Biblically Speaking

Which 10 Commandments?
 
By Rev. Joseph Graber
 
Virtually every professing Christian will readily assent to the fact that the ten commandments are in force and binding today, but we can hardly get agreement on what else in the Old Testament law is still in effect.  We often affirm the "moral law" while rejecting the "judicial law" of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, etc...
 
If our God is an unchanging God (Malachi 3:6) and if His law will never change (Matthew 5:18), then the meaning and definitions of the 10 commandments must be the same today as they were thousands of years ago.  God's definition of how to abide by the 10 commandments hasn't changed.
 
So, what is adultery?  What is murder?  What is stealing?  How we define what adultery, murder and theft are can vary greatly, but God defined what they are in the Old Testament "judicial law".  The "judicial law" further defines the "moral law" of the 10 commandments.
 
Is bestiality wrong?  Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy all define it in terms of adultery.  What about transvestites?  See Deuteronomy 22:5.  What about homosexuals?  Leviticus 18:22, 20:13, and Deuteronomy 23:17 rightly describe homosexuality as an abomination and condemn it as an adulterous practice. 
 
One begins to see how when we leave God's definition of what the 10 commandments mean we really devise our own commandments using the same words.  If we accept homosexuality because it doesn't fall within our definition of the 10 commandments, does that mean it doesn't fall within God's definition?  If we accept abortion as an appropriate family planning technique in the face of the clear definition of murder given to the taking of the life of the unborn in Exodus 21, are we really assenting to the 10 commandments as God defines them?
 
We must ask ourselves whether we are defining our own 10 commandments or if we are truly seeking to obey God's.  If we reject all of God's "judicial law" we reject the 10 commandments.