We had a good discussion on our weekly conference call with the Kiln of the Soul faith community (we use MS Teams). One of the things that came up yesterday was regarding the Decalogue (Ten Commandments). They are the soul of the Covenant of Moses. Paul taught that we must examine the Covenant of Moses in order to understand what is required of us today in following Christ. At the same time, he said we are not constrained by it.
Jesus corrected the false impressions people had about what Moses actually required. In the process, He pointed out how Moses was limited to its context: that people, that time, that place. So, for example, Jesus said that Moses made divorce and polygamy too easy because Hebrew men were horn dogs. They were generally incapable of what God intended in the first place via faithful monogamy.
In the end, the Covenant of Moses died on the Cross. The mission inherent in the Old Covenant was passed on to a New Covenant that ignores national identity. It’s not Israel the nation, but Israel the mission of divine revelation. The Ten Commandments are not for us as followers of Christ.
Indeed, the Decalogue never applied to Gentiles in the first place. If we need to cite a law code, it’s Noah. It’s not as simple as a point-by-point comparison of Noah versus Moses. Both assumed a tribal lifestyle and there is some obvious overlap. However, Noah is far more generic, and can be applied to the individual without a covenant identity, whereas Moses cannot.
Tribal social structure is one thing; a covenant community is much more than that.
I did a series here discussing the implications of the Ten Commandments for us as Christians (intro, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and conclusion). And we have endless studies in the Seven Noachide Laws and the covenant in general in the archives on this blog. For a quick reference, see this post, where the seven laws are listed.
Notice a couple of things: Lying is not prohibited in Noah. We know that lying is a sin, but the Hebrew concept of lying bears little resemblance to the western legal imagery. A more accurate rendering of “thou shalt not bear false witness” is based on the motive of afflicting your covenant brothers and sisters for no good reason. Simply using words to convey inaccurate data is not the point. Noah doesn’t mention this because it excludes the concept of a covenant community.
Giving false data to people is not inherently wrong. It may be foolish to deceive, but it’s a tactical issue, not a moral one. We’ve discussed before how basic civility requires that you discern whether someone you encounter deserves an honest report. Did you forget “pearls before swine”? How about privacy — “It’s none of your business”? And then there’s diplomacy in which we candy-coat or ignore unpleasant facts to avoid conflict. What does God say you owe the person before you? If they aren’t spiritual family or allies, it might be appropriate to treat them as swine: Give them what it takes to pacify so they don’t attack you.
How about “honor your father and mother”? The Hebrew concept for “honor” here is to “make ponderous” in the sense of important, a big deal. In ancient Israel, that naturally included obedience as part of reverence. However, as you move into adulthood, it would mean acting even better than your parents taught you. Make people believe that your parents “raised you right”.
That’s missing from Noah. That’s because honoring your parents outside of the covenant nation might mean something quite different. For a believer who is forsaking their pagan heritage, you would naturally become disobedient to your parents. It’s no different here in America, where a churchly upbringing might be quite far from a genuine biblical orientation. I can assure you that I have greatly departed from my own father’s ways and reject my mother’s religion. While I don’t dishonor my parents, the concept of “honoring” them simply does not apply because I’m more concerned with honoring Christ.
Churches have abused the Ten Commandments to burden their members in particular, and the world in general, with moral demands that are not actually Christian. We can learn a great deal from Moses, but it simply does not apply to us who walk in Christ.
Interesting to note a lot of sermons forget the meaning of “neighbor” when going from the 10 Commandments to the NT. Maybe that’s a translation issue and a church tradition issue, but the Hebrews back then, unless during times of war or household servant/slave, wouldn’t come into many non-Hebrew folks to begin with, so “the guy you kinda don’t like in the house down the street” was always a Jew, as you’ve pointed out before. And the last few commandments were direct admonishments to force some peace between you and “that guy”.