After God reveals himself to Moses, He seeks to free Israel from their slavery and suffering by sending plague after plague upon Egypt until Pharaoh lets the them go. Moses leads the people into the wilderness on the way to the promise land, and they come to Mt. Sinai where a huge part of the Biblical storyline takes place: the giving of the Ten Commandments.

Most people have heard of the ten commandments, and many can probably name quite a few of them. But what implications do they have for us today? Aren’t they a bit simplistic? Do they have any relevance for us today?

Certainly, they are a summary of the law of God, and they don’t answer every moral dilemma we may face. However, there is much we gain by looking to the law of God both in the ten commandments and the rest of Scripture.

First, the law of God reveals his holiness and what he values. We learn that God values his relationship with us: we’re called to only worship him. Then, we learn he values human life: we’re told not to kill. Ultimately, the law shows us his goodness.

Second, the law shows us what it looks like to live holy lives and honor God.

But then it also reveals our sinfulness and our need for mercy and grace. None of us live up to this standard, and looking to the law will only bring pain and shame (that is, unless we are unwilling to see how far short we fall). The law of God shows us our need for what Jesus did on the cross, and that’s why Paul says it’s good in Romans 7.

We need to feel the pain of our sin or we will never fully appreciate the grace Jesus offers us on the cross. This is the paradox of grace that Rudolph Bultmann describes here: “This paradox of the revelation, that in order to bring grace, it must also give offense, and so can turn to judgment. In order to be grace it must uncover sin; he who resists this binds himself to his sin, and so through the revelation, sin for the first time becomes definitive.”

When we see our sinfulness in light of the law, we can truly come to see how great God’s grace is toward us.

May we look to the law that we might rejoice in grace!