Questions About The 10 Commandments

Question:

1. Concerning the Ten Commandments and the different faiths. Seven Day Adventist, Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah Witness etc.
2. Does each of their Ten Commandments match up to say the same thing?
3. Have they been changed to fit their beliefs?
4. How important are the Commandments to each faith?
5. Concerning the Fourth Commandment. Does the bible identify Saturday as being the seventh day of the week and the Sabbath?
6. Why does 90 percent of the world show total disrespect for the Fourth Commandment
 

Answer:
Thank you for your questions about the ten commandments. These ten “words” (as some Jewish scholars call them) are, perhaps, the most comprehensive description of God found in the Bible. They do not save us, of course. We are saved by faith in the mercy, love, and grace of Christ. But when we have grasped hold of Christ by faith, the only way we can demonstrate our faith is through actions—actions governed by the ten commandments. That's why we are saved by faith, but we're judged by our works. Our obedience to God shows Him how much we believe that He is the God of Creation—a God both of mercy and of justice.

“The great truth, that of being declared righteous, not because of any act that we can do but only because of faith in what Christ has done for us, that is the essence of the phrase 'righteousness by faith.' Yet, it is not that our faith itself makes us righteous: rather, faith is the vehicle by which we obtain the gift of righteousness. This, in essence, is the beauty, the mystery, and the glory of Christianity. All that we believe as loyal followers of Christ, finds an important root in this wonderful concept. Through faith, we are accounted righteous in the sight of God. All else that follows; obedience [to the ten commandments], sanctification, holiness, character development, love, should stem from this crucial truth.” Sabbath School Lesson Quarterly March 19, 2003 

I'm not able to describe all the beliefs of the “Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah Witness etc.” regarding the ten commands. I can only speak as a Seventh-day Adventist (SDA).

2) For the most part, it seems, each Christian church believes in the ten commandments as a moral guide for the believer. Some churches believe that the entire Old Testament has been done away with, including the ten commandments. “We're saved by grace not by the law.” And that is absolutely true. But to go so far as to do away with the ten commandments . . . . If you were to ask them about each one of the commandments they would agree that they are necessary for the Christian to keep . . . except the Sabbath commandment. “That's Jewish, and it's been done away with.” Make sense? In reality it's just a way to get around keeping the Sabbath, which, if they were to keep it, would put them out of sync with their friends and neighbors—and their work schedule. Without knowing it, they are, in effect, expecting God to give them a 10% discount on keeping His commandments. Here is righteousness by works: God's righteousness on our terms! 

The Catholic Church, however, does not have exactly the same ten commandments as the rest of Christianity. Oh yes, it's in their Bible just as it is in every other. But in the catechism they have removed the second commandment entirely, presumably, because it forbids the use of images in worship. And then they split the tenth commandment in two in order to still have ten commandments. So the fourth commandment appears in the Catholic catechism as the third commandment. 

In addition, the Catholic Church claims that they changed the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday, and evidently most Protestant churches have accepted this, although they give various reasons for their acceptance of Sunday instead of the Sabbath. So the Catholic interpretation of the Sabbath commandment has, in effect, nullified it entirely and they have placed in its stead a day of worship of their own choosing—which they call the Lord's day. By any definition, this is righteousness by works—doing what they feel is right, and expecting God to accept it and judge them righteous. 

The Old Testament is as fully God's word as is the New Testament. So the ten commandments are still in affect, and, after we have accepted Christ by faith and received His righteousness, God expects us to keep them.  

Here are a few texts that help to explain how we should understand our relationship to the ten commandments:  

Mat 5:17-19  "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 

The same Jesus who told Nicodemus “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16, told us “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15. Faith leads us to keep God's commandments.  

How important is it for the Christian to keep God's commandments? 

Eccl 12:13-14  Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. 

James 2:8-13  If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! 

Those who do not keep all of God's commandments will have to answer to God for their disobedience. I could quote more examples from both Old and New Testament, but as you can see, both teach that keeping the commandments are vital to our salvation. Keeping them does not save us: We are saved by the grace of God. But having been saved, God expects us to live lives that are in agreement with heaven. And we can only keep the ten commandments through God's grace. God's Holy Spirit will work through those who believe in Christ's atoning sacrifice for us and are willing to follow Jesus all the way of His choosing. Through the Spirit we will keep the ten commandments. 

5) The word “Saturday” does not appear in the Bible, for it is named for one of the Roman gods—Satur. But the Bible does leave us with no doubts as to which day is the Sabbath. 

Luke 23:52-24:6  Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 

Three days are mentioned here:
            • The Preparation Day—the day on which Christ died. This is known by many as “Good Friday.”
            • The Sabbath according to the commandment. This is known by some as “blessed Saturday.”
            • The first day of the week—the day on which Christ rose from the dead.

The Sabbath of the fourth commandment is between Friday and Sunday. Today it is known as “Saturday.” 

6) You are right to say a large percentage of the world disregard the Sabbath, holding that the keeping of the Sabbath on the seventh day is legalism, or at best, Jewish. But I'd put the percentage much higher, perhaps 98% or 99%. 

You see, John: people are such fickle creatures. All of us want to do what we want to do, and not have to be bound by anything that will keep us from doing it. Deep inside most of us is the desire to do things that we “wouldn't be caught dead” doing. 

The philosophy of humanism, which is taught at every level of the public school system, teaches that we should feel good about ourselves, regardless of what we do, and that we can be anything we want to be. The government has forbidden the public reading of the Bible, or anything that comes from it, in the public schools. So the ten commandments and their importance isn't taught at all.

However, evolution is taught and has become the prevailing belief of our world today. (Yes, evolution is a faith system.) The theory of evolution (and it is only a theory) is that you came from the results of the “Big Bang,” and evolved over untold billions of years. Now that you've become the highest intelligent being in history, you've got a lot to be proud of! And you should be able to decide for yourself the basis upon which you live your life—whether or not it agrees with God's law or the laws of the govenment.

So, as we could reckon, were we evolutionists, if we came from a tadpole (hypothetically) then where did the ten commandments come from? The Old Testament? Ah, that's just a book of fairy tales. We don't have to keep that anymore.

Is it any wonder that America has one of the highest crime rates in the world? And that now a greater percentage of our population are no longer Christian in any sense of the term. So, if you don't believe in the ten commandments, then how could you ever have a reason to keep the fourth commandment that shows us that God is the Creator, and that He commands us to keep the seventh-day Sabbath holy in honor of that event?

I may have oversimplified it, of course, but I think you can see why most people do not keep the seventh-day Sabbath.

John, as I mentioned several times, we are not saved by keeping the ten commandments. There is no amount of works that we could do that could ever pay the price for our salvation.

Eph 2:8-10  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Jesus saves us and then lives out His perfect commandment-keeping, character-building life in us. And as we increase in our love for Jesus, we will find that we are keeping the ten commandments—including the fourth—because we love Him and obey Him.