Mikombolo Seventh-Day Adventist Church

The Ten Commandments were written by God on two tablets of stone and then given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The record of the Ten Commandments can be found in the Bible, both in Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21.
[Watch a video on the Ten Commandments below]

>> Get your free Bible guide: The Ten Commandments: The Secret of Happiness

The Significance of the Ten Commandments

One important consideration to recognize is that we can never keep these commandments on our own, no matter how hard we try. As much as these principles might be for our good and for the good of those around us, we cannot, under our own power, keep even one of them by ourselves. Jesus says, “… without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5, NKJV). That is why Jesus offers us His strength and power. He doesn’t leave us powerless trying to make it on our own. No! He gives us the power to say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13, NKJV). Through Him we have the victory!

The Ten Commandments are a revelation to us of God’s perfect, loving character and a guide for how He wants us to act toward Him and toward others around us. He loves us so much that He desires us to experience His love by attuning our characters to His perfect one. The Ten Commandments are a map and guidebook for growing to be more like Him and for showing His love to others.

Each of these commandments is also a promise, a promise of a deeper bond with our Creator and with His creations. They are safeguards to protect us from heartache, sorrow, and pain. The Ten Commandments are ten principles leading toward true happiness and the ultimate loving relationship that God desires to have with us.

The first four commandments deal specifically with our relationship with God. The other six deal with the relationships we have with the people that surround us each day. Jesus encapsulated all ten with the following statement, “…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27, ESV). Every action and thought should start with love.

List of the Ten Commandments

1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall make no idols.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Keep the Sabbath day holy.
5. Honor 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 neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.

Browse Article Sections:

1. The Ten Commandments Video
2. Explanation of Each Commandment
3. The Ten Commandments, KJV

The Ten Commandments Video

Video by Reasonar.com 1:30 min.

Explanation of Each Commandment

1. You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me

Bible reference - Exodus 20:3: “You shall have no other gods before Me.”

Explanation: Only God, as our loving Creator and Sustainer, is entitled to our reverence, awe, and worship. No other created thing or being has the power and majesty that belong to God. He lovingly brought us into existence and, therefore, He deserves our highest praise and loyalty. If we love Him in return, we will have no desire to have any other god, only Him.

Sometimes, we as humans put other created things before God. We give our attention, time, money, and loyalty to counterfeit things around us that call out for our consideration. These things become gods to us instead of the God of the universe. But, because God created us and loves us without reserve, He has asked for our first attention, our most-productive time, our initial financial gain, and our highest loyalty. When we give Him these things, we will be treating Him as the only true God of our lives and as the God with whom we desire to have a loving relationship

2. You Shall Make No Idols

Bible reference - Exodus 20:4-6: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

Explanation: A wonderful symbol of the relationship God longs to have with us is that of a loving marriage. God’s covenantal relationship with us is so intimate that He will be jealous if we turn to other gods, even as a husband will be jealous if his wife turns to other men. God wants to be the only God in this loving relationship with us.

In His ultimate majesty, God is too high and exalted for our limited minds to fully understand. That means that any attempt to make images or idols that look like Him would be completely inadequate and imperfect. Items made of wood, stone, metal or plastic that represent God would lead us to worship them, instead of the Infinite One who gives us life and desires our first love. This commandment helps us to keep an accurate picture of the nature of God before us as we think of Him and read the true descriptions of God and His loving character that we find in the Bible.

3. You Shall Not Take the Lord’s Name in Vain

Bible reference - Exodus 20:7: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”

Explanation: As part of our faithful relationship with God, we remember that He is awesome in glory and purity. Because we love Him, we will always use His name with reverence and awe. Only in this way can we communicate God’s holiness to ourselves and others. As a holy God who created us and loves us, He deserves our highest worship. Part of that worship is speaking His name reverently. As we read about His incredible attributes and wonderous work of salvation for us in the Bible, and as we think about His grace and mercy to us, we will be drawn into a closer relationship with Him. As a natural result of that closer relationship, our speech will reflect our love and respect for Him.

4. Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

Bible reference - Exodus 20:8-11: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

Explanation: Because He loves us and wants to spend time with us, God asks us to keep the Sabbath holy as a reminder that He created us. The Creator formed all things in six days. He rested on the seventh day and asks us to do the same. The Sabbath is a special time to remember that God created us to love Him and to love others as He would. It is our special weekly date with the God of the universe, and the time we spend during these sacred hours keeps our relationship with Him strong.

Keeping the Sabbath is also a test to see if we will be loyal to Him and only Him. The fourth commandment identifies God as LORD of all creation, the One having authority over all created things, and as the Lawgiver. This means that it contains His special seal of identity and authority. Choosing to obey this commandment will identify us as true followers of the LORD of heaven and earth.

5. Honor Your Father and Your Mother

Bible reference - Exodus 20:12: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”

Explanation: Another metaphor for God’s relationship with us is that of a father and his child. He cares for our practical and emotional needs, just as a loving parent would. He also wants humans to model this parent-child relationship within our own families. God gives children parents as special guardians and teachers for their younger years. These mothers and fathers are worthy of love and respect because of the responsibility that God has given them. They are to teach their children to love and follow God. In return, children are to honor and obey their parents, showing them care and protection as they grow older.

This commandment is also the first commandment with promise (Eph. 6:2). By honoring and cherishing their parents, children have the promise of a happier existence in this life and a never-ending, joyous life with God in the earth made new.

6. You Shall Not Murder

Bible reference - Exodus 20:13: “You shall not murder.”

Explanation: Because God has shown us His perfect love, and because He wants us to spread that love to others, we will have no desire to end any life that He has created. Even more than that, we will want to promote life and help people who suffer from lack of food, medicine, and basic physical needs.

And because we are in a loving relationship with God, even our words will be free of anger and violence. Jesus, during His time on earth, extended murder to mean even becoming angry with your brother (Matt. 5:22). Being loving disciples of God will mean that our words and attitudes toward others will be gentle and kind, always showing God’s love.

7. You Shall Not Commit Adultery

Bible reference - Exodus 20:14: “You shall not commit adultery.”

Explanation: When God teaches us to love like Him, we will want to safeguard the relationships closest to us. We will want to protect our marriages from immoral acts and even immoral thoughts. Breaking the marriage vows causes severe heartache and suffering for both parties and for all other family members or children involved. God wants to protect us from these negative consequences. More than that, He wants us to have strong, fulfilling relationships with our spouses, even as He wants to have a strong, fulfilling relationship with us.

Again, when on this earth, Jesus expanded the meaning of adultery by saying that even what we see with our eyes and what we desire in our hearts can be the means of breaking the marriage bond (Matt. 5:28). Followers of Jesus who want to imitate the selfless, loving relationship that God models with us will want to protect even their thoughts from impurity. Such purity and love in thought and deed in marriage will lead to lasting relationships that reflect God’s pure love and prove a blessing to others.

8. You Shall Not Steal

Bible reference - Exodus 20:15: “You shall not steal.”

Explanation: In living out the loving relationship that God wants to have with us, we will not desire to take something for our own which belongs to someone else or to God. Stealing can break the earthly relationships that God wants us to cultivate, and stealing can create distrust with our friends and neighbors. Complete honesty will, on the other hand, create attributes of trust, affection, responsibility, and self-respect.

Strict honesty in every dealing, whether in time, test taking, payment of debts, business dealings, or in wage compensation is the way that God’s children will act to exhibit their close relationship with their loving Father. Honesty will be one way to extend the love we have received from God to all relationships around us.

9. You Shall Not Bear False Witness

Bible reference - Exodus 20:15: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

Explanation: Honesty in speech is just as important as honesty in dealing. In the context of our loving relationship with our heavenly Father, we will want to speak the truth about our neighbors, acquaintances, friends, and even about people we don’t know. We will not want to deceive others or exaggerate the truth.

As followers of our heavenly Father, we will also shun any attempt to hurt the reputation of any other human being. Even hiding truth can hurt someone’s good name and make them fall victim to gossip and hearsay. Treating each other with true words and kind conversation can only help to improve our daily relationships and the connection we enjoy with our God.

10. You Shall Not Covet

Bible reference - Exodus 20:15: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Explanation: This commandment hits right at the origin of many human sins. Most sins occur because we want or desire something that we do not or cannot have. From there, follow sins of slander, adultery, stealing, lying, even murder, all because of human desire for things or realities bigger and better than what we already enjoy.

From the perspective of our loving relationship with our Father God, we can trust Him for all our temporal, physical, emotional, mental, and social needs. As we trust Him, we won’t need to wish we possessed the things that others own or be jealous of the experiences they enjoy. When we learn to be content with the life of grace and mercy that God has given us, then we will no longer spend time pining for things or experiences that don’t belong to us. We will feel fully whole and happy once we recognize from where our Savior has rescued us and to where He wishes to take us: a heaven and new earth so perfect that all desires will be completely fulfilled, especially the one to live with Him eternally.

The Ten Commandments: King James Version

God's Law, the Ten Commandments, is expressed in Exodus 20:2-17 (KJV) with the following:

“I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

5. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s."