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The Giving of the Law

Delivered October 16, 2005
by Pastor Werner De Jong

Text: Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

Main Idea: God's commandments are an expression of God's will, given to us as an act of grace in order that we might know the joy of a life well-lived in worship of God and love of neighbour. The commandments give us an opportunity to respond to God's goodness.

Purpose: To encourage the listeners with the good news that God's commands are given to us in grace to engender good relationships with God and with our neighbours. To challenge the listeners to study and rejoice in God's Word.

Introduction: What would you rather read: a good story or a legal document? Unless you are a lawyer, that's a rather easy question to answer–we love stories but we find legal paperwork rather dry and boring. The Bible contains both types of literature. We enjoy the stories, but what are we to make of the legal material? How do we handle texts like the ten commandments which stands at the beginning of an extended legal section in Exodus?

      So far we have followed a great storyline in our study of Exodus–a Hebrew baby named Moses was fished out of the Nile River and brought into the palace of Pharaoh, the King of Egypt. His life was comfortable there until he killed an Egyptian for beating on a Hebrew, and then he had to flee for his life into the wilderness. But there God appeared to Moses in a burning bush, and God called Moses to go back to Egypt to confront Pharaoh and to insist that Pharaoh set God's people free from their slavery. Moses reluctantly went, but Pharaoh refused, until God sent a series of devastating plagues which finally withered his resolve. The Hebrew people then evacuated in a hurry but with high spirits, until Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his soldiers after them. The dreadful army of chariots finally cornered the helpless Hebrews at the seashore, where there was no way of escape. They cried out in fear, and God heard them and parted the waters, and the Hebrews passed through the sea on dry ground. The Egyptians sought to follow them but the wheels of their chariots clogged and they panicked until the sea closed in on them and swallowed them up. The Hebrew people praised God for this great liberation, and sang and danced on the other side of sea. But their joy and gratitude did not last long–when they grew hungry and thirsty they repeatedly complained and said, "We want to go back to Egypt." But God graciously met their need with manna from heaven and water from a rock. So far it has all been a wonderful story. The plot has constantly thickened until we can't wait to hear what will happen next.

The Giving of the Law: But what we encounter in chapter 20 is the giving of the law. The next four chapters in the book of Exodus are legal material. Beginning with the ten commandments, the excited reader may soon feel bogged down in laws: laws concerning slaves, laws about violence, property law, marriage law, laws dealing with restitution, laws covering financial transactions, and religious law instituting the observance of the Sabbath and the sabbatical year and the annual worship festivals. We may be tempted to skip over this material until the story line continues. But Perry Yoder issues an appropriate caution: "the attractiveness of the narrative in Exodus," he writes, "should not eclipse the attention given to the law....Even from a narrative point of view, the events at Sinai and the receipt of the law mark the purpose of the journey and form the climax to the narrative" (Perry Yoder, "Liberated by Law," Sojourners Magazine, Sept.-Oct. 1999).

      The giving of the law is the climax of the book of Exodus! It may feel like an anti-climax, but everything has been building to this point. It all comes to a head when God descends upon Mount Sinai in fire. In chapter 19 we read: "the smoke (of the fire) went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently" (Ex. 19:18). The author of Exodus is leaving us with a clear message: something of very great importantance is about to happen, pay attention. What happens next? The ten commandments are given, which represent the heart and spirit of the law. And just after the giving of the ten commandments we read this: "when all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled" (20:18). The giving of the ten commandments is bracketed on either side by this awe-inspiring appearance of God. Again the message is clear: something very important has happened, pay attention to it. When we encounter the giving of the law, we truly do encounter the very heart of the book of Exodus.

The Law Expresses God's Will: But why is the giving of the law so important? The answer is simple but vital: so that God's people will know God's will. Stories play a wonderful role in revealing God's character, but the law reveals God's will. This is why Mount Sinai is the centre of Exodus, for at Sinai the people learned how to live as God's people. They learned that God had expectations of them. They learned that entering into a covenant relationship with God demanded obedience on their part. They learned that they could not be God's people and live however they pleased. What could be more important for the people of God than to know the will of God? In the same way, is it not critical for us to be aware of God's commandments? If we know God's will, if we know what pleases God, then we can enter into the fullness of life. In the very best sense, the law is therefore a gift. It is a gift which teaches us how to live good lives, by worshipping God, by respecting others and their property, by submitting our lives to a divine ethical standard. Therefore should we not take great delight in the law, as the Psalmist did, saying: "the law of God is more to be desired than gold, even much fine gold; it is sweeter than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb"? (Psalm 19:10). Rather than bypassing the commands of the Bible, should we not "meditate on the law day and night," as the Psalmist did? If we ignore the study of the Bible's commands, and focus only on the stories, are we not missing a key part of what it means to be God's people? What does it benefit us if we understand God's character but don't know God's will?

Grace and Law: But as Christians who live in the age of grace, we are sometimes quite confused about the law. Are the law and grace not incompatible? We teach that we are saved by grace, by faith in what Jesus has done for us, not by law-keeping, not by our own efforts. That is all very biblical and true, but how then should we deal with the law? Is it now irrelevant? Can we dismiss the ten commandments and any other commandments we find in the Bible, or should we still study such passages? On the one hand we may accept that God has certain standards for us, even as we set standards for our own children. But on the other hand we're not sure how to emphasize the law for fear that it will undermine grace. How can we say that we love the law, how can we sincerely delight in studying it, if we are a people of grace? If we emphasize the law, won't we end up in bondage to the law, rather than living in Christian freedom? Fortunately, this tension can be resolved, and indeed it must be resolved, if we are going to live healthy Christian lives. The key to resolving the tension is to recognize that law and grace are not incompatible.

      In fact, if we read the story of the giving of the law in context, we will actually see that the law was given as an expression of God's grace. The greater context includes the story we reviewed at the beginning–God's great rescue of Israel. This entire event is summarized in 20:2, which is the final verse before the first commandment is given. It reads like this: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." It is of great importance that we don't isolate this verse from the ten commandments, for it highlights the fact that Israel did not become God's people at Mount Sinai. God did not say, "obey these commands if you want to be my people." No, God had already chosen and redeemed them. In other words, before the law was even given the people of Israel had already experienced salvation. God had already made them his people. In this sense the Old Testament is just like the New Testament: redemption doesn't come through the law, it is always by grace. In his commentary Waldemar Janzen writes that this is the most important thing to understand about the law: "It is not the basis of Israel's salvation...but the invitation to respond to the salvation experienced" (Exodus, Herald Press Commentary). In fact Waldemar suggests that it is a good idea to read Exodus 20:2 before each of the ten commandments, such as the murder commandment: "You have experienced Yahweh's preservation in Egypt and the wilderness; therefore you shall not murder."

      Once we understand that grace precedes the law, we're free to look at the law in a whole new way: as a gift of God given to his already redeemed people! Doesn't that make you want to study it more rather than avoid it? We know that God's gifts are all good, therefore we cannot help but benefit tremendously if we study God's law, which represents God's will.

      But in what sense is the law a gift? Perry Yoder puts it very well when he writes: "Law is how the liberated, saved people of God say thank you!" The law provides God's people an opportunity to respond to God's love. When someone acts in a kind and generous way towards us, we want to be able to express our gratitude in some way. It can be very frustrating if we don't have an opportunity to do so. Have you ever received an anonymous gift which came just at the right time? On the one hand it is a tremendous blessing. On the other hand, there is no one to thank for it, and we want so much to let the donor know how their gift moved us. For in this way a closer relationship is built. Of course the person we can always thank is God, who motivated the gift, but this still proves the point, because we still want to express our thanksgiving, we want to be drawn closer together in our relationship by our expression of gratitude.

      In Israel's case God had already done so much for his people by redeeming them from a life of slavery and by caring for them in the wilderness. And now there was finally an opportunity for Israel to say thank you to God, by embracing the will of God, by pledging to obey God's commandments. It was Israel's opportunity to say to God, "we accept who you are, we acknowledge that you are God, and we want to live a life that is pleasing to you."

The Function of the Law: But the law was not just an opportunity to say thank-you and to provide for a way to respond to God. It also served another function: to generate loving relationships between neighbours. The first four of the ten commandments deal with the worship of God, and insist that Israel worship no one else. But the final six commandments all deal with inter-human relationships. Each of these six commands is rooted in a concern for others: Honour your father and mother, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, and do not covet what belongs to your neighbour. This is not an exhaustive list of laws governing human relationships, but it is an excellent sampling of how people can live together in peace. As Janzen writes, "the goal is to introduce an understanding of the spirit of God's requirement."

      The spirit of the law is all about life. It is about life before God and life within community. It is designed to bring about good relationships with God and good relationships with one another. If we ignore God's law, our relationships with God and others will suffer badly, and therefore we also will suffer. But those who obey God's will will find that their relationships with God and others are strong and vibrant. And good relationships are a source of joy! This is a wonderful way of looking at the law–God gave us the law in order that we may experience joy: the joy of a life well lived, the joy of good, close relationships, the joy of worshipping God. This is why so many of the Psalms express a great delight in the law, because it is a gracious gift pointing to the way of life and joy. Listen to the opening words of Psalm 119, which is the longest chapter in the Bible, and all 176 of its verses are dedicated to praising the glory of God's law: "Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways. You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. O that my ways may be kept steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous ordinances" (Psalm 119:1-7). And later in the Psalm the Psalmist adds: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (v. 105). And still later: "Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble" (v. 165). From this brief glimpse at this wonderful Psalm it is apparent that the law of God is intended to guide us through life, to keep us on safe pathways, to teach us how to walk with God in a holy and an upright manner, and to lead us to happiness and peace.

      Because of this we should all become lawyers, in the sense of becoming "students of the law." The question we face is very basic: if God's commandments are an expression of God's will, and if we benefit from them, why would we not want to study them in order to please and obey God? Some people might counter: "But the law is so negative. Just look at the ten commandments, for example. Most of them are written in the negative: don't do this, and don't do this and don't do this. How can we delight in something so prohibitive? Doesn't it demonstrate the very opposite of what you are saying, that the law is actually a kill-joy rather than a source of joy?" Many people think this way, they don't want to become Christians because they think that God is a kill-joy who doesn't want his people to have any fun. They suggest that the Bible's vision of faithfulness to God consists mainly in refraining from doing certain things. And who wants to go through life like that? How do we respond to such an argument?

      First of all, we need to point out that the ten commandments represent an ancient form of legal writing, and it was the custom of the day to summarize the law in a negative format. But it was understood by the people of the day that a negative command also implied its positive opposite. For example, the command not to kill is written in a negative form, but it also implies the opposite positive: "Do all that you can to sustain life." There are a thousand different positives we could write about how to sustain life, such as feed the hungry, heal the sick, clothe the naked, stand up for the oppressed, etc..., but it is so much easier to sum it all up in the negative: do not take life. Therefore when we hear these negative commandments, we need to hear them as the original readers would have: not only as prohibitions, but even moreso as summary statements of the opposite positives. Thus "do not commit adultery" also means, "Do all that you can to honour and love your spouse."

      Secondly, we can also point to the teaching of Jesus in the New Testament. First of all, Jesus is the fulfilment of the law. He is the perfect example of what life looks like when someone is 100% obedient to God the Father. When we look at Jesus' life, there is nothing at all negative about it. Furthermore, Jesus made it very clear that the ten commandments, when stripped of their legal language, are actually very positive ideals. In fact on one occasion, when questioned by a scribe as to which commandment was the most important, Jesus summarized the ten commandments like this: love the Lord your God unreservedly, and love your neighbour as yourself. Jesus clearly saw that the motive behind the commandments was to foster love and good relationships–first of all for God, and secondly for one another. There is nothing negative about love. God gave us his law to flesh out for us what loving God and one another looks like. It is so important that we see the motive of love behind all of God's commands, so we do not shy away from them, but are drawn to them, and study them in order to learn how to love. When I am speaking about the commandments like this I don't only mean the Ten Commandments, but also the commands in the NT, which find their climax in Jesus' teaching. Everything God's Word teaches us is rooted and grounded in God's love for us, and is intended to lead us as we obey it into loving, healthy relationships, and into the peace, the shalom, which is God's will for creation.

      The New Testament makes the declaration that Jesus is Lord. He is our Master, and we are to obey him. Once again we need to emphasize that this does not mean we are put right with God by keeping the commandments. In Paul's day some of the Jewish Christians made that mistake, and insisted that the Gentiles could not become part of God's people without obeying the law fully, even the ceremonial law which required circumcision. Paul argued vigorously against this, and insisted that our salvation is a gift of God's grace through faith. But Paul never meant by this that we are not to obey the teachings of God. Paul was the first person to insist that we obey God's will. Our obedience does not save us, but it is a demonstration of our gratitude to God, it is our way of saying thank you to God for all that God has done for us, just like in the Old Testament.

      But before we close we need to state that there is one significant difference between the two testaments, which is the giving of the Holy Spirit. Only as we are empowered by God's Spirit may we approach the purpose for which the commandments were set forth. God's Old Testament people did not have the Holy Spirit, and so they did not have the inner power to enable them to obey God faithfully. The law did not fail, but the flaw was in the sinful nature of God's people. Jesus came not only to offer us forgiveness for our failure to obey God, but also to give us the power to obey God. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit as a priceless gift to the church, so that now we can live in a manner pleasing to God.

Application and Conclusion: So the conclusion of the matter is this: next time you are looking for a good read, consider reading some of the commandments in the Bible. And with the Holy Spirit's help, make a determined effort to live according to God's will. Take great delight in God's Word. Read it, study it, meditate upon it, for it is a beautiful gift of God to us. It is a wonderful expression of God's grace. Sink your roots deep into the soil of God's Word, both the stories and the commands, and draw nourishment from it. Let it guide you. For "the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul" (Ps. 19:7). As you seek God's will above all else, you will lead a life of integrity, you will become a person of love, and your obedience will become your joy.

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