Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
What was the purpose of the 10 commandments? Was it intended as a list of requirements that man must meet before he is acceptable to God?
That is the meaning that most people take as the intended purpose of the 10 commandments, but it is not the purpose for which God gave them.
Paul wrote in the book of Galatians that the purpose of the law of God was to drive us to Jesus.
Galatians 3:24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
When a person sees the list of commandments, their first thought should be “Oh my, there is no way I am ever going to be able to keep these laws. I know that I am going to break them repeatedly. If this is what God requires of me in order to obtain eternal life, I am never going to make it.”
Exactly! No one can keep the law of God, it is an impossibility. The purpose of the law was to shut our mouths of all persons and make them guilty before God. Just as the first verse in this article reads from Romans 3:19:
“That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”
The requirements of God’s law was not to try and keep them as best as you can but we are required to keep all of them, everyday of our life. If we break any one of the laws (such as lying), we are guilty of breaking them all.
James 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
Why does God want everyone to acknowledge that they are guilty? Because this is the first step in salvation: An acknowledgment of guilt. The confession of sin must come before the sin can be forgiven.
When Jesus began to try and explain to the Scribes and Pharisees who were relying on their keeping of the law for their righteousness, here is what Jesus told them:
Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ “
Matthew 5:22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother…
This was a revolutionary statement by Jesus. “You have heard that it was said…” Do you know who Jesus was from? The interpretation of the Jewish Scribes and Pharisees that the law of Moses concerning murder was a physical act, that when committed placed a person under the condemnation of God.
Here, Jesus explains what the true intent was by God for the law of murder: A spiritual application. The law includes the thoughts and intents of your heart. If you are angry with someone, the next step is to take the anger to a physical level and hurt or kill the person who is the object of your anger.
Therefore, the murder begins in the heart where anger is felt. If you become angry with someone, you have broken the law of murder, Jesus said.
Matthew 5:27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ “
Matthew 5:28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
The act of adultery, like murder, begins with the thoughts and intent of our heart. If a man looks at a woman to lust after her, he has committed the adultery already in his heart.
The effect of this knowledge should bring every human being to the place God wants for them to be: To acknowledge that the keeping of God’s law is impossible for me. God, isn’t there some other way I can be acceptable to you?
An awareness of this impossibility to keeping the commandments of God should propel us to search for another way to obtain salvation. It is at this point of awareness that we are totally helpless and unable to meet God’s requirements by keeping His law, that we find that Jesus is the only human being who ever perfectly kept all of God’s law. It was by Jesus’ perfect life that He was able to offer it up for all of us, to pay the price we owed and set us free forever from the requirements of the law.
Jesus did not cancel the law, He fulfilled it perfectly.
As we walk with the Lord today, we should have a new awareness that God never intended that we try to please him by the keeping of the ten commandments. He wants us to trust in Jesus and His sacrifice for us. This knowledge should set us free from all of our guilt as we have confidence that Jesus’ sacrifice fully satisfied God and wiped all of our sins away as if they never existed. Thank You, Jesus, for what you did for us.
Rob Robinson
