Rev. Ron Purkey
Guest Columnist

Read: Exodus 20:1-26

“Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13).

The Rev. Ron Purkey

Insight: All of the Old Testament Law is but an amplification and application of the Ten Commandments. Nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament for believers today: “Humanity desperately needs today a moral and Spiritual rebirth. There is no sure way of this supreme goal save through adherence to the teaching of the Bible” (By Cordell Hull).

Commandment Number One: Have no other gods before me (Acts 14:15; John 4:21-23; 1 Tim. 2:5; James 2:19; 1 Corinthians 8:6).

Commandment Number Two: Make no idols or images (Acts 17:29; Romans 1:22-23; 1 John 5:21; 1 Corinthians 10:7, 14).

Commandment Number Three: Do not take his name in vain (James 5:12; Matthew 5:33-37 and 6:5-9).

Commandment Number Four: Remember the Sabbath day.

Insight: Number Four is not repeated anywhere in the New Testament for the church to obey today. Keeping the Sabbath is mentioned in Matthew 12, Mark 2, Luke 6, and John 5; but these all refer to the people of Israel and not to the church. Colossians 2 and Romans 14-15 teach believers should not judge one another with reference to holy days or Sabbaths. To say a person is not right with God or unspiritual for not keeping the Sabbath is to go beyond the bounds of Scripture.

Commandment Number Five: Honor father and mother (Ephesians 6:1-4.

Commandment Number Six: Do not kill (1 John 3:15; Matthew 5:21-22). Notice that In Exodus 20:13 the word “kill” means “murder.” You will answer to God Almighty if you murder someone! For you to take it upon yourself to murder someone is a great sin (see Exodus 20:1).

Commandment Number Seven: Do not commit adultery (Matthew 5:27-28; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, 6:9-20; Hebrews 13:4).

Commandment Number Eight: Do not steal (Ephesians 4:28; 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12; James 5:1-4).

Commandment Number Nine: Do not bear false witness (Colossians 3:9; Ephesians 4:25).

Commandment Number 10: Do not covet (Ephesians 5:3; Luke 12:15-21).

Insight: Notice that in these “summaries of the law” in the New Testament; not one of them mentions the Sabbath: Matthew 19:16-20; Mark 10:17-20; Luke 18:18-21; Romans 13:8-10.

Of course, the “New Commandment” of love is the basic motivation for the Christian today (John 13:34-35; Romans 13:9-10). This love is shed abroad from our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5), so that we love God and others, and we therefore should need no external law to control our lives. The old nature knows no law, and the new nature needs no law.

The Sabbath was God’s special day for the Jews under the old covenant; the Lord’s Day is God’s special day for the church under the mew.

The Sabbath symbolizes salvation by works: six days of labor, then rest; the Lord’s Day symbolizes salvation by grace: first rest, and then the works follow. The Sabbath, the sacrifices, the dietary laws, the priesthood, and the tabernacle services were all done away in Jesus Christ.

Read Ron Purkey’s Bible study outlines free at rcpbibleoutlines.com. Purkey has been an ordained Baptist minister for 50 years.