Here is list of the 10 Commandments:
1. You shall have no other Gods before me
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol
3. You shall not take the Lord's name in vain
4. You shall keep the Sabbath Holy
5. You shall honor your father and your mother
6. You shall not murder
7. You shall not commit adultery
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not lie
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house or wife
3 Commandments say "you shall" (one, four & five)
7 Commandments say "you shall not"
God's, 1st 4 Commandments tell us how to have a right relationship with Him.
God's, next 6 Commandments tell us how to have a right relationship with others.
10:25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 10:26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 10:27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 10:28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. You can see here that even the lawyer here in Luke summarized the 10 commandments into 2 parts.
1. Love God = commandments 1-4
2. Love your neighbor= commandments 5-10
* and than you see in vs. 28 that Jesus agress with the summarization.
And again, when Jesus is asked, "what is the greatest commandment" he answers them with the same answer as above, which is really a summary of the 10, instead of just choosing two! 22:35 Then one of them, [which was] a lawyer, asked [him a question], tempting him, and saying, 22:36 Master, which [is] the great commandment in the law? 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 22:38 This is the first and great commandment. 22:39 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Again, here in Matthew, vs. 40 Jesus confirms that these 2 commandments sum up all the commandments, although here, (I supppose, a different lawyer hasn't a clue!) but yet no one argues with Jesus, after he answers their question.
So when you teach these 10 Commandments you can point to the Cross
and teach that the vertical beam of the cross represents the 1st 4 Commandments,
1. man, (point to the bottom of the Cross) needs to have a right relationship with God, point to the top of the Cross)
and teach that the horizontal beam of the cross represents the next 6 commandments
2. man (point to the one arm side of the cross) needs to have the right relationship with others (now, point to the other arm side of the cross)
You can teach these concepts to adults and help them learn the 10 Commandments in less than 30 minutes. You can leave out the deeper concepts but also use this idea to teach children the 10 Commandments, and they can learn them in 15 minutes!
As far as I know, I have not learned this from any other book or reading. It seems, we pick up a variety of thoughts from others and than it clicks into an orginal idea, which really means nothing is entirely original! So, I share this with you! |
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