“I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord.” Deuteronomy 5:5
To prepare the new generation of Israelites to enter the Promised Land, Moses reviewed the Ten Commandments with them because they provided guidance concerning their relationships with the Lord and one another (5:5-22). These commandments have provided timeless truths for God’s standard of holy living. However, there are many misunderstandings regarding the place of the Ten Commandments in evangelism today. Let’s look at a few of them:
1. The Ten Commandments are not the means of salvation but show the need for salvation. Some people misunderstand that these commandments must be obeyed to get to heaven. But the Bible is clear that the Law (including the Ten Commandments) is to be used in evangelism to show a lost person that they are guilty sinners before a holy God so they will see their need to believe or trust in Christ alone for salvation (cf. Rom. 3:20; Gal. 3:19-25).
2. Obeying the Ten Commandments does not take away our sins because our sins must be paid for. Only Jesus’ death on the cross in our place and His resurrection have paid for our sins in full (John 19:30; I Cor. 15:3-6). Therefore, those who believe or trust in Christ alone can be forgiven of all their sins (Acts 10:43; Col. 2:13-14).
3. Christians may think that people who openly disobey God’s commandments need the gospel more than those who appear to obey them. But the truth is, all people need the gospel because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23) and are separated from God (Rom. 6:23) no matter how good or bad they may seem to be.
4. Those who seem to obey God’s commandments tend to be the most reluctant people to believe the gospel. The religious leaders of Israel were like this which is why Jesus often directed His most severe condemnation toward them (cf. Matt. 23:14; Mark 12:40). Those who trust in their own morality or righteousness have a more difficult time seeing their need to believe or trust in Christ alone for His gift of salvation (cf. Mark 10:14-25).
5. God wants Christians to be known for promoting Jesus more than the Ten Commandments. Our objective in evangelism is not to help people become more moral, but to help them see their need for Jesus Christ and His righteousness, so they will believe or trust in Him alone to save them from hell and give them eternal life (cf. John 3:1-16; Rom. 3:20-4:5).
(Adapted from EvanTell’s 2014 Evangelism Study Bible, p. 184).