Ten of the laws which God gave to Moses on Horeb were written upon two tablets of stone. These are recorded twice in the Bible: Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.

The Ten Commandments

The first four commandments concern respect for God, and the last six respect for society.

 1 — I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods
 2 — You shall not make or worship an idol
 3 — You shall not take in vain the name of the Lord your God
 4 — Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy
 
 5 — Honour 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 bear false witness against your neighbour
10 — You shall not covet your neighbour's wife or possessions

1 What are the 10 Commandments to Christians?

A ministry of condemnation instead of salvation

In 2 Co 3:7-18 Paul speaks of the law that was "engraved on tablets of stone" at the time when Moses's face shone. So we know that he refers to the ten commandments in particular. Note Paul's descriptions of these ten commandments:

• "Of the letter [not] of the Spirit" (v.6)
• "Ministry of death" (v.7)
• "Ministry of condemnation" (v.9)
• "That which fades away" (v.11)

Something we are not obeying

We all break the 4th commandment to keep the seventh day. Notice that we cannot adjust this law to our liking by rewording it as "one day in seven". The law as God gave it clearly says "the seventh" day (Exo 35:1-3, Jas 2:10).

Either

• (i) you keep this law,
• (ii) you transgress it and stand condemned, or
• (iii) it doesn't apply to you.

You and I need to think about each of those options carefully, and in our mind tick one, the right one.

Something replaced by a new and better law

The ten commandments would be "decrees against us" if Christ had not abolished them and replaced them with "the law of Christ" (Col 2:14, Heb 8:6-7, Gal 6:2).