What is the significance of the Ten Commandments?
The Ten Commandments represent the fundamental principles that Jewish law is based upon. The first Commandment calls for belief in G-d, and is the motivation behind all the “do’s” of Judaism (i.e. once you believe in Him, you do what He commands). The second commandment forbids idolatory, and serves as the basis for all the “don’ts” of Judaism (i.e. doing something against what He commands is a form of idol-worship, giving something other than G-d prominence in your life). These Ten Commandments were presented on two tablets. On closer examonation, you’ll notice that the first five relate to the relationship one has with G-d, while the next five (on a separate Tablet) refer to the relationship one has with other people. The message there is that Jewish law gives equal emphasis to one’s responsibilities to service of G-d and to treating people properly. [You can get some great insights here: http://tinyurl.
St. Paul, in Romans ch. 7, seems to be saying that God gave the ten commandments in order that people would realize how sinful they were, because they would then see that they could not live up to God’s standards. For instance, in Romans 7:7, Paul says that he would not have realized that coveteousness was a sin, if the commandments had not said so. He goes on to say that he would never have known how sinful he was if the commandments had not defined what was sinful. When he realized his sinfulness, he also realized that he had no hope of redemption through his own power. That led him to despair, but then ultimately to faith in Jesus, who promised redemption as a free gift. So, in Paul’s view, the Ten Commandments are intentionally designed to be impossible, thus forcing you to seek out God personally and finding redemption through His mercy alone.
