The TEN COMMANDMENTS and the Covenant Relationship Between Israel and the LORD: Part I

The TEN COMMANDMENTS and the Covenant Relationship Between Israel and the LORD: Part I
The Ten Commandments are more than just a set of universal moral principles- ten ethical laws which all people should strive live by. The Ten Commandments are part of a particular covenantal relationship between a particular group of people (Israel) and their particular God- the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In this covenantal relationship, God has pledged to make Israel into a "royal priesthood and holy nation." Israel’s obligation toward her covenant partner, God, is to live by His law- organizing their society around his commandments and ordinances and, in so doing, showing the nations of the world what God’s righteousness looks like.
We as the people of Christ are also in a covenantal relationship with God. We, like the people of Israel, have been saved and redeemed by God. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, God has set us free from slavery to sin and brought us into a vast new place of grace and spiritual freedom- “a land flowing with milk and honey.” However, being spiritually free does not mean being able to think, say and do whatever we wish. In other words, we have NOT been set free from God’s Law. Rather, we have been set freeTO OBEY God’s law. And, it is through our obedience to Christ’s supreme law of love that we manifest the righteousness and mercy of God to a hurting and broken world.