The 10 Commandments Reversed
Have you ever felt like Christianity is little more than a list of what not to do? Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t swear, don’t have sex before marriage…don’t, don’t, don’t! Our faith, to some, can be reduced to a list of what to avoid, rather than how to deepen one’s relationship with God.
While I don’t think that the ten commandments caused this problem, it certainly hasn’t helped. The ten commandments is something that our society loves! Here’s a neat list of things that tick God off. We can put it on posters and on monuments outside of courthouses, a simplified way to avoid Hell and show off our faith.
But following Christ is so much more than following rules. When I was in Australia, I met people representing many faiths, who often said things like “My religion says I’m not allowed to eat pork” or “I know I’m not supposed to be drinking right now.” I learned really fast that I wasn’t like them! My relationship with the Lord changed “I can’t get drunk” to “I don’t WANT to get drunk, because I’ve got something better.”
When we’re pursuing God, we should want to do things right to please Him more, and the ten commandments are a way to make this happen.
The ten commandments can be found in Exodus 20:3-17. Read them over, unless you can recite all ten right now. Give it a try, then come back when you’re done re-reading the text. (Hey, I still mess them up too sometimes!)
Taking the commandments as a whole, we see that the first four talk about duty to God, while the last six talk about duty to man. If you read into it a bit, this fits perfectly with what Jesus said about the greatest commandments:
Matthew 22:37-40
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
So, the way the ten commandments are divided, it fits perfectly! The first four help you out with loving God more, and the second six help you out with loving others.
I read all ten and when I got to the last one about coveting, I read some definitions and commentary because I wanted to know more. Then the Lord put this thought into my head: If we’re not to covet, what are we to do? I thought, well, we should be thankful for what we have and where we were.
Then, my eyes opened. Most of these are “Do nots” and therefore there must be an opposite “Do” to go alongside all of the commandments! With that in mind, let’s take the reverse of each commandment.
Exo 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.”
Instead, you should worship God alone.
Exo 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image…”
Instead, you should worship God alone.
Exo 20:7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”
Instead, you should respect and fear the Lord.
Exo 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
You should not treat the Sabbath as any other day…respect God and spend time with him.
Exo 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”
Do not disrespect your parents.
Exo 20:13 “You shall not murder.”
Instead, you should respect and seek to preserve life. (Murder, in an oversimplified definition, is killing with malice and/or hatred. The ESV footnote for this verse also adds that “the Hebrew word also covers causing human death through carelessness or negligence.”)
Exo 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.”
Instead, you should remain faithful to your spouse always.
Exo 20:15 “You shall not steal.”
Instead, you should “labor, doing honest work with [your] own hands, so that [you] may have something to share with anyone in need.” (Ephesians 4:28) Also, you should respect the rights and properties of others.
Exo 20:16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
Instead, you should be truthful in all things.
Exo 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Instead, you should be thankful for what God has given you.
When looking at the first four, we see that in order to love God better, 1) He has to come first, and 2) He has to have our respect. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but if we get these right we’re on the right track. If I have a friend whom I respect greatly and I prioritize my schedule to be with him or her more, then I will certainly end up having more love for that person. Note that it would also be my love for this person that would drive me to respect him or her and prioritize him or her more. Loving God causes other things to happen, and other things happen, causing us to love Him more. It’s a good cycle.
The last six, as we said, talk about commands that help us to love others better, and if I had to pick some common elements, respect seems to be one, as well as honesty. If you can respect other people and always be honest with them, I think the world would be a better place.
There is much more that can be said of the ten commandments, but I we’ll stick to the concept of reversal presented here and how it applies to the two greatest commandments. Do you want to love God more? Do you want to love others better? Then embrace these rules, not because they kill your fun, but because by following them and by applying the principles, we just might find ourselves closer to God. Who doesn’t want that?
Grace and peace,
~ Brendan
