Written in Stone

Bible Study Notes | October 15, 2025

 

  1. Did God really write the Ten Commandments Himself?

He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets (Exodus 31:18; 32:16). The God of heaven wrote the Ten Commandments on tables of stone with His own finger.

  1. What is God’s definition of sin?

Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4).

Sin is the breaking of God’s Ten Commandment law. The law of God is perfect (Psalm 19:7), and its principles cover every conceivable sin. The commandments cover man’s all [the whole duty of man] (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Nothing is left out.

  1. Why did God give us the Ten Commandments?

Happy is he who keeps the law (Proverbs 29:18).

Keep my commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you (Proverbs 3:1, 2).

Answer A: 
As a guide for happy, abundant living.

God created us to experience happiness, peace, long life, contentment, accomplishment, and all the other great blessings for which our hearts long. God’s law is a road map that points out the right paths to follow in order to find this true, supreme happiness. By the law is the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet’  (Romans 7:7).

“By the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20. “I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Romans 7:7.

Answer B:
To show us the difference between right and wrong. God’s law is like a mirror (James 1:23–25). It points out wrongdoing in our lives much like a mirror points out dirt on our faces. The only possible way for us to know we are sinning is to carefully check our lives by the mirror of God’s law. Peace for a mixed-up world can be found in God’s Ten Commandments. It tells us where to draw the line!

The Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes [commandments] for our good always (Deuteronomy 6:24).
Hold me up, and I shall be safe, and I shall observe Your statutes continually. You reject all those who stray from Your statutes (Psalm 119:117, 118).

Answer C: 
To protect us from danger and tragedy. God’s law is like a strong cage at the zoo that protects us from fierce, destructive animals. It protects us from falsehood, murder, idolatry, theft, and many other evils that destroy life, peace, and happiness. All good laws protect, and God’s law is no exception.

By this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments (1 John 2:3).

Answer D:
It helps us to know God.

 Note: The eternal principles within God’s law are written deep in every person’s nature by the God who created us. The writing might be dim and smudged, but it is still there. We were created to live in harmony with them. When we ignore them, the result is always tension, unrest, and tragedy just as ignoring the rules for safe driving can lead to serious injury or death.

  1. Why is God’s law exceedingly important to you personally?

Speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty (James 2:12).

Answer: Because the Ten Commandment law is the standard by which God examines people in the heavenly judgment.

  1. Can God’s law (the Ten Commandments) ever be changed or abolished?

It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail (Luke 16:17).
My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips (Psalm 89:34).
All His precepts [commandments] are sure. They stand fast forever and ever (Psalm 111:7, 8).

Answer: No. The Bible is clear that the law of God cannot be changed. The commandments are revealed principles of God’s holy character and are the very foundation of His kingdom. They will be true as long as God exists.

This chart shows us that God and His law have the exact same characteristics, revealing that the Ten Commandment law is actually God’s character in written form written so that we can better comprehend God. It is no more possible to change God’s law than to pull God out of heaven and change Him. Jesus showed us what the law that is, the pattern for holy living looks like when expressed in human form. God’s character cannot change; therefore, neither can His law.

  1. Did Jesus abolish God’s law while He was here on earth?

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled (Matthew 5:17, 18).

Answer: No, indeed! Jesus specifically asserted that He did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill (or keep) it. Instead of doing away with the law, Jesus magnified it (Isaiah 42:21) as the perfect guide for holy living. For example, Jesus pointed out that You shall not murder condemns anger without a cause (Matthew 5:21, 22) and hatred (1 John 3:15), and that lust is a form of adultery (Matthew 5:27, 28). He said, If you love Me, keep My commandments (John 14:15).

  1. Will people who knowingly continue to break God’s commandments be saved?

The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

He will destroy its sinners (Isaiah 13:9).

Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all (James 2:10).

Answer: The Ten Commandment law guides us into holy living. If we ignore even one of the commandments, we neglect an essential part of the divine blueprint. If only one link of a chain is broken, its entire purpose is undone. The Bible says that when we knowingly break a command of God, we are sinning (James 4:17) because we have refused His will for us. Only those who do His will can enter the kingdom of heaven. Of course, God will forgive anyone who genuinely repents and accepts Christ’s power to change him or her.

  1. Can anyone be saved by keeping the law?

By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight (Romans 3:20).
By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8, 9).

Answer: No! The answer is too plain to miss. No one can be saved by keeping the law. Salvation comes only through grace, as a free gift of Jesus Christ, and we receive this gift by faith, not by our works. The law serves as a mirror that points out the sin in our lives. Just as a mirror can show you dirt on your face but cannot clean your face, so cleansing and forgiveness from that sin come only through Christ.

  1. Why, then, is the law essential for improving a Christian’s character?

Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all [whole duty] (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
By the law is the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20).

Answer: Because the full pattern, or whole duty, for Christian living is contained in God’s law. Like a six-year-old who made his own ruler, measured himself, and told his mother that he was 12 feet tall, our own standards of measure are never safe. We cannot know whether we are sinners unless we look carefully into the perfect standard God’s law. Many think that doing good works guarantees their salvation even if they ignore keeping the law (Matthew 7:21–23). Hence, they think they are righteous and saved when, in fact, they are sinful and lost. By this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments
(1 John 2:3).

  1. What enables a truly converted Christian to follow the pattern of God’s law?

I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts (Hebrews 8:10).

I can do all things through Christ (Philippians 4:13).

God did by sending His own Son that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us (Romans 8:3, 4)

Answer: Christ not only pardons repentant sinners, He also restores in them the image of God. He brings them into harmony with His law through the power of His indwelling presence. Thou shalt not becomes a positive promise that the Christian will not steal, lie, murder, etc., because Jesus lives within us and is in control. God will not change His moral law, but He made a provision through Jesus to change the sinner so we can measure up to that law.

  1. But isn’t a Christian who has faith and is living under grace freed from keeping the law?

Sin [breaking God’s law1 John 3:4] shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin [break the law] because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! (Romans 6:14, 15).
Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law (Romans 3:31).

Answer: No! The Scriptures teach the very opposite. Grace is like a governor’s pardon to a prisoner. It forgives him, but it does not give him the freedom to break another law. The forgiven person, living under grace, will actually want to keep God’s law in his or her gratitude for salvation. A person who refuses to keep God’s law, saying that he is living under grace, is sorely mistaken.

  1. Are the Ten Commandments of God also affirmed in the New Testament?

Answer: Yes and very clearly so. Look over the following very carefully.

The Law of God in the New Testament.

1. “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve” (Matthew 4:10).

2. “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). “Since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising” (Acts 17:29).

3. “That the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed” (1 Timothy 6:1).

4. “He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.’ There remains therefore a rest [“keeping of a sabbath,” margin] for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:4, 9, 10).

5. “Honor your father and your mother” (Matthew 19:19).

6. “You shall not murder” (Romans 13:9).

7. “You shall not commit adultery” (Matthew 19:18).

8. “You shall not steal” (Romans 13:9).

9. “You shall not bear false witness” (Romans 13:9).

10. “You shall not covet” (Romans 7:7).

The Law of God in the Old Testament.
1. “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3).

2. “You shall not make for yourself a carved imageany 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” (Exodus 20:4–6).

3. “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” (Exodus 20:7).

4. “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” (Exodus 20:8–11).

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

6. “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).

7. “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14).

8. “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15).

9. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16).

10. “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” (Exodus 20:17).

Thought Questions

 Were the righteous people of the Old Testament saved by the law?

No one has ever been saved by the law. All who have been saved in all ages have been saved by grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began (2 Timothy 1:9). The law only points out sin. Christ alone can save. Noah found grace (Genesis 6:8); Moses found grace (Exodus 33:17); the Israelites in the wilderness found grace (Jeremiah 31:2); and Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and many other Old Testament characters were saved by faith according to Hebrews 11. They were saved by looking forward to the cross, and we, by looking back to it. The law is necessary because, like a mirror, it reveals the dirt in our lives. Without it, people are sinners but are not aware of it. However, the law has no saving power. It can only point out sin. Jesus, and He alone, can save a person from sin. This has always been true, even in Old Testament times (Acts 4:10, 12; 2 Timothy 1:9).

 Why worry about the law? Isn’t conscience a safe guide?

No! The Bible speaks of an evil conscience, a defiled conscience, and a seared conscience none of which is safe. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death (Proverbs 14:12). God says, He who trusts in his own heart is a fool (Proverbs 28:26).

Quiz Questions

  1. The Ten Commandments were written by (1)
    _____   God.
    _____   Moses.
    _____   An unknown person.
  2. According to the Bible, sin is (1)
    _____   A personality deficiency.
    _____   Breaking God’s law.
    _____   Whatever seems wrong.
  3. Check the statements that tell the truth about God’s law: (4)
    _____   It is a perfect guide for happy living.
    _____   Like a mirror, it points out sin.
    _____   It is burdensome and oppressive.
    _____   It can protect me from evil.
    _____   It has the same characteristics as God.
    _____   It was canceled in the New Testament.
    _____   It is a curse.
  4. God’s Ten Commandment law (1)
    _____   Was for Old Testament times only.
    _____   Was abolished by Jesus at the cross.
    _____   Is unchangeable.
  5. In the judgment day I will be saved if (1)
    _____   I maintain an excellent record of good works.
    _____   I love the Lord, regardless of whether or not I obey the Ten Commandments.
    _____   My personal love relationship with Jesus leads me to obey all His commandments.
  6. People are saved by (1)
    _____   Keeping the law.
    _____   Breaking the law.
    _____   Jesus Christ alone.
  7. Truly converted Christians (1)
    _____   Keep God’s law through the power of Christ.
    _____   Ignore the law because it is done away.
    _____   Consider commandment keeping unnecessary.
  8. A person living under grace (1)
    _____   Can break the Ten Commandments without sinning.
    _____   Is freed from keeping the law.
    _____   Will gladly keep God’s commandments.
  9. Love fulfills the law because (1)
    _____   Love does away with the law.
    _____   True love toward God and people makes keeping the law a joy.
    _____   Love is more important than obedience.