The Commandments - A Revelation of God’s Character, Not Rules for Fear

Have you ever been taught, or quietly assumed, that in essence, the Ten Commandments were a set of rules to follow so you wouldn’t be punished or lose eternal life? The Bible paints a very different picture.

The Ten Commandments were given not to control, but to reveal who God is, and what love looks like.

Psalm 119:142

“Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth.”

The law is a mirror of God’s character.

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God’s Law = God’s Character

1 John 4:8

“God is love.”

Romans 13:10

“Love is the fulfilment of the law.”

The commandments describe how love behaves:

• Love values life:  “You shall not kill.”

• Love values relationships: “You shall not commit adultery.”

• Love protects property: “You shall not steal.”

• Love honours truth: “You shall not bear false witness.”

Psalm 19:7

“The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul.”

The law heals , it does not threaten.

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Misunderstandings About the Law in Scripture

From early times many misunderstood the purpose of God’s law. Instead of seeing the commandments as a revelation of God’s character of love, they believed obedience earned God’s acceptance and disobedience earned punishment. The law became about performance rather than relationship.

Romans 10:3

“Being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God.”

Many tried to earn God’s approval rather than receive His love.

Exodus 20:18–19 shows this clearly. After hearing the commandments, the people were terrified:

The people were afraid of God and begged Moses to speak instead.

God did not want fear, He wanted hearts that trusted Him and understood His character.

Hosea 6:6

“I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”

Micah 6:7–8

God desired justice, mercy and humility, not performance or ritual.

Instead of accepting the law as a picture of God’s love, Israel turned it into:

• performance

• obligation

• behaviour-based acceptance

• fear of punishment

This way of thinking mirrored the pagan nations around them, who believed their gods rewarded obedience and punished disobedience. Many Israelites projected this belief onto God.

Because of this misunderstanding, Bible writers often described God based on how they perceived Him, not how He truly is. Yet throughout history, God continued working to correct their view of Him.

Hebrews 3:10

“They have not known My ways.”

John 5:37-38

“And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.”

Amos 3:7 shows God’s continued effort to reveal His true character:

“Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”

Despite God’s intentions, over time Israel obeyed not out of love, but out of fear.

When fear enters, the law becomes distorted

Instead of love, the law became associated with:

• behaviour-based acceptance

• fear of punishment

• earning God’s favour

John 5:39-40

“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life”

Many valued the rules but missed the relationship.

2 Corinthians 3:15

“A veil lies over their heart.”

People read the law through fear, not love.

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What Jesus came to prove

Jesus came to show what the Father had always been like.

John 1:18

“No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son… has declared Him.”

Jesus revealed:

• God does not condemn - John 8:11

• God blesses enemies - Matthew 5:44–45

• God gives freedom - John 6:66–67

• God forgives endlessly - Matthew 18:21–22

• God is safe to approach - Hebrews 4:16

Jesus revealed the true purpose of the commandments:

Matthew 22:37–40

“All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments: Love God and love your neighbour.”

Romans 13:8

“He who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

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The New Covenant didn’t remove the law, it restored it

Hebrews 8:10

“I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts.”

Jeremiah 31:33 says the same.

God doesn’t want forced obedience.

He wants His character of love written into us.

Ezekiel 36:26–27

“I will give you a new heart… and cause you to walk in My statutes.”

Transformation, not fear, is the goal.

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The law is about healing, not penalty

James 1:25

“He who looks into the perfect law of liberty… will be blessed.”

God’s law is not bondage, it is freedom.

Galatians 5:1

“Stand fast… in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.”

Sin is the enemy, not God.

James 1:15

“Sin… brings forth death.”

Romans 6:23

“The wages of sin is death.”

God does not kill the sinner for disobedience of his law, sin kills.

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Overview

The commandments were never about:

•fear

•coercion

•punishment

•earning salvation

They were always about:

•love

•trust

•relationship

•healing

•revealing the heart of the Father

John 14:15 says,

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

Not…. “If you love Me, prove it by keeping My commandments.”

The original Greek grammar means something far more beautiful:

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” It’s not a demand.

It is a promise and a natural result.

Obedience is not the price of God’s love.

It is the fruit of trusting His love.

His love, not our determination, is what produces obedience. We don’t keep the law to be saved. We are saved so that the law can be written on our hearts.

Jesus came to restore the law to its true place, not a legal code, but the character of God written on the heart.