What Are the Ten Commandments?
Written with the finger of God — the ten words at the heart of biblical morality, and what Jesus said they hang on.
The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) are God’s covenant charter given at Sinai: no other gods, no idols, no misusing God’s name, keep the sabbath, honour father and mother, and no murder, adultery, theft, false witness, or coveting. Jesus compressed them into two: love God entirely and “thy neighbour as thyself,” for “on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40).
Grace before law
The commandments open with a rescue, not a rule: “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt.” Redemption first, obedience second — the order of the whole Bible. The first table (commandments 1–4) orders love of God: exclusive worship, no images, hallowed name, hallowed time. The second (5–10) orders love of neighbour: honoured parents, protected life, marriage, property, truth, and — reaching inside — uncoveted hearts.
I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Deeper than behaviour
The tenth commandment — thou shalt not covet — quietly announces that God’s law reads desires, not just deeds. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount made it explicit: anger stands upstream of murder, the lust of the eye upstream of adultery. The commandments are ten wells, each deeper than its surface — which is why they still diagnose every generation, and why nobody keeps them clean.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
What the law is for
Paul calls the law holy, just, and good — and a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ: it shows the standard, exposes the shortfall, and escorts us to grace. The Christian then returns to the commandments from the other side, not to earn but to please: “if ye love me, keep my commandments.” The psalmist’s posture is the goal — O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
Quick answers
- Where are the Ten Commandments found?
- Exodus 20:1–17, repeated in Deuteronomy 5:6–21 — spoken by God at Sinai and written “with the finger of God” on two tables of stone (Exodus 31:18).
- Do the Ten Commandments apply to Christians?
- The New Testament re-affirms their moral substance — nine are explicitly repeated — summed in love (Romans 13:8–10). Christians keep them as the shape of love, not the price of salvation, which is by grace through faith.
- What did Jesus say was the greatest commandment?
- Love God with all thy heart, soul, and mind — and the second like it, thy neighbour as thyself (Matthew 22:37–39): the two nails all ten hang on.
