What are the Ten Commandments and why are they important?

TL;DR:

The Ten Commandments summarize God's laws for loving Him and our neighbors, reflecting His nature and guiding our relationships. While the Ten Commandments were given to Israel, their core principles still inform Christian living, showing our need for Jesus to fulfill the law and provide salvation.

what does the bible say?

The Ten Commandments are a summary of the Mosaic Law given to the Israelites as part of the Mosaic Covenant. Jesus said that all of the Mosaic Laws can be summarized as loving God and loving our neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40). Though the Ten Commandments were not specifically given to Christians to obey, because they are based on those two key points, we find similar ideas echoed all throughout the New Testament.

No law—whether it’s the Ten Commandments, the detailed Mosaic Law, or commands found in the New Testament—can save. All they do show us is our sinfulness (Romans 7:7) and lead us to death (Romans 7:10). Jesus came to fulfill the Law so that, in Him, we can escape death and have eternal life (Galatians 3:25-29). Through Him we are freed from the bondage of death and then able to rightly obey God.

from the old testament

After the Exodus from Egypt, God gave the nation of Israel ten laws called the Ten Commandments. They are a basic summary of the entirety of the Old Testament Law. The first four commandments deal with man’s relationship to God and the last six with man’s relationship to his fellow men. These are found in Exodus 20:3-17 and repeated in Deuteronomy 5:7-21:
First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). Worship is to be reserved for the true God.
Second Commandment: “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth” (Exodus 20:4). The second commandment reinforces God’s opposition to idols by commanding that no idol or visible representation be made of any deity, including God Himself, because there is no way that we can portray Him accurately. The Israelites broke this commandment when they created the golden calf in Exodus 32 and many times thereafter.
Third Commandment: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Exodus 20:7a). God’s name is not to be used lightly or flippantly but with the same respect and reverence we show toward Him.
Fourth Commandment: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). This was a reminder for the Jews to rest on the seventh day of every week (Exodus 20:9-10) just as God rested after His six days of creation (Exodus 20:11).
Fifth Commandment: “Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12).
Sixth Commandment: “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). God commands against premeditated murder because men and women are created in God’s image (Genesis 9:6). He demands capital punishment for anyone who kills one of His image-bearers.
Seventh Commandment: “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). God prohibits sexual relations with any person other than one’s own spouse.
Eighth Commandment: “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). This command prohibits taking and keeping anything that belongs to someone else without permission.
Ninth Commandment: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). Bearing false witness is another way of saying, “lying.” We are not to say something about another person that we know is untrue.
Tenth Commandment: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, … [his] wife or … anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Exodus 20:17). We are not to desire something that does not belong to us.

from the new testament

The Ten Commandments served a specific purpose at a specific time in history. But because they reflect God’s unchanging nature, they are valuable for us today (James 1:17).
Jesus said that all of the Old Testament laws can be summarized as “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” He then said, “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).
We are told regularly to love God by our obedience (John 14:15) and to love one another (1 John 4:7-8). We are not loving God when we commit idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14) or swear by God (Matthew 5:33-37). We are not loving our neighbor when we dishonor our parents (Ephesians 6:2-3), hate and murder (Matthew 5:21-22), lust and commit adultery (Matthew 5:27-28), steal (Ephesians 4:28), lie (Colossians 3:9), or covet (Luke 12:15). Those ideas overlap the Ten Commandments given to the Israelites, and that happens not because we are obeying the Ten Commandments but because those commands reflect who God is and informs our relationship to Him and others.

implications for today

The Ten Commandments were not given to us today. However, they summarized loving God and loving others. Christians are to be doing both as well. Those two core ideas summarize what God-honoring relationships are like. Even for Jews, the Mosaic Law—the laws that the Ten Commandments summarized—never guaranteed salvation. Rather, God’s laws are given to teach us we need Jesus (Galatians 3:24). People often strive to please God by doing good things, trying to obey specific commandments. They believe doing so will earn them heaven. But no law can save us because we cannot obey any law perfectly.

We are unable to obey because, by nature, we are corrupted and sinful (Romans 3:9-18). Because of that, we can’t obey perfectly. However, God demands perfect obedience (Matthew 5:48), so our efforts lead to nowhere but eternal death because we fall short of that perfection. So, God’s laws show us that we cannot save ourselves. Whether you try to keep the Ten Commandments or try to keep all the commands in the New Testament, you will fail.

Thankfully, we have been given the amazing gift of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Jesus, unlike us, did live perfectly. This meant that He loved God and His neighbors perfectly. Because of this, when He died, the Father was pleased to place our sins on Him (Isaiah 53:10). For those who believe and trust in Him can say, with King David, “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Psalm 32:1-2).

understand

The Ten Commandments were given to Israel to teach them how to love God and others.
The core principles of the Ten Commandments reflect God's unchanging nature and are echoed in the New Testament.
The Ten Commandments cannot save us but reveal our sin and need for Jesus, who perfectly fulfilled the law.

reflect

How have you seen your own inability to keep God’s commands reveal your need for Jesus?
In what areas of your life do you struggle most to love God or love others, as reflected in the heart of the Ten Commandments?
How do you respond to the truth that Jesus fulfilled the law perfectly on your behalf?

engage

What is a Christian’s relationship to the Ten Commandments?
How do the Ten Commandments help us better understand who God is and what He values?
How can we as Christians encourage one another to rely on Jesus and the Holy Spirit to live the way God calls us to live rather than trying to earn God's approval by keeping rules?