Exodus 20:17

The tenth commandment 20:17

It is specifically what belongs to one’s neighbor and is not for sale, contrasted with something for sale, that is the focus of this command. A legitimate desire is not the same as coveting, which is an obsessive desire. Coveting is a root attitude from which many sins in word and deed against a neighbor spring (cf. Ephesians 5:3). The five categories, of the most valuable possessions the neighbor could have, represent all that he has.

". . . none of the Ten Commandments reappear in the New Testament for this age of grace as Mosaic legislation. All of the moral principles of the ten laws do reappear in the New Testament in a framework of grace." [Note: Roy L. Aldrich, "The Mosaic Ten Commandments Compared to Their Restatements in the New Testament," Bibliotheca Sacra 118:471 (July 1961):257. I have added italicizing for emphasis. See also Charles C. Ryrie, "The End of the Law," Bibliotheca Sacra 129:495 (July-September 1967):239-47, for an excellent explanation of the Christian’s relationship to the Ten Commandments. Mark Rooker, Leviticus, pp. 67-77, also included a good discussion of the New Testament and the Law.]

"The Christian must think through contemporary ethical issues with the Ten Commandments as a guide. How does the commandment not to steal apply to computer theft? How does the commandment not to kill apply to the abortion pill? Nuclear arms?" [Note: Longman and Dillard, p. 76.]

"The influence of the Ten Words on Western morality and law is beyond calculation. They have come to be recognized as the basis of all public morality." [Note: Ramm, p. 127.]

In view of this fact it is especially tragic that it is now illegal to post a copy of the Ten Commandments in any American public school classroom. [Note: See Joyce G. Baldwin, "The Role of the Ten Commandments," Vox Evangelica 13 (1983):7-18, for a good synopsis of the role of the Decalogue as the Reformers and the Old Testament and New Testament writers saw it. Childs’ commentary deals with the Decalogue in more detail than most others on pp. 385-439, as does Davis’, pp. 196-210. Ezekiel Hopkins wrote a classic explanation of the Decalogue in 1701 from the Puritan viewpoint that has been reprinted: "Understanding the Ten Commandments," in Classical Evangelical Essays in Old Testament Interpretation, pp. 51-58. For a dispensational exposition of the Ten Commandments, see Steve Minter, "Ten Timeless Words (Exodus 20:1-17)," Exegesis and Exposition 1:1 (Fall 1986):67-80. For argumentation for the Mosaic origin of the Decalogue as opposed to a later origin, see Harold H. Rowley, "Moses and the Decalogue," Bulletin of the John Rylands Library of the University of Manchester 34:1 (September 1951):81-118.] A fuller exposition of the Ten Commandments follows in my notes on Deuteronomy 5.