Exodus 20:19-20

20:19 They said to Moses, “You speak ¹  to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die.” 20:20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, ²  that the fear of him ³  may be before you so that you do not ⁴  sin.”

Exodus 20:1

The Decalogue

20:1 ⁵ God spoke all these words: ⁶ 

Exodus 12:20

12:20 You will not eat anything made with yeast; in all the places where you live you must eat bread made without yeast.’”

Matthew 25:24-25

25:24 Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed, 25:25 so ⁷  I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’

Romans 8:15

8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, ⁸  but you received the Spirit of adoption, ⁹  by whom ¹⁰  we cry, “Abba, Father.”

Romans 8:2

8:2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit ¹¹  in Christ Jesus has set you ¹²  free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 1:7

1:7 To all those loved by God in Rome, ¹³  called to be saints: ¹⁴  Grace and peace to you ¹⁵  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

James 2:10

2:10 For the one who obeys the whole law but fails ¹⁶  in one point has become guilty of all of it. ¹⁷ 

James 2:1

Prejudice and the Law of Love

2:1 My brothers and sisters, ¹⁸  do not show prejudice ¹⁹  if you possess faith ²⁰  in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹ 

James 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ²²  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ²³  from your passions that battle inside you? ²⁴ 

[20:19]  ¹ tn The verb is a Piel imperative. In this context it has more of the sense of a request than a command. The independent personal pronoun “you” emphasizes the subject and forms the contrast with God’s speaking.

[20:20]  ² tn נַסּוֹת (nassot) is the Piel infinitive construct; it forms the purpose of God’s coming with all the accompanying phenomena. The verb can mean “to try, test, prove.” The sense of “prove” fits this context best because the terrifying phenomena were intended to put the fear of God in their hearts so that they would obey. In other words, God was inspiring them to obey, not simply testing to see if they would.

[20:20]  ³ tn The suffix on the noun is an objective genitive, referring to the fear that the people would have of God (GKC 439 §135.m).

[20:20]  ⁴ tn The negative form לְבִלְתִּי (lÿvilti) is used here with the imperfect tense (see for other examples GKC 483 §152.x). This gives the imperfect the nuance of a final imperfect: that you might not sin. Others: to keep you from sin.

[20:1]  ⁵ sn This chapter is the heart of the Law of Israel, and as such is well known throughout the world. There is so much literature on it that it is almost impossible to say anything briefly and do justice to the subject. But the exposition of the book must point out that this is the charter of the new nation of Israel. These ten commands (words) form the preamble; they will be followed by the decisions (judgments). And then in chap. 24 the covenant will be inaugurated. So when Israel entered into covenant with God, they entered into a theocracy by expressing their willingness to submit to his authority. The Law was the binding constitution for the nation of Israel under Yahweh their God. It was specifically given to them at a certain time and in a certain place. The Law legislated how Israel was to live in order to be blessed by God and used by him as a kingdom of priests. In the process of legislating their conduct and their ritual for worship, the Law revealed God. It revealed the holiness of Yahweh as the standard for all worship and service, and in revealing that it revealed or uncovered sin. But what the Law condemned, the Law (Leviticus) also made provision for in the laws of the sacrifice and the feasts intended for atonement. The NT teaches that the Law was good, and perfect, and holy. But it also teaches that Christ was the end (goal) of the Law, that it ultimately led to him. It was a pedagogue, Paul said, to bring people to Christ. And when the fulfillment of the promise came in him, believers were not to go back under the Law. What this means for Christians is that what the Law of Israel revealed about God and his will is timeless and still authoritative over faith and conduct, but what the Law regulated for Israel in their existence as the people of God has been done away with in Christ. The Ten Commandments reveal the essence of the Law; the ten for the most part are reiterated in the NT because they reflect the holy and righteous nature of God. The NT often raises them to a higher standard, to guard the spirit of the Law as well as the letter.

[20:1]  ⁶ sn The Bible makes it clear that the Law was the revelation of God at Mount Sinai. And yet study has shown that the law code’s form follows the literary pattern of covenant codes in the Late Bronze Age, notably the Hittite codes. The point of such codes is that all the covenant stipulations are appropriate because of the wonderful things that the sovereign has done for the people. God, in using a well-known literary form, was both drawing on the people’s knowledge of such to impress their duties on them, as well as putting new wine into old wineskins. The whole nature of God’s code was on a much higher level. For this general structure, see M. G. Kline, Treaty of the Great King. For the Ten Commandments specifically, see J. J. Stamm and M. E. Andrew, The Ten Commandments in Recent Research (SBT). See also some of the general articles: M. Barrett, “God’s Moral Standard: An Examination of the Decalogue,” BV 12 (1978): 34-40; C. J. H. Wright, “The Israelite Household and the Decalogue: The Social Background and Significance of Some Commandments,” TynBul 30 (1979): 101-24; J. D. Levenson, “The Theologies of Commandment in Biblical Israel,” HTR 73 (1980): 17-33; M. B. Cohen and D. B. Friedman, “The Dual Accentuation of the Ten Commandments,” Masoretic Studies 1 (1974): 7-190; D. Skinner, “Some Major Themes of Exodus,” Mid-America Theological Journal 1 (1977): 31-42; M. Tate, “The Legal Traditions of the Book of Exodus,” RevExp 74 (1977): 483-509; E. C. Smith, “The Ten Commandments in Today’s Permissive Society: A Principleist Approach,” SwJT 20 (1977): 42-58; and D. W. Buck, “Exodus 20:1-17,” Lutheran Theological Journal 16 (1982): 65-75.

[25:25]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[8:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “slavery again to fear.”

[8:15]  ⁹ tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).”

[8:15]  ¹⁰ tn Or “in that.”

[8:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “for the law of the Spirit of life.”

[8:2]  ¹² tc Most mss read the first person singular pronoun με (me) here (A D 1739^c 1881 Ï lat sa). The second person singular pronoun σε (se) is superior because of external support (א B {F which reads σαι} G 1506* 1739*) and internal support (it is the harder reading since ch. 7 was narrated in the first person). At the same time, it could have arisen via dittography from the final syllable of the verb preceding it (ἠλευθέρωσεν, hleuqerwsen; “has set free”). But for this to happen in such early and diverse witnesses is unlikely, especially as it depends on various scribes repeatedly overlooking either the nu or the nu-bar at the end of the verb.

[1:7]  ¹³ map For location see JP4 A1.

[1:7]  ¹⁴ tn Although the first part of v. 7 is not a complete English sentence, it maintains the “From…to” pattern used in all the Pauline letters to indicate the sender and the recipients. Here, however, there are several intervening verses (vv. 2-6), which makes the first half of v. 7 appear as an isolated sentence fragment.

[1:7]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

[2:10]  ¹⁶ tn Or “stumbles.”

[2:10]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “guilty of all.”

[2:1]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “partiality.”

[2:1]  ²⁰ tn Grk “do not have faith with personal prejudice,” with emphasis on the last phrase.

[2:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “our Lord Jesus Christ of glory.” Here δόξης (doxhs) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[4:1]  ²² tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ²³ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”