MORE THAN COMMANDMENTS

Have you ever wondered why the Ten Commandments repeatedly say, "Thou Shalt Not"?

Not, "Thou should not," or "Thou must not," but, "Thou shalt not."  "Should", speaks of what is right, and "Must" speaks of what is commanded, but both what is right and what is commanded may be disobeyed.

That there is a difference in meaning between these words and "shall" is evident, although we tend to gloss over it as though it were merely a rhetorical flourish.  The Bible never uses words solely for rhetorical flourish, as those words would be vain.  Everything is meaningful.  When the prophet asks, "And the prophets, do they live for ever?" (Zech 1:5b), the rhetorically implied answer is no but the true answer is also yes.  So let us look at the commonly understood rhetorical meaning first.

The Commandments were given to the children of Israel to be obeyed. But the Israelites failed to obey, making and bowing down to a golden calf idol before Moses had even come down from the mountain with the tables of stone.  The first set of tablets Moses carried down with him he cast down and broke in front of the Israelites because they had broken the Commandments in worshipping the golden calf.  Israel was given these Commandments as regulations to be obeyed but because of sin and the weakness of the flesh, they were not obeyed and so they did not accurately describe the children of Israel throughout their history.

Now, as to the other true meaning, it is given by the use of the word "shall", which indicates what will be in the future.  The Hebrew uses the imperfect tense, which expresses a continuous action, so that the words might be translated, "you do not kill, you do not steal, you do not covet", which sound like descriptors rather than commandments.  The Greek Septuagint simply uses the future tense, which also makes the commandment sound like the description of a person yet to be born. Something that "shall be," as the Greek, or is a continuous reality as the Hebrew, cannot be disobeyed or avoided: it is a statement of fact about someone or -ones. The implication here is that there WAS, IS, and SHALL BE One who fulfills all that is commanded, and in fact the Commandments are not as much commandments to Him as they are descriptors of Him.

The One the Commandments describe can only be Messiah.  The second set of tablets which God gave to Moses when he went back up the mountain, Moses placed inside the Ark of the Covenant, which also represents Messiah. The unbroken set of Commandments were not preserved in the people of Israel but in the Messiah! So let's bring the two meanings or interpretations together.  The Commandments describe Messiah and command the Israelites to be like Him. But in their own strength, they all failed, even the best of them (Rom 3:23).  And thus Paul writes that the Law was not given to justify us but to give us the knowledge of sin and show us our guilt before God (Rom 3:19-20). But Messiah did keep the Commandments perfectly (Heb 4:15, 2 Cor 5:21); in fact, as already said, they come from Him as descriptions of Him (Rom 3:31)! But nevertheless, He lived their obedience perfectly while He was in the flesh--He was made under the law (Gal 4:4).  

And then by dying as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and rising again from the dead on the third day, He is able to separate us from our sins and give us spiritual life that orients us towards God and empowers us to be spiritually wise to walk after the Lord as His true disciples.  We are taught that the law presents us with the form of knowledge and of the truth (Rom 2:20) but the Messiah is the One who fills that form with His Spirit. And thus being made fit to receive the Spirit by belief of the Gospel, Messiah will be formed in us as we walk in His Spirit by faith.

And thus we who have believed in Messiah are becoming like Him through the Spirit's formation of Him in us, which will be perfected on the Day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6). So the Commandments are transformed in Him for all of us who believe, into PROMISES of what we SHALL BE by God's work in us, which we work out, as Christ has fulfilled them already and we are now in Christ and He in us by God's grace through faith.

"For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth."  Rom 10:4

So, an ancient Israelite could have read the Commandments and understood that they promise and describe Messiah--and furthermore that they predict that somehow through Messiah, all Israel will be justified and perfected.  It was always there, written in the text.  And now for us who believe in He who has come, died for sinners and risen again for our salvation, we understand how that justification has been accomplished and patiently await our sinless perfection and glorification, having eternal life in Him.

"And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God."  Luke 23:35

"For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me." John 5:46