ordinary christianity for the world.
The Big Ten—The Ten Commandments
by Phillip A. Ross, 2008
First Edition, 104 pages.
Introduction
We live in an age of increasing lawlessness. It is not simply that there is a void of law, far from it. Quite the opposite is actually true. There is an overwhelming preponderance of laws, the size, scope and complexity of which world has never before seen. The body of law for any modern country, and in particular the United States — the most litigious society in history — is phenomenal. There are laws for everything. No one can keep up with the constant flood of laws produced by every body that is capable of law making. People everyday violate laws they have never heard of. So, how can I say that we live in an age of increasing lawlessness?
What is in view here is not human law, but God's law. Just to speak the phrase brings a chill upon many a backbone. People don't like to talk about God's law. To do so is to be branded a fundamentalist, legalist, theonomist and/or extremist, all in the most vile sense of the word. For the most part contemporary Christians believe that they have arrived at a time in history that is beyond the application of any Old Testament laws, and in many cases, a time that is beyond all biblical law. People have converted the gospel of grace to mean a gospel without law — without obligation or responsibility. The good news that is preached in too many pulpits today is lawlessness, couched in terms of a gospel of positive thinking, of upbeat moralisms intended to make life better, richer, fuller, more meaningful, and happier. In order to justify the human distaste for biblical law, people — Christians among them — no longer speak of God's law or the human obligation to it, not even in Bible study or worship.
However, the Bible is not a divided witness. It is a whole, a unity. God's Word, God's testimony is completely true. No part of it contradicts any other part. All parts are true and applicable to faith and life. There are two testaments, but only one God. The God of the Old Testament is none other than Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God. This understanding of Scripture is not new, but it has fallen on hard times. Thus, as it is resurrected in these pages it will no doubt seem odd or foreign — even heretical to many Christians who have forgotten their own roots. How I wish it were not so!
These chapters were originally sermons for a home fellowship. They have been reworked to make them more generally applicable. They are intended to be foundational for a proper understanding of biblical Christianity. They are neither comprehensive, nor complete; neither systematic, nor extemporaneous. They are, however, intended to address issues of orthodoxy and error that plague modern society and the contemporary churches. They are neither scholarly nor popular in style or content. They simply expose the Bible for what it is, and apply it to the world in which we live. Though these insights and applications will distress many people, they are an honest effort to represent Scripture in and of itself, apart from ideology and the subtle influences known as political correctness. It is an effort in the Spirit of Jesus, who asked the Pharisees, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?" (Matthew 15:3). There is no intention to produce a traditional denominational or theological perspective, but rather to cut through the kind of denominational and theological baggage that so blinds contemporary Christians.
