The Bible teaches that God Himself spoke the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai and wrote them on the two tables of stone with His own finger. Exodus 31:18; 32:15, 16; Deuteronomy 4:12, 13. When we acknowledge and keep God’s holy Ten Commandments, we show that we love God the Father and His Son. God’s law is a revelation of His will and character. It is a picture of the divine perfection and reflects the true character of God. The law especially displays the principles of love, righteousness, and divine order. Romans 13:10; 1 John 5:3.
Since it is spiritual, it can be kept only through the power of God and faith in Jesus Christ. Thus, amid trial and persecution, the only answer should be, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29.
The Ten Commandments, given by God (Exodus 20:2-17), read as follows:
| I “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” |
V “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” |
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| II “Thou shalt not make unto thee 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: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy 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; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.” |
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| VI “Thou shalt not kill.” |
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| VII “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” |
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| III “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.” |
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| VIII “Thou shalt not steal.” |
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| IV “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 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.” |
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| IX “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” |
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| X “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.” |