One of the most well-known passages in all of Scripture is the Ten Commandments. Not only have they been taught often at church and in Sunday School, but they have also been displayed in classrooms, courthouses, capitol buildings, and on monuments all across America. Though we may not have all ten commandments memorized, we generally know what they command, and we probably think we’re pretty good at obeying them. After all, when’s the last time you murdered someone or made a little wooden idol to bow down to? It’s fairly easy to not curse or steal, and we, of course, always put God first in our lives (right?).
But, as Jesus reveals to us in His Sermon on the Mount, these commandments have a far deeper meaning and intention than we might originally think (Matthew 5), and this is exactly what Jen Wilkin focuses on in her book Ten Words to Live By.
The Ten Commandments are known as the Decalogue in Greek, which literally means “ten words.” In the book, Jen focuses on each of the ten words to remind believers what it really means to obey and delight in God’s commands. She examines what it looks like to follow these ten words today and how we are called to a more expansive obedience of them. We are not only to do the right actions, but we are also to have the right heart.
Many people may think that this call to obedience is just a call to legalism. Is it really that bad to tell a lie for a good reason? Is it really that bad to not have Sabbath rest? Yes, obeying God is really that important, and we shouldn’t view this obedience as just checking off the boxes. Instead, we should delight in obeying God’s commandments because it is what Jesus delighted in-
“We should love the law because we love Jesus, and because Jesus loved the law.”[1]
We love Jesus. Therefore, we should love what Jesus loved and obey God’s law. Our love for Jesus should always encourage us to strive to become more and more like Him, and this is only possible through obedience-
“Lawfulness is Christlikeness. To obey the law is to look like Jesus Christ… Obedience to the law is the means of sanctification for the believer.”[2]
Obeying all ten commandments and becoming like Jesus may seem like an impossible task. After all, we are still fallible, sinful beings, even after we are redeemed and justified. You may feel like obedience is a hopeless endeavor, but the purpose of these ten words is to give us hope! Jen writes-
“The Ten Words are encouraging words, meant to give us hope – hope that we will live rightly oriented to God and others, hope that we will grow in holiness.”[3]
The Ten Commandments give us the hope that we will become like Christ. They give us the hope that we can have right relationships with both God and others. And they give us the hope that we will one day live in a place where these words are no longer necessary, where there will be no more hate, jealousy, murder, theft, lying, exhaustion, disrespect, adultery, or idolatry.
As usual, Jen Wilkin’s Ten Words to Live By is a great book and a great resource for anyone wanting to learn about the Ten Commandments and their relevance to believers today. Her chapters are relatively short and easy to comprehend, and she ends each chapter with reflection questions and Bible verses to meditate on. If you’re looking for a better understanding of and appreciation for God’s commandments, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of Jen’s book and prepare yourself to delight in them.
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[1] Jen Wilkin, Ten Words to Live By: Delighting in and Doing What God Commands (Wheaton: Crossway, 2021), 14.
[2] Ibid., 15.
[3] Ibid., 18.
