The Basics and Beyond

How long has it been for you since you reviewed the basics of the Christian faith?  How long since you seriously examined your life, your beliefs, where you are and what you are doing in light of God's Word?

Well it's probably time for a review.  But it my hope to go beyond the basics too.

Over the next several weeks (probably longer) part of what I'll be doing on this blog is taking a look at the basics of the Christian faith and how they apply to our lives.

I'll use Luther's Small Catechism for an outline, since in the Six Chief Parts (Ten Commandments, Apostles' Creed, Lord's Prayer, Holy Baptism, The Office of the Keys and Confession, and the Lord's Supper) we are able to cover every aspect of the Christian life.

Before I get into the actual Ten Commandments, if we are to rightly understand them and rightly understand God, then we must begin with the Word from God that precedes the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20.



And God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  (Exodus 20:1-2)

Before God gives the Ten Commandments, He first provides deliverance.  It is only after God has freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt that God gives the Ten Commandments.
  • Note that God doesn't...
    • Demand that they keep the Ten Commandments first and then, if they've kept them, He'll save them.
    • really give them any new laws, but in the Ten Commandments He simply restates the eternal moral law that He had written on the hearts of all people.
  • Note that God does...
    • First provide salvation, the describe how those whom He has made His own will act.
    • Works in the same way as He did with Adam and Eve.  He first created the world and gave it to them, then gave the command that they not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
    • Provide salvation for those who haven't kept the law, redeeming us by the cross of Christ, and then guiding us in Godly living by these commandments.
We'll continue to look at the Law of God over the next several posts, but I think its' helpful if we do so with the mindset of a loving God who gives before He commands.


Image of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, Courtesy of the Digital Image Archive, Pitts Theology Library, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

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