2025 Week 22
Published May 23, 2025
Hello, Springers!
Last month, a bill was passed by the Alabama House of Representatives to require schools to post the Ten Commandments. A similar bill was signed into law in Louisiana last year, but its enforcement is being blocked by a federal court. The ACLU is representing several people who are suing Louisiana over the constitutionality of the law.
This issue captured my attention.
It would be interesting to survey our congregation at Valley Springs to see who went to a school where the Ten Commandments were displayed and who did not. For those who can recall attending a school where they were posted, laws like these may feel like regaining lost ground. For me, having never seen the Decalogue posted in school, it is something entirely new.
No matter what you think about the political issue, there is a more fundamental theological and practical issue connected to the Ten Commandments. How should this summary of God's law work? What can we expect to happen when people encounter the Decalogue?
On the one hand, some will view it purely as an ethical summary, beneficial to all. Because, for example, all people generally believe murder is evil, the commandments act as a moral summary statement. This is only partly correct.
The sixth commandment (do not murder) is agreed upon generally by many, but the first commandment is not. The first commandment is: You shall have no other gods before me. There is no general agreement about who the "me" is in that statement, but it matters greatly who it is for everything that follows.
On the other hand, some will view the commandments as a guilt-inducing list of dos and don'ts. Six out of ten are negative statements: Thou shalt NOT. Some think that much negativity hurts more than it helps. This is also a half-truth.
Any parent can tell you what happens when they use the word "no" too often with their children. The child begins using it back at them (and inappropriately). Negativity has a way of catching fire and spreading. It's true. But in context, the phrase "thou shalt not" creates a foundation on which to positively build.
The lowest level is thou shalt not murder. You can't do something worse to a human life than snuff it out. What is the positive side? What should someone do? They should work for the good of others and preserve life. More than merely preserving, we should seek to help others flourish in life! There is no easy way to summarize all the methods for doing this.
"Thou shalt not murder" is a concise way to summarize the opposite of promoting human flourishing. The negativity of the other commandments functions similarly. The negative floor should cause us to build out with no limit to the positive ceiling.
This leaves us one crucial question: how would anyone know this?
A person encountering these commandments may, over time, come by themselves to understand some of this. We call that common grace. Others may become curious and eventually ask someone else the meaning of these commandments. Still, most people will need to be taught by someone who knows.
The kindest and wisest thing Christians can do regarding the Ten Commandments is to live them and teach others what they are and what they mean. In doing so, we must acknowledge how far short we fall in keeping them and how perfectly Christ has kept these laws on our behalf.
Now in Christ's death and resurrection, the perfect keeping of God's law (i.e., righteousness) is imputed to those who receive Christ by faith. The God of the Bible (the "me" in that first commandment) didn't give us merely a list of ethics. He gave us himself in giving us his son.
Whether or not the commandments are posted in schools, Christians have the duty and privilege to witness this wonderful truth to their enemies and friends.
in Christ,
Pastor Tag
Last month, a bill was passed by the Alabama House of Representatives to require schools to post the Ten Commandments. A similar bill was signed into law in Louisiana last year, but its enforcement is being blocked by a federal court. The ACLU is representing several people who are suing Louisiana over the constitutionality of the law.
This issue captured my attention.
It would be interesting to survey our congregation at Valley Springs to see who went to a school where the Ten Commandments were displayed and who did not. For those who can recall attending a school where they were posted, laws like these may feel like regaining lost ground. For me, having never seen the Decalogue posted in school, it is something entirely new.
No matter what you think about the political issue, there is a more fundamental theological and practical issue connected to the Ten Commandments. How should this summary of God's law work? What can we expect to happen when people encounter the Decalogue?
On the one hand, some will view it purely as an ethical summary, beneficial to all. Because, for example, all people generally believe murder is evil, the commandments act as a moral summary statement. This is only partly correct.
The sixth commandment (do not murder) is agreed upon generally by many, but the first commandment is not. The first commandment is: You shall have no other gods before me. There is no general agreement about who the "me" is in that statement, but it matters greatly who it is for everything that follows.
On the other hand, some will view the commandments as a guilt-inducing list of dos and don'ts. Six out of ten are negative statements: Thou shalt NOT. Some think that much negativity hurts more than it helps. This is also a half-truth.
Any parent can tell you what happens when they use the word "no" too often with their children. The child begins using it back at them (and inappropriately). Negativity has a way of catching fire and spreading. It's true. But in context, the phrase "thou shalt not" creates a foundation on which to positively build.
The lowest level is thou shalt not murder. You can't do something worse to a human life than snuff it out. What is the positive side? What should someone do? They should work for the good of others and preserve life. More than merely preserving, we should seek to help others flourish in life! There is no easy way to summarize all the methods for doing this.
"Thou shalt not murder" is a concise way to summarize the opposite of promoting human flourishing. The negativity of the other commandments functions similarly. The negative floor should cause us to build out with no limit to the positive ceiling.
This leaves us one crucial question: how would anyone know this?
A person encountering these commandments may, over time, come by themselves to understand some of this. We call that common grace. Others may become curious and eventually ask someone else the meaning of these commandments. Still, most people will need to be taught by someone who knows.
The kindest and wisest thing Christians can do regarding the Ten Commandments is to live them and teach others what they are and what they mean. In doing so, we must acknowledge how far short we fall in keeping them and how perfectly Christ has kept these laws on our behalf.
Now in Christ's death and resurrection, the perfect keeping of God's law (i.e., righteousness) is imputed to those who receive Christ by faith. The God of the Bible (the "me" in that first commandment) didn't give us merely a list of ethics. He gave us himself in giving us his son.
Whether or not the commandments are posted in schools, Christians have the duty and privilege to witness this wonderful truth to their enemies and friends.
in Christ,
Pastor Tag