Romans 8:1-4

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

— ‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭1‬-‭4‬‬

 

8:1 does not connect directly to 7:14-25 but to 7:6. Otherwise, Paul is saying, “I am under sin, therefore, I am not condemned.” The thoughts do roughly connect to the end of chapter 7, though, because for Paul the  future deliverance in Jesus has been brought into the present reality because of the Spirit.

We love the idea of no condemnation. This is the future verdict brought in the preset. Ch 7 is all about living life in flesh—can’t be done. Ch 8 is living in Spirit. 

V. 2 Schreiner sees both uses of “law” as Mosaic. It is either applied by the Spirit or by sin and death. In ch 7 it is the latter; here it is the former. Most scholars disagree. They think the law is metaphorical in the first case, because Paul has just said the law cannot bring life in chapter 7.

The inability of the law has nothing to do with itself, but the weakness of human flesh.

God condemned sin by sending Jesus in human flesh (he did not sin obviously, but he was identified with all things human). “In the flesh” is probably a reference to the crucifixion. NT Wright says sin was drawn into one central location, i.e., the body/flesh of Jesus, as our representative

Likeness of sinful flesh—proper doctrine will say Jesus was fully human, but did not have sin. 

V. 4. Often taken forensically, that we do not have responsibility or role to play. God did everything for us objectively. Schreiner opposes this, saying Paul envisions actual obedience of Christians. This does not happen on their own, but they must still obey. Supported by 8:4b.

Romans 10:5-13

“For Moses writes about the righteousness that is by the law: “The one who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) or “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we preach), because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

— ‭‭Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭5‬-‭13‬‬ 

Lots of OT references here: Lev 18:5, Deut 30:12-14; 9:4; Joel 2. Lev 18 is about prolonging life in the Promised Land, so that’s a kind of salvation for the Jews. Paul is using that to make his point (how the NT authors use the OT is a whole nother kind of study). Digging into this “righteousness” is book worthy and very debatable. This is a classic NPP text, especially since it’s in the middle of Rom 9-11, where Paul is discussing his fellow Jews. Some would say the whole book of Romans is ethnic and not individual (New Perspective on Paul). Don’t think it’s an either/or. Could be both/and, since nations are composed of individuals. Paul’s point throughout these chapters 9-11 is something about God’s justice/redemption plan and the nation of Israel. 

I know we love these verses for their evangelistic flavor, and perhaps rightly so. I’m not going to diss on that, but there’s clear indications that Paul is focusing on the Jew/Gentile relationship. “There is no distinction.” “He is the same Lord of all” That’s the message of everyone who calls on Jesus will be saved, not necessarily an individual approach.

Paul contrasts salvation by law—whether strictly works salvation or more likely (again NPP) salvation by following Jewish boundary markers, “works of law.”—with salvation by believing. Word is near you, it’s in your heart, you’ve heard it. And with the heart, just believe. No national distinction. All who believe are saved.

Paul does have a confusing view of the law, and putting it together through Romans can break your mind. But it does appear that in 2:13; 7:10 that he really thought that perfect obedience would confer eternal life. But in the next breath he would clearly state that no one could obey perfectly. 

Paul uses the Deut 30 reference to talk about God’s grace. He comes near to His people in relationship, but not only through the law, but in a much more tangible way: Jesus. And we (or more contextually) the Jews) don’t need to ascend the heaven (code for the impossible) or raise Jesus from the dead (he already did that) to find Him. The message has reached them. They just need to believe it.

Lord Jesus: There is no verb written, so it’s best to assume Jesus is the object of what they are believing, and “Lord” is the complement. So it would be “believe Jesus [to be] Lord”. And in this sense, Lord is very likely a reference to YHWH. Quoting from Joel 3:5 in v. 13 confirms that Paul is equating Jesus with YHWH.

I don’t see a major distinction between the mouth confessing and the heart believing. It almost reads like a proverb with parallel structure. This isn’t two necessary steps/conditions to me. Maybe Paul is building off the OT texts. Since they mention both heart and mouth, so does he. We have multiple expressions for how an individual begins their faith journey. I’m not going to limit it to one or two.

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

“Now these are the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments that I am giving you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days. Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number – as the Lord, God of your ancestors, said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey. Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You must love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, and you must teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, as you lie down, and as you get up. You should tie them as a reminder on your forearm and fasten them as symbols on your forehead. Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and gates.”

— ‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭6‬:‭1‬-‭9‬‬

 Deuteronomy is the covenant proper between YHWH and Israel, and when we compare other suzerain-vassal treaties with Deuteronomy, the parallels are obvious. The structure of Deuteronomy follow the treaty very closely. The opening chapters are prologue, establishing the relationship between the two parties, and chapter 6 begins the stipulations/commands.

So again, we can remember from Exodus 20, that yes, we can gain insights from passages like this, but this is not to us (unless we have the land flowing with milk and honey, and we want the blessings and curses at the end of the book. We can’t pick and choose from the book the parts that “apply”.)

The author…and I’m not getting into that debate here…I can assume for now that Moses at least gave the law a second time to the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land—how many times this book was edited before its final form, too many thoughts for discussion right now. 

So the author/speaker exhorts Israel to teach these commands to their children/grandchildren. We would want to say because they love YHWH, and they are raising good little followers of the one God, and this is how a godly nation is formed. It could be that they are terrified of being kicked out of the land. They know the cost of disobedience. So there are multiple motivations for teaching the commandments.

The number one command is to love God…and the NET properly notes that this is not emotional. It is covenantal. It is loyalty. It’s more of a choice. With all the mind. Soul = whole being to ancient Jew. 

Results are even introduced here. It will go well for Israel. They prosper, grow in number, gain/keep the land. 

Why should they put the commands all over the place? In front of their eyelids? The doorposts? On their clothes? Seems excessive. I know humans are forgetful, but my soul. These very tangible expressions of putting the Torah everywhere could symbolize memorizing it, and making it second nature in the community. These commands were to be their life and breath. (Because by these commands Israel would live or die…be in the land or in exile).

Jesus obviously quotes this passage with the young ruler. I am no expert in Jesus and John the Baptist being “between covenants,” but we do need to be cautious about assuming Jesus is automatically in the new covenant. Before resurrection, he is still operating  (and more importantly, talking to a nation under) the old covenant. 

But in spite of all that, I would agree (as if my opinion matters), that the most important command is to love God. Perhaps Jesus alters that meaning of love. We would need to study the use of that verse throughout time and how it was understood in NT times. Did Jesus remove it from its covenantal context? Use of OT in NT study.

But that doesn’t mean that I am bound to the rest of Deuteronomy. Or that I need to post verses from Exodus and Deuteronomy on my door or on my clothes. Is it a good idea to have verses around the house? Perhaps. I see many good ones and some out of context. It more matters that families know the meaning of why they have the verses and the truth they represent.

Is it a good idea to teach children and grandchildren? Sure. But not so that it “goes well for us, and the land prospers, and we don’t go into exile.” We can’t carry Old Covenant language into New Covenant practice. It’s simply discipleship at its core.

And the goal is to love God and worship Him, not to fill up a nation of Christian families or win a culture war or preserve a tradition or even obey a command. The goal is to share God’s love with those around us, and it begins at home. And the message may still be rejected, and we have to do a better job at accepting that and bridging gaps that have broken down. 

This is an example of what can make OT teaching difficult.

Malachi 3:7-15

““From the days of your ancestors you have ignored my commandments and have not kept them! Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord who rules over all. “But you say, ‘How should we return?’ Can a person rob God? You indeed are robbing me, but you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and contributions! You are bound for judgment because you are robbing me – this whole nation is guilty. “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter,” says the Lord who rules over all, “to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no room for it all. Then I will stop the plague from ruining your crops, and the vine will not lose its fruit before harvest,” says the Lord who rules over all. “All nations will call you happy, for you indeed will live in a delightful land,” says the Lord who rules over all. “You have criticized me sharply,” says the Lord, “but you ask, ‘How have we criticized you?’ You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all? So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful. In fact, those who challenge God escape!’””

— ‭‭Malachi‬ ‭3‬:‭7‬-‭15‬‬

This may be one of my favorite minor prophets, but this may be one of my least favorite passages. V 10 is simply a classic “out of context” text that preachers/teachers either love to abuse or avoid like the plague. If we taught through the entire book of Malachi, including the historical and socio-economic/religious context of the Jews at this time, all of this would make a bit more sense. I don’t have time for that here, but let’s just say “Exile” will always play a huge role in passages like this. Sometime go back and reread the opening verses of the book. People are even asking YHWH, “When did you love us?” This relationship is scarred.

The book contains multiple examples of the Jews practicing fake religion, whether the priests or the people. It’s all just motions in hopes of avoiding another exile or worse, but hearts are far from YHWH. Again, lack of trust. The current passage begins with God’s defending His character and the covenant. “I was always faithful to My Word.” Obedience = blessing, disobedience = exile/curse. It’s been that way for thousands of years to this point. They may never learn. It’s almost time for a new covenant written on their hearts.

God wants them to return to Him, and one example of their heart condition is in their giving. Enter v. 10. 

Do I believe in “storehouse tithing” as in what I give should be given to the church? Somewhat, yes, because depending on circumstances, there are bills to pay, we can debate salaries, and ministries can often be more effective when funds are gathered together. As an associate pastor, we had people bicker about how money was being used, even though they were not giving to the church financially (they served and supported ministries in other ways). Still seemed counterintuitive.

Do I believe the church is the storehouse in Malachi 3? No. Historically, Solomon had rooms built into the temple for storing extra gifts (1 King 6:5), and later Hezekiah had the “storehouse” built (2 Chron 31:11) after his great revival and there was an influx of gifts from the people. Nehemiah also records a time (10:37-39) when the people gave wine, grain, and money to the Levites to fill the temple storerooms once they returned from exile. These always seem to be extra gifts. They are in the temple. And since I always make a clear distinction between temple and church building, it’s difficult to make this parallel so literal.

Entire tithe? First question is, “Which tithe is this?” Never learned until about college of the three tithes commanded in the OT law. We generally only hear about the first or “the Lord’s tithe.” This consisted of the 10% of the harvest that went to support the priests and Levites since they were given no inheritance of land (Numbers 18:21).

But Israel was required to travel to Jerusalem multiple times each year for three festivals. They stored up a “tithe” from their remaining 90% to be able to travel and celebrate God’s provision (Deut. 14:22-27).

The third tithe was taken for the poor every third year (Deut 14:28-29). Some debate if this is distinct from the second tithe, but their purposes do seem to distinguish this money (and time of collection). Anyone discussing tithing at least needs to be honest about how much Israel was giving and how often. 10% to priests and Levites because they had no income or housing. 10% for festivals and travel. 10% every 3 years (so 3% annually to poor). Would we be willing to adopt that approach? Can’t just focus on one. Goes back to the other post on 10 commandments…have to remember this is a covenant. We can’t accept the parts we like and assume the other parts wouldn’t apply.

I would assume the “tithe” in Malachi is focused on the first tithe, but we see the phrase “tithes and offerings” throughout the OT. 

I know this is the only place God says to test Him. I still wouldn’t try it. Seems rather specific to this situation. As in, that’s not my motivation to give to the ministries of a local church or to those in need. How do I know it’s specific? Rest of the passage. Windows of heaven goes back to the flood. They still see windows in the sky where rain is. This is ancient cosmology (or maybe they are just talking about the sky as the further ancients did). Either way, God is promising rain to come after the drought. 

Nations will see God’s blessing, and Israel will be called blessed by others. This could be seen as another prosperity theology text, but not if we remember the covenant. 

So what do we say about giving from this chapter? I don’t see anything wrong with a tithe. I think it’s a good start. But it’s not part of our covenant. We’re called to generous giving (2 Corinthians 8-9). We should support the local church for various reasons given above, but there are many ministries in need, people we meet with real hurts who lack resources. We should have a heart of generosity, and I desperately need to work on this

There’s no shame in giving less than 10%. There’s no double honor for giving more. But when we recognize how much we have received, we will give. How much and to whom is still a wisdom question. It’s true I’ve never heard anyone complain about giving more.

In vv. 13-15, Israel is still complaining, saying, “It is vain to serve God. Those who do evil are the blessed ones. They prosper.” And God just got done promising blessing to Israel. Why? Because they don’t believe God. They don’t trust Him. They don’t believe that He is good, and that the discipline they endured was out of love. They don’t believe that He loves them. And as a result, they give half-hearted worship. Their priests are terrible at leading, and the people are terrible at serving. They are not faithful to their wives. They lie, and they oppress the poor. And now, they look at their possessions and don’t consider God worth His tithe and offering.

The issue here is not tithing but apostasy. They have abandoned God and considered themselves more important than keeping His law, yet it stems from forgetting His love for them.

The same is generally true for us, in that our generosity depends on what we have internalized about God’s love. Do you believe God loves you and that He’s blessed you? Then you will give back. Do you question His faithfulness and think, Eh, this is kind of a harsh requirement for being a Christian, but I guess I can spare some change this week. Then you won’t give. And you won’t see how God uses generosity to work in the lives of believers. 

It all depends on what you believe about Him and how He sees you.

Exodus 20:1-21

“God spoke all these words: “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain. “Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy. For six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy. “Honor your father and your mother, that you may live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving to you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.” All the people were seeing the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and saw the mountain smoking – and when the people saw it they trembled with fear and kept their distance. They said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you so that you do not sin.” The people kept their distance, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.”

— ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭20‬:‭1‬-‭21‬‬

I know many people have come to disregard much of what Andy Stanley says nowadays. This is not the post to discern every sound bite or sermon people have heard. (No I don’t agree with everything he says, but I can filter through a lot of it to see the larger point). Not getting into his sermons and statements right now, but a long time ago, he was the first to point out to me the grace built into the Ten Commandments.

Before God gives any rules, He reminds the Israelites “I am YHWH who brought you out of the house of slavery.” As Andy put it, “I don’t expect you to follow this list of rules, or try to please me, or obey a bunch of stuff to try to enter a relationship with me—Go ahead try. You’re already in.” So there’s some debate just how “legalistic” Judaism was throughout their history. Did they really try to keep the law as a way to please God, or was it built into their fabric that they already had a relationship/covenant with God? Perhaps they grew into a more legalistic people in the strictest denotation of the word, but at their origin, there was grace. This is the  covenantal nomism discussion and New Perspective of Paul factors here too.

There was one simple act of ridiculous, almost laughable faith to show they had confidence in the power and faithfulness of their God—the blood on the doorposts. Anyway…

God says, because we have already established this relationship, now we are going to finalize that agreement here in the form of this covenant. Which brings us to a sort of odd thought.

The 10 Commandments (notice 10) are the opening of a covenant, a treaty. In Deuteronomy, they are repeated in what many use as an analogy of Israel’s “Constitution.” 

But in Ancient Near Easter terms, this is much more serious, because they are entering a covenant with God. This has all the formalities of a suzerain-vassal treaty (we have many examples from people groups of the time to compare-mostly Hittite), where a king would offer provision, protection, etc for a smaller, inferior people, and the latter would be submissive and loyal to the former. There were stipulations and requirements, of course, but a mutual agreement between the two worked in favor of both.

The two parties in this case are YHWH and the nation of Israel. And the 10 commandments cannot really be separated from the rest of the covenant. Again, notice command 4 is still part of the 10. We love the other nine, and are quick to point out that Jesus fulfilled the law, and so #4 doesn’t apply (Sabbath). Fantastic! Hurray, but we can’t talk from both sides of our mouth. What do I mean?

We often (at least in many Christian or specifically, fundamental circles) try to divide the old covenant into civil, moral, and religious laws. If you read some passages in Leviticus or Numbers, though, laws that we would divide into our neat categories are all mixed up. The author and/or editors didn’t write the law as we view it, unfortunately. Why not? Because it ALL applies to the Israelites as a society among the nations around them, so they can represent YHWH as a holy people. There’s a lot more to unpack there, but the law is for Israel. It’s a covenant between God and His people.

I don’t get to pick and choose which laws apply to me, not even the ones about stealing and murdering. I’m not a Jew.

Wait, so the law of God doesn’t apply to me? I’m free from the moral law? How am I convicted of sin? I didn’t say all of that. 

I said the “Old Covenant,” and by inclusion —the 10 Commandments. So the Old Testament law is a representation of God’s moral law, codified and contextualized for a specific time and purpose. But stealing is still wrong. God is still the only god. Parents deserve respect. And yes, we need to build rest into our schedule (shoot, the book of Hebrews even reinterprets Sabbath as salvation and ultimate glory, but that’s not for here).

It’s not enough to say, we can preach the 10 commandments because all of them are repeated in the NT, except #4. We have to go deeper, as in if Jesus fulfilled the law, then He fulfilled the whole law. And Paul is going to say, (and Jesus even said), you have a new law. The law of love. We owe no one anything, except to love one another. And of course, I agree with all those who conclude that many of the commands are given to demonstrate love others or love for God (respecting parents, not stealing, not murdering, etc.) And indeed, the Sermon on Mount shows highest intent of these laws was fulfilled by the heart of love (no lust, no anger, no oaths).

So yes, I am still bound as human to the standard of perfection/God’s moral law. Jesus came to redeem humanity and the world from its brokenness/chaos/sin. But it’s not as easy as listing 10 commands. In fact, it’s much more difficult a standard than any listing of laws. 

See John Walton, Lost World of Torah for more discussion. (I did not reach these conclusions from him, but he does discuss many of these themes. He also has a unique take on the ancient law as wisdom documents, where the king needs the law to judge how to handle various situations. Case law is essential at this point to know how to handle random events on the daily).

But in light of this discussion, here’s a brief summary of the 10.

Command 1: No Other Gods

This is a key verse for the recognition of Israel as monolatrous people not necessarily monotheists. They knew of other gods that existed or were worshipped (10 plagues against Egypt were directly opposed to all of Egypt gods). Israel failed horribly at this command because they knew of other gods (or at least thought other gods were worthy of worship. They were supposed to stick with YHWH.

YHWH’s first command even seems to suggest there are other gods. God demands absolute allegiance, to the exclusion of any other deity or law code of other civilization. These would certainly be in opposition to the one true God. Deciding Whom to worship would be foundational for how Israel conducted society

Point: Choosing whom you will worship is foundational to the rest of the list. 

Command 2: No Idols

Not a repeat of Command 1.

Images were carved from wood or stone. Used for worship, not decoration. An idol obviously represents the power, ability, presence of the god.

This could also refer to YHWH worship. No images of YHWH. 1) God knew that humans could never make something that represents Him fully. “Don’t even try.” (2) God forbids the Hebrews from narrowing Him into a figurine that they could “manage,”—something that they can be in the presence of and then out of the presence of.

Cf. Duet 7:10; 24:16; Ezekiel 19:10-20. God promises not to kill future generations elsewhere, so Exod 20:5 sounds a bit odd at first. It doesn’t appear that God would punish sons for the sins of fathers, but we can’t fully understand the mind of God when handling sin or the cause/effect relationship. The consequences of sin certainly affect future generations. Perhaps patterns of the same sin occur for several generations until God punishes harshly. All we can stand on is God’s justice and righteousness. 

The main contrast is the 3-4 generations of cursing and the thousands of generations of blessing (cf. Exod 34:7; Deut 5:10; Ps 18:50; Jer 32:18). 

Command 3: Respect God’s Name

“Taking in vain” can apply to a number of ideas: misuse or abuse, or even using it for insincere purposes. 

O my goodness—How many times have we seen organizations, countries, individuals do atrocious acts under the name of God/Jesus? It’s absolutely awful.

Command 4: Sabbath

We have evidence that pagan nations also set a day aside, but it usually for magic or special sacrifices (see NET note). Israel was supposed to do something special in v. 8, distinguishing between holy and profane days. There was something higher than daily life.

This was the 1 command that became a covenant marker for the Jewish people (along with circumcision and their food laws). 

I’m sure this will be a different post later, but see Rom 12:1-2, Col 2:16-17; Heb 4:1-11 for NT context for this command and how our holiness is related to it. For starters, Israel was required to share in the rest of their Creator. We do, too, but not by calendar observations. Our entire life is holy, resting because of Christ’s sacrifice.

(Just in case anyone is wondering, Exodus 20:12 is an ok argument for literal 6 day creationism, but it’s not a slam dunk. This explanation was probably not on the original tablets—Moses probably just had the bare commands, not the purpose clauses, explanations etc. So it takes a lot of work—much more and much smarter than I am able to do—to try to trace the history of documents to how Torah reached final form….and of course there’s endless debate. But generally speaking, these tablets were probably one of the first things ever written. By the time the explanations and purposes clauses get added/Exodus gets written as whole, Genesis 1 or the poem behind it has been written, so the author or editor can use what’s been established to build an argument. The fact that it’s dependent on Genesis 1 is fine, but it still leaves us to debate what’s going on in Genesis 1. This is more evident that the explanation for the Sabbath in Deuteronomy is different…slavery in Egypt).

Command 5: Honor Parents

It’s so easy to repeat this ad nauseam to our kids, but I don’t remember reading an age limit in v. 12. Remember, Israelites are a Semitic/Eastern culture, so honor/shame plays huge role in caring for older generations. 

God offers a national promise only to command. Ezekiel 22:7, 15 directly links Judah’s exile to lack of respect for parents (and to repeat previous point, I don’t think it was three year olds’ tantrums or ten year olds sneaking out at night). Malachi also says the future Elijah (ie. Messiah) would turn children and parents back to each other. This was key foundation of society, especially God’s holy society.

Command 6: Murder

This command refers to both premeditated and accidental killings. Later case laws would add stipulations for some basic situations, but this command gives the general principle that God values life.

God programmed us for love and unity. Anger, hatred, murder have no place among His people. 

Things like war/just war not really mentioned in case laws. 

Command 7: Adultery

Later laws would distinguish fornication and adultery, with the latter carrying death penalty (Lev 20:10). The abundant theme of Scripture, from Genesis 1 to the Law to Jesus in Matthew 5 to Paul in Eph 5 is that God loves marriage, values the loyalty and integrity of both individuals bound together. We can look at Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 19 later.

Command 8: Stealing

The Law not only protects lives and marriages but also personal property. In some ways, Command 10 (coveting) functions for Command 8 as Jesus’ words in Matthew 5 function for other portions of the law. What’s most important is the heart of the person. 

Command 9: False Witness

The immediate application is perjury in court, but the Israelite understanding most likely expanded to include lying in general (cf. Hosea 4:2). 

If an honest word is meaningless or impossible to find in a society, then I’m pretty sure destruction is coming quickly. 

Command 10: Coveting

Coveting/earnestly desiring can be a positive action (Ps 19:10; 68:16), but not when the object is forbidden. This is the only command that cannot be proven that the individual is breaking it. Must be hard to punish someone for coveting. The antidote has to be gratitude and contentment here. We see this throughout Scripture.

VV 18-21. People were afraid of the smoke and fire. They don’t want to speak with God. They’re terrified of Him. These cosmic signs demonstrate God’s power, His presence, and perhaps provoke fear but also motivate obedience. They do accept the stipulations of the covenant. (At least until ch. 32 with the golden calf). 

Sermon on the Mount vs Sermon on Plain

 “When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain. After he sat down his disciples came to him.”

— ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬‬

1st Discourse in Matthew (5-7): One of 5 books to parallel five books of Torah. Discourses provide the substance of Jesus’ teaching which is to be obeyed by disciples by expanding kingdom

5-7: Here’s how to respond to my presence and gift of the kingdom, by being radically selfless and truly righteous

Lots of views on how to interpret Sermon on Mount, too much for here. Most likely a summary of Jesus’ teaching on life and ethics of disciple, including explanation of the intent of OT law in a prophetic style. Sermon is not law. Primary intent of sermon is provoke disciples to live as light and show love to all. This type of love is motivation of kingdom relationships. Secondary point is for outsiders to pursue kingdom God’s way. (Luke’s version much shorter, eliminating Jewish emphasis).