Read Exodus 20.
These requirements from the Living God are commonly referred to as the Ten Commandments. Some have noted they are not called the Ten Suggestions. They really comprise a prologue to the rest of the Old Testament Law giving many specific instructions from the LORD relating to worship, government, justice, hygiene and relationships.
The Law was exact and demanding. Violation of the law and God's expectations required a payment for the sin and guilt. Those payments are also detailed in the law. Time after time, year after year, those sacrifices only covered the sin. They never took away the sin. "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law" (Galatians 4:4). Finally, Jesus, the Messiah, gave Himself as the once and for all sacrifice for sin. We are no longer to live under the Old Testament Law but under the life-giving grace of God.
Does that mean that followers of Jesus are lawless? By no means. Reviewing the expectations of these commandments in Exodus 20 and comparing the expectations of believers in the New Testament will reveal an even higher standard of living on each point. Read, for instance, Jesus' comparative statements in Matthew 17-48.
Jesus was later asked which was the greatest commandment in the Law? "And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)
Ann Landers was a committed to her Jewish faith. It was this faith that provided much of the basis for the advice that appeared in her daily newspaper columns for decades. In one response to a reader she wrote, "Never have the principles of justice, ethics, morality and good mental health been enunciated so clearly as in the Bible. ....may I suggest you read only the Ten Commandments. It won't take long, and you will have the guidelines for an honorable and rewarding life."
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