Concerning the Ten Commandments

HANGING TWO INSTEAD OF TEN

An Argument Against Arbitrarily Posting The Ten Commandments

By Mark E. McLeroy

Part 4 of 4

Finally, look at 1 Cor 2:10-14. Paul writes, “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given. This is what we speak not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

That word “know” and its derivatives are used in the sense of intimately experiencing someone, as opposed to factually knowing about them. In other words, it pertains to relationship, not “book knowledge”. In the Old Testament, the same word is used to describe the intimacy between married couples. When we become born again, we come to know how our God thinks and understand the things he has given us through experiencing his indwelling presence, not through facts and concepts gleaned from study materials. Of course, part of what we learn about our Lord comes from studying his word in the Bible, but remember that the scripture above says these things are spiritually discerned, and are foolishness to the man without the Spirit of God. This is part of the fulfillment of the prophesy in Jer 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:8-12, which says “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” (The chapter and verse numerical relationship between the two scripture references is interesting, wouldn’t you say?) Notice the two different uses of the word “know” in this passage: One means “head knowledge”, and the other means “heart knowledge.” It is that “heart knowledge” which equips us to understand “the things that come from the Spirit of God.”

It is also through this process that we are equipped with power to want to obey God’s two “love” commands. As we develop our relationship with him, after we become “born again”, our Father takes the love that is in His heart and begins to place it in our heart. He teaches us how to love him with everything we have, because he has loved us with everything He has. Then, because “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness,” he lets us help him to love others with a love that has no conditions or expectations, just as we love ourselves. This is a love that that is different from what the “world” teaches us about love; it must be spiritually discerned...it must be caught, not taught.

By now, I am sure that quite a few of you are considering breaking the fifth commandment where I am concerned (You shall not murder!). But before we go on, would you please notice that nowhere have I suggested that we should not have laws, rules or regulations in schools or public institutions. In fact, we had better have some rules, laws and regulations for our own protection in a society where God is increasingly excluded, because without some guidelines for restraint and direction, that society will hasten its self-destruction (In the long run, it will self-destruct anyway...as the saying goes, “Know God, know peace. No God, no peace.”). Paul Harvey, the famous newscaster, often makes the point on his show that self-government without self-discipline eventually results in self-destruction.

So then, what is the solution to this dilemma, if it’s not posting the Ten Commandments? Frankly, my friend, without getting God fully involved in our children’s lives, and our own, I don’t know what the answer to this problem is. Remember that line from the old Brilcream commercial that says “…a little dab will do ya...”? It seems to me that we’ve developed a Brilcream mentallity about getting God invlolved in schools and public institutions when we suggest hanging the Ten Commandments on the walls; that is, a little dab of God will do ya!

Let me ask you something: Do you really think that the Almighty God, creator of the universe, and everything in it, is going to settle for our attempt to just get Him a “little bit” involved in our lives and problems, like for instance, the disciplining and discipleing of our kids? Do you think that posting the Ten Commandments is going to work where we have banned the Bible and studying His teachings? Do you really think that God is going to draw closer to us as we distance ourselves from Him? I think we both know that God is not going to force Himself onto the lives of those who reject and resist Him either by words or actions. Even after we become born again, and Jesus Christ is living in us, we still have to decide if we are going to live by His ways, or by the ways of the world. God makes this abundantly clear through the writings of the Apostle Paul in chapter 5 of his epistle to the Galatians, where he teaches about living by the Spirit (His ways) rather than induging in the sinful nature (the world’s ways). The good news is that when we do decide to live by His ways, its not us doing the living; it’s Him doing the living through us!