In my church, I was raised with the Heidelberg Catechism. It is a teaching tool, drawing on the Bible to help people understand this most magnificent gift of the Lord. It contains commentary on understanding the Ten Commandments. But first, it lists them. This is how it lays out the first two:
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.”
THE SECOND COMMANDMENT “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
They are found listed in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. But this is NOT how Jesus would have read them. Wait…what? To Jesus, they read as follows:
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
THE SECOND COMMANDMENT “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Heidelberg lists a "Protestant" version. Apparently, there is also a "Catholic" version, the Roman Catholic church combining "both" Protestant commandments into the First Commandment. To restore the full Ten, Coveting, one commandment in the Jewish and Protestant understanding, is two in the Catholic understand. #9 is not coveting a man's wife. #10 is not coveting a man's stuff. But that is another story.
The takeaway is that the Christian approach to the Ten Commandments is united in that it differs from how Jesus read them. Attached to the Christian First Commandment is a prohibition. “You shall have no other gods before me.” That’s not how Jesus knew them. He knew them as a promise. “I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
Okay, but then what are we expected to do with that? The Ten Commandments, as we have them in the church, define what is expected from us. No other gods, no idols, no vain use of God’s name, keep the Sabbath, honor parents, and then the “shalt nots”-murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, and covet.
I wish I could say I was returning to a spirited Seminary debate on the history of understanding the Ten Commandments. I am not. I am reflecting on an episode of “The West Wing”, brought back to mind after the Texas Senate headline in regards to the Ten Commandments a couple of posts back.
I also wish I had a snappy answer on how we should go with this. Rather, what I believe is since these are the Commandments as Jesus knew them, and they are different from what I was raised with, there is a point here that is important for us. We have invested these verses with great significance, it behooves us to know them.
What does pop out to me are the first two words, “I am…” When God appeared to Abraham in the burning bush, God gave the Name “I am…” (which is our most often used attempt to translate the Hebrew). Then, in the Commandments, "I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." But Jesus has also spoken in this way. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the light.” This is only one of several places where Jesus, in self-identifying, uses the phrase “I am…” “I am the bread of life.” “I am the resurrection and the life.” “I am the Good Shepherd.”
These are not orders on how we should behave, rather, they are offerings for us to understand and believe. Jesus did not say “I am the way, the truth, and the light, you shall have no other gods before me.”
In the very person of Jesus is the promise of our salvation. I think that is the power of the First Commandment as Jesus knew it. There were no prohibitions, no behavioral guides, nothing like that. There is God and the Promise implicit in who God is. In the case of the Hebrews, it was the God bringing them to the Promised Land.
For us, we have Jesus and the Promise explicit in who Jesus is. Look to where Jesus said "I am..." and embrace the truths of what that means for us. That is where our salvation begins.
Peace
Pastor Peter
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