http://steve-finnell.blogspot.com/2017/04/should-christians-fight-for-ten.html
Should Christians Fight for Ten Commandments?
by David Vaughn Elliott
The
battle over the display of the Ten Commandments has gone all the way to
the U.S. Supreme Court. What place do Christians have in this battle?
Does God tell Christians to spend their time and energy defending the
display of the Ten Commandments in public places? Is this a Christian
issue?
It
is commonly believed that the Ten Commandments are the foundation of
the U.S. legal system. Absolutely false. For starters, consider these
four obvious ones. First Command: "Have no other gods." Second Command:
"not bow down" to "any graven image." U.S. law is the opposite of both.
U.S. law upholds freedom of religion. Fourth Command: "The seventh day
[Saturday] is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: in it you shall not do
any work." No U.S. laws here, thank God. Skip to the Tenth: "You shall
not covet." There are no U.S. laws that fine or jail people for
coveting. How could there be? Coveting is in the heart.
A
related belief is that the Ten Commandments are the foundation of our
so-called Judeo-Christian culture. The fact is that the Ten Commandments
are a Jewish, not a Christian, document. The preamble states, "I am the
Lord your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt" (Ex.
20:2). That is clearly a document for Israel, later called Jews.
What
is the Christian view of the Ten Commandments? In 2 Cor. 3:7, God is
obviously speaking of the Ten when He refers to that which was "engraved
in stones" at the time of Moses. These Ten Commandments are called "the
ministration of death, written and engraved in stones... the
ministration of condemnation... that which is done away" (3:7-11). In
contrast, we now have "the new testament... the ministration of the
spirit... the ministration of righteousness... that which remains"
(3:6-11).
Many
believe that the Ten Commandments are the greatest of all laws. Jesus
disagreed. When asked what was the greatest commandment, He did not
mention any of the ten (Matt. 22:34-40). He singled out love of God
(Deut. 6:5) and love of neighbor (Lev. 19:18) as the basis of "all the
law and the prophets."
God
predicted a new covenant. We have a new covenant. Let us not get caught
up in the religious world's frenzy over defending the stone tablets of
the old covenant. Jesus nailed the old ordinances to the cross (Col.
2:14).
"The
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John
1:17). Let the world, secular and religious, fight it's own battles
over public display of the "ministration of death and condemnation." We
have a new covenant of grace and life that was predicted by the prophets
of old. Praise God, Jesus fulfilled those predictions.