These days, the Ten Commandments, which God gave Moses, are often considered evil and a heavy burden. Many Christians consider the Ten Commandments of God as legalistic and bondage. And since Christians have been made free from the Law and live under grace, many Christians don’t want to have anything to do with the Ten Commandments and other (moral) commandments of God and have rejected them. But why do Christians, who are born of God through regeneration in Christ, oppose the Ten Commandments? What is so evil about the Ten Commandments of God?
Why God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses
To find out, why the Ten Commandments are so evil, we must go to the origin of the Ten Commandments of God.
After God delivered His people from slavery and led them out of Egypt, God made a Covenant with His people. The people entered the Covenant, by agreeing that they would hear the voice of the Lord.
God wrote the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone. He gave the two tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments to Moses. The people of Israel had to keep the Ten Commandments of God.
The Ten Commandments were part of the Law of Moses. They were meant for (the flesh of) fallen man, who is trapped in sinful flesh and whose spirit is under the authority of death.
The Ten Commandments originated from God’s Spirit, from His nature, and represented His will for (fallen)man.
It was God’s written word, that was meant as a guide for His people. It was meant to differentiate themselves from the pagan nations, to walk righteous and live holy as God’s people on earth. Through obedience to God’s word, they not only represented their God. But they also honored and exalted their Lord God, the Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth and all there is within.
The Ten Commandments were not evil, but good. Since God is good, and He wants the best for His children.
God knows the spiritual laws. Because God created and established them.
Out of His goodness, God gave His children the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments would keep them from evil and disaster, and bring forth life, and lead them to the promised land and eternal life.
The problem, that withheld the people to obey the Ten Commandments
But there was one problem, that withheld the people to obey the Ten Commandments of God. That was the sinful flesh of God’s people.
The sinful flesh of man didn’t want to submit to God and obey His word. But the sinful flesh rebelled against God, His Word, and His Spirit.
That’s the nature of fallen man, who lives under the authority of the devil, sin, and death in darkness.
Fallen man didn’t want to submit to an invisible God.
Fallen man didn’t want to separate himself from the Gentiles and their cultures (the world). But fallen man wanted to live just like the Gentiles and serve their gods.
By the way, fallen man doesn’t want to submit to any authority whatsoever. Whether it is God, parents, teachers, employers, or leaders, fallen man wants to be god of his own life and makes his own decisions and goes his own way.
The fallen man is prideful, selfish, lying, deceptive, unreliable, unclean, evil, adulterous, a covenant breaker, and steals, hates, and murders.
That was and still is the nature of the fallen man, who has the nature of his father, the devil.
People had free will to decide to obey or disobey the Ten Commandments
God revealed His nature and will to fallen man, who is blinded in his carnal mind by the ruler of the world and lives in darkness.
God revealed Himself through His word and gave the people a choice. The people could believe God and obey His words and keep His commandments and live in His will, which led to protection, prosperity, and life. Or the people could not believe God and disobey His words, and reject His commandments, and live outside His will after the carnal will, lusts, and desires, which led to mischief and death.
The people had a choice. They would never earn something or be punished for something without knowing.
What are the Ten Commandments of God?
The Ten Commandments, which God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai were:
- Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
- 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.
- Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.
- 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.
- Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
- Thou shalt not kill.
- Thou shalt not commit adultery.
- Thou shalt not steal.
- Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
- 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 (Exodus 20:1-17)
The appearance of God
All the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. (Exodus 20:18)
Did God frighten the people? No, God revealed Himself and His greatness and omnipotent power in the natural realm to the natural man, who is unspiritual. So that, they would fear the Lord God and obey His commandments and sin not.
The Ten Commandments kept the people from living unholy lives like the Gentiles, who lived in rebellion against God.
The fallen man considered the Ten Commandments as evil
You would think, that God’s people considered the Ten Commandments as a blessing. That they would be full of joy with the word that the Almighty God sent and connected Himself with to His people. But that was not the case.
Almost the whole generation, who were delivered from the power of Pharaoh and lived under his rulership in slavery, considered the Ten Commandments of God and the other moral commandments that God had given them, not as good but as evil and a heavy burden.
Why did they consider the Ten Commandments as evil and a heavy burden? Because the commandments of God withheld them from doing the will of the flesh and living after the lusts and desires of the flesh in idolatry, adultery, wickedness, and uncleanness.
Through disobedience to God, almost a whole generation died in the wilderness and didn’t enter the promised land, except for Joshua and Caleb.
Joshua and Caleb believed and trusted in God and His greatness. They feared the Lord God, whereby they kept His commandments. Through their obedience to God, they entered the land, that God promised them. Together with a whole new generation, they entered the land and took the land into their possession.
Do the Ten Commandments apply in the New Covenant?
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law (Romans 3:31)
The will of God has not changed and will not change. Jesus said, that He didn’t come to annul the Law, but to fulfill the Law. Since the moral commandments of the Law represent the will of God, the moral commandments of God shall not change and shall always apply, even in the New Covenant.
The only difference in the New Covenant is, that God no longer deals with a carnal people, who live in a fallen state being separated from God and trapped in a sinful flesh and has the nature of the devil, but through regeneration in Christ, God deals with a spiritual people, who are restored in Christ in their position and reconciled with God and delivered from the sinful flesh, through the death of the flesh and the resurrection of the spirit from the dead (baptism), and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The new man has God’s nature and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the commandments and laws of God, which rule in the Kingdom of God, are written in the mind and upon the heart of the new man (Jeremiah 31:33-34, Hebrews 8:10-13; 10:16-18).
Through the change in nature, man is able to keep the commandments of God and Jesus Christ and fulfill the will of God in his or her life.
The new man considers the Ten Commandments normal instead of evil and a heavy burden. That’s because the nature of man has changed. Man is no longer controlled by the flesh but by the Spirit. Man doesn’t live after the flesh but after the Spirit.
The will of God has become the will of the new man
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)
Unlike the new man, who considers the Ten Commandments as good, the old man still considers the Ten Commandments as evil, legalistic, and a heavy burden and refuses to submit.
And because there are many corrupt leaders in the church, who are still the old man and have a carnal mind, many false teachings (doctrines of devils), arose that seem religious, but in reality, originate from the devil. Since these doctrines exalt themselves above God and His Word and oppose the will of God.
These false doctrines have convinced a lot of people that the Ten Commandments are evil, legalistic, outdated, and no longer apply today. (Read also: Doctrines of devils are killing the church).
Just like in the Garden of Eden, the corrupt serpent tempted Eve and convinced her, that the good commandment of God, Who loved them and wanted the best for them, was not good but evil.
The great commandment
Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matthew 22:36-40)
Because many Christians are not born again and/or don’t have a relationship with Jesus and the Father through the Holy Spirit and don’t pray and don’t read and study the Bible themselves, but rely on the words of ‘learned’ people, they believe the lie of the devil and consider the Ten Commandments as evil, legalistic, a heavy burden, and outdated,
For example, they say that the Ten Commandments no longer apply, because Christians only have to keep the two greatest commandments, which are, ‘Love God with all your heart’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. That’s right, but Jesus said something more.
Jesus said, that the Law and the Prophets hung on these two commandments. Therefore, the Ten Commandments and all other (moral) commandments of God and the words of God, which the prophets spoke, hang on these two commandments. (Read also: Do you love God with all your heart? And When do you love your neighbor as yourself?)
What is so evil about the Ten Commandments of God?
But what is so evil about the Ten Commandments? Many times, people hear something from others and automatically copy it, because it sounds pious or cool, and contemporary, without knowing what they are actually saying.
- Because what’s so evil about loving God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? And honor His Name and remember the Day of the Lord?
- What is so evil about abstaining from idolatry?
- Why is it bad for children to honor their parents and to listen and obey them?
- What is so evil about speaking the truth?
- What’s so evil about staying faithful to your spouse?
- What is so evil about staying faithful to the marriage covenant you entered?
- What is so evil about not killing people, but letting them live?
- What is so evil about not stealing and keeping your hand off from other people’s possessions?
- What is so evil about being satisfied with what you have instead of coveting your neighbor’s possession?
Tell me, what is so evil about all these things?
Who considers the Ten Commandments as evil?
All these things are considered evil to those, who are evil and belong to the devil and the world. Because they don’t love God, but they love themselves above all and want to do their carnal desires. They don’t want to listen and submit to God, or parents, or any other authority.
They’re prideful, rebellious, and envious. They want to lie, do evil, serve other gods, and get involved in pagan religions and the occult. They want to live in (sexual) uncleanness, and fornicate, commit adultery, covet, steal, hate, and kill. Because all these things are present in their nature; the old sinful nature of fallen man. (Read also: Why did God say, Thou shall not… and Jesus, Thou shall…?).
Therefore, those, who say they believe but belong to the generation of fallen man, shall consider the Ten Commandments as evil, legalistic, and a heavy burden.
They shall say, that the Ten Commandments of God are evil, legalistic, and outdated.
Because otherwise, they can’t do the will, lusts, and desires of the flesh anymore. They can’t do evil and live in (sexual) uncleanness, idolatry, rebellion, enmity, unforgiveness, drunkenness, gluttony, etc. but they have to put off the works of the flesh which they love so much. And they don’t want to do that. (Read also: How to put off the old man?).
But those, who say they believe and belong to the generation of the new man shall consider the Ten Commandments as normal and obvious.
They shall consider the Ten Commandments as good and do them by nature, because God is good and they are born of Him and have His nature, and love Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and their neighbor as themselves (1 John 3).
‘Be the salt of the earth’
