226. Are the Ten Commands Really Rules And Not Just Ten Outcomes?

[00:00:09] Hello friends, welcome to another episode of Making Disciples. My name is Cris Rogers and I am your host. I hope you're doing alright. I hope life is treating you well.

[00:00:19] Today's episode is... This is going to be fun. I think this is going to be fun.

[00:00:24] So I was listening to someone preach recently on the Ten Commandments and I liked what they had to say.

[00:00:35] But I came away questioning if they were right or not.

[00:00:40] So I decided to go away and spend a bit of time just thinking about the Ten Commandments

[00:00:46] and having a ponder if I thought they were right or not.

[00:00:50] And this is one of the things that you and I will have to do all the time.

[00:00:53] You hear a sermon, you will often hear something that sounds right.

[00:00:58] It sounds great. It's like, wow, yeah, that makes sense.

[00:01:02] I understand that. But you may come away and start to question,

[00:01:07] but just because it makes sense or because it sounds right, is it right?

[00:01:13] And the reality is there are times when in trying to make the Bible sound more culturally relevant,

[00:01:23] we might take on an interpretation of a particular passage that sounds right to us in our culture,

[00:01:31] but at the same time might be wrong against the plumb line that is God's truth.

[00:01:37] And we have to assess, do I think this matches that?

[00:01:44] And sometimes it's really hard, particularly today, what I'm going to talk about today.

[00:01:47] It's really hard unless you start unpacking some of the uses of the Hebrew in context,

[00:01:55] or you know the history or the like, it can be really difficult.

[00:01:58] So I thought I'd just explore this one with you.

[00:02:00] This is one that I have just been investigating myself, and it's around the Ten Commandments.

[00:02:08] And I have an interest in the Ten Commandments because I love Scripture in context,

[00:02:14] and I think in context the Ten Commandments take on a slightly different life

[00:02:19] when you understand them from a Jewish perspective.

[00:02:21] I'll explain that to you.

[00:02:23] And I just wondered if what I'd heard in this sermon contradicted what I knew,

[00:02:30] or was a new take on, or added a new dimension to,

[00:02:35] or if it was just in contrast to what is correct.

[00:02:39] So I went away, been thinking, reading, exploring, asking, emailing.

[00:02:46] I've emailed a whole bunch of Hebrew translators and people who are linguists,

[00:02:52] just to try and get my head around this a little bit.

[00:02:54] So I hope you found this interesting.

[00:02:55] It's on the Ten Commandments, and we're going to be looking at

[00:02:57] how do we interpret the Ten Commandments?

[00:02:59] Do we interpret them as it's written in the English?

[00:03:04] And I've got them here.

[00:03:06] And it says, the Ten Commandments,

[00:03:08] And God spoke these words,

[00:03:09] I am the Lord your God who brought you out of slavery out of the land of Egypt.

[00:03:14] It says this,

[00:03:15] You shall have no other gods before me.

[00:03:18] You shall not have for yourself an image

[00:03:21] in the form of anything under heaven or in earth or beneath the earth.

[00:03:25] You shall not bow to them or worship them.

[00:03:28] You shall not misuse.

[00:03:30] You shall not.

[00:03:31] And it kind of goes on.

[00:03:32] And you get the idea of the you shall nots.

[00:03:36] Is that a great way of interpreting those words?

[00:03:39] And really, should we read the Ten Commandments as you shall nots?

[00:03:42] That's what we're going to explore today.

[00:03:44] Because there is an interpretation going around that I've heard that I think is very appealing.

[00:03:48] I really like it, but I think it's actually not correct.

[00:03:53] I think there's an element of something, but I don't think it's correct.

[00:03:55] So that's what we're going to explore.

[00:03:57] So let's jump in as we explore and think about the Ten Commandments.

[00:04:09] So here we go.

[00:04:10] Let's jump in.

[00:04:12] Ten Commandments.

[00:04:13] So often the Ten Commandments are seen as a negative set of rules.

[00:04:22] These thou shalt nots.

[00:04:24] Thou shalt not take my name in vain.

[00:04:28] Thou shalt not murder.

[00:04:29] Thou shalt not.

[00:04:30] Thou shalt not.

[00:04:30] And we take them as this set of rules, which often they're seen as negative rules.

[00:04:36] Rules are negative.

[00:04:37] We don't like rules.

[00:04:38] We don't like to be told what to do.

[00:04:40] So we often see this idea of obeying as something that's negative.

[00:04:47] Actually, to be a disciple of Jesus, we love and obey God with our head, our heart and our hands.

[00:04:54] Where do you get the obey from?

[00:04:55] Well, Matthew 28 says,

[00:04:56] Therefore, go, make disciples, teaching them to obey everything that I have taught you.

[00:05:02] Obeying is a part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

[00:05:05] We go in the way of Jesus.

[00:05:06] We do what Jesus tells us to do.

[00:05:08] Doing what somebody tells us to do, you're doing what somebody's told us to do, is obeying.

[00:05:13] But we don't like the word obey because it somehow becomes a controlling word.

[00:05:18] And I would say obeying in our culture has become negative.

[00:05:20] And its connotation is that of someone who is controlling.

[00:05:24] Therefore, in religion, Christianity as is seen as a religion, the commands and the laws and the rules are therefore often seen in terms of negative and controlling.

[00:05:38] So religion is seen as something there that controls the masses.

[00:05:41] It controls you from doing the things that you want to do.

[00:05:46] Rather than being free, you're being controlled by religion.

[00:05:51] And things like the Ten Commandments then kind of fall into that.

[00:05:54] Here we have another set of rules and regulations that aim to control.

[00:05:58] And I actually don't think that's what they are at all.

[00:06:01] But I do think we need to obey them.

[00:06:04] And I do think they are directive.

[00:06:07] They're God telling us something.

[00:06:09] But let's just talk about...

[00:06:10] So the Ten Commandments.

[00:06:12] Let's talk about the title for a second.

[00:06:14] And if you were to open an English Bible and you were to turn to the Ten Commandments in either the Exodus narrative or in Deuteronomy,

[00:06:23] because we're in two places, they're predominantly the same.

[00:06:26] The only differences are some of the words are back to front.

[00:06:31] Wife and house.

[00:06:33] In Exodus, it says your house and your wife.

[00:06:37] And I think in Deuteronomy, it says wife and house.

[00:06:40] It flips some of these words around.

[00:06:43] Predominantly the same thing.

[00:06:46] In title, the Ten Commandments, why are they titled the Ten Commandments?

[00:06:50] So this is a really important one.

[00:06:53] So let's just think about the title from the Hebrew.

[00:06:56] Think about it from the Greek.

[00:06:58] And then I want to talk to you about the Latin founded in the medieval era.

[00:07:01] So in the Hebrew, I'm going to butcher this.

[00:07:05] So my Hebrew linguistic, my Hebrew listeners who speak Hebrew will...

[00:07:10] Gosh, Chris, what did you just do to that?

[00:07:11] Anyway.

[00:07:13] Aserat he davarim.

[00:07:15] Aserat he davarim.

[00:07:18] Translates literally as ten words or ten statements.

[00:07:24] Now the ten words or the ten statements is very different to Ten Commandments, isn't it?

[00:07:29] This is found in Exodus 34, 28 and Deuteronomy 4, 13 and 10 verse 4.

[00:07:37] The phrase.

[00:07:39] So haserat he davarim.

[00:07:43] Ten words or ten statements.

[00:07:48] Difficult to translate that phrase in any way as command.

[00:07:51] But ten words.

[00:07:55] Ten proclamations, statements.

[00:07:59] I would be aware of translating that.

[00:08:02] Now in the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuadint, it is translated as the Deca Logos.

[00:08:12] And again, meaning and translated as the ten words.

[00:08:16] Ten words.

[00:08:16] And we get the phrase, the Deca Logos.

[00:08:19] And it's the ten words again.

[00:08:22] So the Hebrew would be the ten words or the ten statements.

[00:08:26] I quite like the ten proclamations or directives maybe.

[00:08:33] In the Greek, Septuadint, we've got the ten words.

[00:08:37] And that's how they're known in the text.

[00:08:39] So where do we get the word Ten Commandments from, Chris?

[00:08:42] Well, the term Ten Commandments comes from the medieval period where it was translated into the Latin.

[00:08:51] Now the Latin, Deca Mandata, I believe.

[00:08:57] That's how I would say it in the Latin.

[00:08:59] And it's translated as the Ten Commandments.

[00:09:01] And this happened when, during the medieval period, the teachings of the church were going out.

[00:09:09] And it was described then at that point as the commandments, the rules of the Exodus.

[00:09:20] The ten rules or the ten commandments.

[00:09:23] So that's the history of it.

[00:09:25] So actually, if you read the text, the ten words, ten statements, or then in the Latin, it becomes the Ten Commandments.

[00:09:34] So that's where the title comes from.

[00:09:35] I think there's another thing that I just want to share with you.

[00:09:38] And this is from the Jewish context.

[00:09:39] I've shared this before on the podcast.

[00:09:41] In Jewish context, when a man and a woman got married, the Jewish couple, they were signed something called the Ketubah.

[00:09:48] The Ketubah was a wedding document that set out an agreement on how they were going to do their marriage.

[00:09:53] In contrast to all the other marriages,

[00:09:54] this is how we are going to do our marriage.

[00:09:57] And in the marriage certificate, the Ketubah, you would have an opening paragraph that would state how the couple met.

[00:10:06] It would then state how they were going to do their marriage together.

[00:10:09] And there'd often be things in there about not speaking ill of each other in public.

[00:10:12] Do not use my name in vain.

[00:10:13] It would talk about, this is what my family has done.

[00:10:16] This is what your family has done.

[00:10:17] But we're going to do our own thing at Hanukkah.

[00:10:19] You know, honouring your father and mother.

[00:10:21] It would talk about, you know, we will not want what other couples have got.

[00:10:24] You know, we'll have everything we want in our marriage.

[00:10:26] And you would sign this Ketubah.

[00:10:27] And it would often have somewhere between 10 and 15 statements on there about how that marriage would work.

[00:10:32] I would argue it's not 10 commandments.

[00:10:37] Actually, these 10 statements works really well.

[00:10:40] Or the 10 words works really well in terms of understanding these 10 commandments as a Jewish wedding ketubah.

[00:10:47] How is the marriage between God and his people going to work?

[00:10:51] It's going to work as a relational thing where rules will be in place to say how this marriage will work.

[00:10:56] And I think that is the most helpful way of approaching the 10 commandments as a marriage certificate between God and his people.

[00:11:03] When you see the 10 commandments in terms of a committed relationship, it's not about you shall do or thou shalt not.

[00:11:12] It actually becomes about if this marriage is going to flourish, this is how we're going to do it together.

[00:11:17] Because marriage is about a couple bring out the best in each other.

[00:11:20] I think that is the most helpful way of understanding the 10 commandments.

[00:11:26] So, let me explore with you this other way that I've heard recently the 10 commandments talked about.

[00:11:31] Because I think it's really interesting.

[00:11:33] I think there's some merit in it, but I don't go with it all the way.

[00:11:38] So, the 10 commandments are often seen as the thou shalt not.

[00:11:42] So, therefore, many of us end up with a thou shalt not faith.

[00:11:47] We believe that God is in the business of thou shalt not.

[00:11:51] You will not do these things.

[00:11:53] So, faith often for many of us becomes, when we misunderstand them, becomes about God controlling us.

[00:12:00] So, God becomes a command maker.

[00:12:04] And therefore, the Hebrew can often be rendered, therefore, as thou shalt not or you will not.

[00:12:14] I think there is this other alternative way that you could translate the phrase which this American preacher that I heard recently.

[00:12:24] I'm not going to name them.

[00:12:25] This American preacher that I heard recently talked about how actually they think the phrase thou shalt not in the Hebrew is better translated as you will not.

[00:12:37] You will not.

[00:12:38] And what they're arguing is that when it says you will not steal, you will not have an affair, commit adultery.

[00:12:47] You'll have no other gods before me.

[00:12:49] They're arguing that by making it you will not, it actually turns the 10 commandments away from being rules to 10 outcomes.

[00:13:01] If you are in relationship with God, you will not lust after others.

[00:13:08] You will not.

[00:13:09] Because an outcome of being in this relationship with God is that you're not going to want all of those things.

[00:13:15] You're not going to want to commit murder.

[00:13:16] Because actually, when you're in relationship with God, there's an outcome that you only want life.

[00:13:22] So by turning it into you will not, the argument is it becomes 10 outcomes or, and I kind of do like this, 10 promises.

[00:13:30] Because I am in your life, God says, you will not do this.

[00:13:35] You will now be doing that.

[00:13:37] You will only be bearing fruit.

[00:13:39] So let me just turn over my sheet here.

[00:13:41] So I've got the 10 commandments in front of me.

[00:13:44] You will not misuse my name.

[00:13:47] Because we're in relationship with each other, you will not misuse my name.

[00:13:53] You will not dishonor your father and mother.

[00:13:59] You will not murder.

[00:14:01] You will not commit adultery.

[00:14:02] You will not steal.

[00:14:04] You will not give false testimony against your neighbor.

[00:14:07] Because if I'm with you, you're not going to behave like that.

[00:14:10] So they argue that the outcome of it changes.

[00:14:16] So it becomes 10 outcomes or becomes these 10 promises.

[00:14:20] And I really like that.

[00:14:23] I like that if you're in relationship with God, then the way that you will live will end up looking like the 10 outcomes.

[00:14:33] These 10 outcomes in your life that you're not going to be longing for any other gods.

[00:14:37] You're not going to be misusing God's name because you really honor him.

[00:14:41] You'll see God at work in your life.

[00:14:42] Therefore, you're not going to want for anything.

[00:14:44] You're not going to want what your neighbors have.

[00:14:46] You're not going to want your neighbor's house or your neighbor's donkey.

[00:14:49] You'll not be wanting your neighbor's wife.

[00:14:51] Because there's now a new outcome.

[00:14:54] So these 10 outcomes of having a relationship with God is that you are living this way.

[00:14:58] Or because you're living for God.

[00:15:00] Here are 10 promises because he is in your life.

[00:15:03] I like that.

[00:15:04] I like that.

[00:15:06] But I really do.

[00:15:08] And if you were to look at the Hebrew, they're right.

[00:15:12] They are right.

[00:15:14] So let me just unpack this for you.

[00:15:16] So the key insight here is coming from the Hebrew grammar use.

[00:15:21] And the Hebrew word lo, into English I'm using.

[00:15:27] And it's an imperfect verb.

[00:15:29] And it's often translated as you shall not into English.

[00:15:32] But it can be translated as you will not.

[00:15:36] Which makes it more of a promise or a prophetic statement rather than just a command.

[00:15:42] So rather than you shall not steal, which is a command or a prohibition.

[00:15:48] It would then become you will not steal.

[00:15:52] Which is now a promise.

[00:15:54] An outcome of God's presence in one's life.

[00:15:56] So actually the Hebrew, and I've checked this and checked this and checked this.

[00:16:04] Yes, it can be translated as you will not.

[00:16:09] That is a clear and good interpretation of the Hebrew.

[00:16:16] You can do that.

[00:16:17] That is exactly how it could be translated.

[00:16:21] So there are alternative ways of it being translated.

[00:16:23] And that is a valid way of translating it.

[00:16:28] And by doing this, it shifts it from a list of maybe instructions.

[00:16:36] A list of legalistic faith statements.

[00:16:41] It moves it from God being a rule maker.

[00:16:44] And it does move this list to promises about life with God.

[00:16:50] It becomes about faith based on relationship and transformation.

[00:16:54] And it makes God a promise keeper who transforms us from within.

[00:16:58] And the reality is, they're right.

[00:17:02] The people who are preaching this, they're right.

[00:17:03] This teaching that aligns with the New Testament.

[00:17:05] Because, you know, not just the New Testament, but the Old Testament as well.

[00:17:09] Hebrews 10, 8-10, but also Jeremiah 31-33,

[00:17:13] talks about God's law being written on our hearts rather than just external rules.

[00:17:21] It's something that brings transformation inside of us.

[00:17:24] So I like this. I like it.

[00:17:27] But, but does it actually, does that interpretation actually fit the text,

[00:17:35] the story and the narrative?

[00:17:37] And this is where I actually come down to no, it doesn't.

[00:17:43] No, it doesn't.

[00:17:44] Although I like how that translates the words.

[00:17:48] When you look at the context, the historical context, the theological context.

[00:17:53] No.

[00:17:54] Although it's a nice interpretation to see the Ten Commandments as outcomes or ten promises.

[00:18:01] Actually, and even though the Hebrew could be translated like that in terms of in itself,

[00:18:07] when you look at the wider context of them, it doesn't.

[00:18:11] It doesn't work.

[00:18:13] If you take the Ten Commandments out of the text

[00:18:16] and simply translate the text found in Exodus 34 under its own merit,

[00:18:23] you could do it.

[00:18:24] But when you take it out of the text,

[00:18:27] you're actually missing the context that's around it.

[00:18:29] And that's where you start to realise, no.

[00:18:32] This is where you have to read a passage in the whole of the text

[00:18:37] to bring about interpretation.

[00:18:39] So just a historical context here.

[00:18:42] The Ten Commandments follow the format of other ancient Near Eastern

[00:18:50] treaties or rules set out in other regions of the Middle East.

[00:18:59] It's set out in the same way as the Ketubah, the wedding document.

[00:19:05] But it's also set out in the same way as some of the Babylonian texts at the time

[00:19:11] about how communities are going to work.

[00:19:15] Typically, they are all expressed in that era as commands, not promises.

[00:19:21] You don't see anywhere else any other use as a promise, not a command.

[00:19:28] I think because of the Ketubah, the Jewish wedding certificate that sets out the rules on how a marriage will work,

[00:19:37] the Ten Promises don't fit that.

[00:19:41] That isn't how a Ketubah works.

[00:19:44] It's a legal document between a man and a woman on how they will make their marriage work.

[00:19:48] And you could only start to divorce somebody if you had broken the rules of your marriage Ketubah.

[00:19:55] You set out the rules for how your marriage will work.

[00:19:58] And that's why it was a legal document.

[00:19:59] And that's where the Ten Commandments, I think, is a legal text between God and his people.

[00:20:03] It's not just a vague set of promises between God and his people.

[00:20:09] It really is more than that.

[00:20:11] And its format, the format of it, parallels other legal codes from the same period.

[00:20:18] An example you might want to Google is the code of Hammurabi.

[00:20:26] Hammurabi, H-A-M-M-U-R-A-B-I.

[00:20:30] And text like that where it sets things out as rules and laws.

[00:20:35] This is how this marriage will work.

[00:20:38] And I think the Ketubah is one of the key clues in how we're meant to interpret it in terms of a marriage relationship,

[00:20:44] not a dictatorship.

[00:20:46] So it's not a God's dictatorship to mankind,

[00:20:50] but it's actually a behavior for how God will behave towards his people

[00:20:54] and how his people will behave towards him.

[00:20:57] So I don't think translating it as outcomes and promises actually does work,

[00:21:02] although I like it as an idea.

[00:21:05] Culturally, it might work for us because we don't like this idea of obeying,

[00:21:08] but actually in context, it doesn't work.

[00:21:12] And if you think about some theological framework for a second,

[00:21:14] the traditional Jewish exegesis approaches the Ten Commandments,

[00:21:20] with the Jewish idea of a mitzvot,

[00:21:23] a set of rules or behaviors or statements that the Jews understood that they were behaved by.

[00:21:32] And if you broke one, then you had to...

[00:21:36] So if you broke a mitzvot, broke a rule,

[00:21:39] then you would have to do something in the world to put goodness back.

[00:21:43] Because in breaking that rule, you've actually taken peace out of the world,

[00:21:48] shalom out.

[00:21:49] So we now, in our behavior of confession, put shalom back in.

[00:21:53] So actually, if you were to look at it in terms of a Jewish theological framework,

[00:21:57] it doesn't work, this idea of the promises.

[00:22:00] But the idea of the commands does work because it fits into the framework of the law

[00:22:07] and the temple and the sacrificial system.

[00:22:12] Humans not being able to live by these rules because they're just too much.

[00:22:16] So Christ has to come to die for us as the ultimate sacrifice.

[00:22:19] It only works when we approach it in that way.

[00:22:24] To change them to God's promises means they're no longer rules that we live by,

[00:22:29] but something that happens in our life when God is with us.

[00:22:32] And therefore, if it's just a promise, we don't have to do it.

[00:22:36] It's not a rule.

[00:22:38] It's just this is the fruit of what you will see.

[00:22:40] So that's it.

[00:22:42] It's almost like some people are now seeing the Ten Commandments

[00:22:44] as the ten fruits that will come out of your life if you've got God in it,

[00:22:48] rather than this is how God is expecting us to behave towards humanity.

[00:22:54] And the term literally translates.

[00:22:57] Remember, we were talking about the Heserat HaDibrat.

[00:23:02] It translates as ten statements or commands.

[00:23:04] It doesn't translate as ten promises.

[00:23:07] Early rabbinic sources constantly interpreted these as imperatives,

[00:23:14] something that we must do.

[00:23:17] So therefore, for me, friends, I can't,

[00:23:20] even though I like what I heard this preacher say,

[00:23:22] and I really love this idea of the ten outcomes, the ten promises.

[00:23:26] You know, yeah, wouldn't it be great if we didn't have to talk about obeying?

[00:23:29] But actually, that's just not true.

[00:23:32] God calls us to obey him and obey his teaching.

[00:23:36] And therefore, to interpret the Ten Commandments as anything else,

[00:23:40] the rules, it's just not, it's not got legs on it.

[00:23:44] It's not got legs on it.

[00:23:44] But, come back to what I was saying here earlier about the Ketubah.

[00:23:49] The Ketubah is a set of rules that are set out for the flourishing of a married relationship.

[00:23:57] And therefore, the Ten Commandments are life-giving,

[00:24:01] they're not controlling, and they're not abusive.

[00:24:04] The Ten Commandments is not about a dictator trying to abuse and control his people, his dominion.

[00:24:11] It's actually about God wanting this relationship to flourish.

[00:24:16] Therefore, I would argue that the Ten Outcomes, the Ten Promises doesn't work.

[00:24:25] But actually, to see them as the Ten Statements,

[00:24:28] the Ten Practices of a Married Couple,

[00:24:33] that's right.

[00:24:34] So, therefore, for me, the Ten Commandments are actually about a behavior between me and God,

[00:24:41] a committed relationship that says this is how our relationship is going to work.

[00:24:46] Now, friends, there's a lot more I could say on this around the linguistic analysis,

[00:24:51] that there is more that you could say on this and how the language is used in the Middle East.

[00:24:58] We could talk a little bit more about some of the comparisons to other texts,

[00:25:05] similar legal codes in the Middle East.

[00:25:09] We could look at some other more recent Jewish legal traditions,

[00:25:16] but none of it would help us interpret it as promises at all.

[00:25:20] And I would say actually to obey is the best way of translating it.

[00:25:25] Now, if you struggle with that word obey, I would say two things.

[00:25:30] Number one, actually, I think it is about obeying,

[00:25:33] but I think it's about obeying in terms of a relationship rather than dictatorship.

[00:25:40] And I think we have to ask ourselves, secondly, why is it I struggle with obey?

[00:25:44] What is going on inside of me that is stopping me from actually wanting to obey?

[00:25:50] If God is good, what is stopping me from wanting to obey?

[00:25:53] What's the sinful, prideful thing happening in me that is stopping me from even liking the term obey?

[00:26:01] What's going on inside of me?

[00:26:02] What's the rebellious thing happening inside of me that's meaning I don't like this?

[00:26:06] Because I think sometimes we've got to approach,

[00:26:09] why am I responding in this way to the word obey?

[00:26:12] What is going on?

[00:26:13] What is it that is happening in my heart that's stopping me from actually receiving this as I'm meant to receive it?

[00:26:21] I'm getting angry towards this code because I have to obey it.

[00:26:26] Why?

[00:26:27] What is in me that means I don't like what I'm being asked of here?

[00:26:34] What's the pride?

[00:26:35] What's the ego?

[00:26:36] What's the desire in me that actually stopping me from walking in the fullness of what this set of statements is asking of me?

[00:26:47] That's what I would ask us.

[00:26:48] So friends, I hope you find that interesting.

[00:26:50] A little bit more technical and information.

[00:26:55] But I think a really important one to ask ourselves when we hear a sermon,

[00:27:00] do I actually theologically agree with what's being said rather than just liking what's being said because it feels good?

[00:27:08] The danger is there are lots of things being said about the teachings of Jesus or Scripture where it makes us feel good

[00:27:17] but actually might not be theologically sound.

[00:27:22] And therefore researching, reading and thinking yourself is super important.

[00:27:27] Friends, until next time, grace and peace.

[00:27:30] And I will catch up with you soon.