DLife 53, 56, 57 - The Very Holy Laws, the Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments Tell Us What Evils Are Sins

DLife 53

What nation, in the whole world,
does not know that it is evil to steal, to commit adultery,
to kill and to bear false witness?
If they did not know this,
and if they did not pass laws
to guard against anyone’s doing these things,
it would be the end of them,
for any society, republic or kingdom
would collapse without these laws.

Who can suppose that the Israelite nation was,
more than any other nation,
so stupid as not to know that these acts are evil?
One may wonder, therefore, why these laws,
universally known the world over,
were promulgated from Mount Sinai by Jehovah Himself,
accompanied by so great a miracle.

But listen, they were promulgated with so great a miracle
in order for people to know that these laws
were not only civil and moral laws, but also spiritual laws,
and that to disobey them was not only to do evil
to one’s fellow citizen and community,
but was also to sin against God.
By being promulgated by Jehovah from Mount Sinai,
therefore, these laws became laws of religion.
For it is plain that whatever Jehovah God commands,
He intends to be a commandment of religion,
and that it must be obeyed for His sake,
and for the sake of people’s salvation.

DLife 56, 57

Such great power and such great holiness
resided in that law for the further reason
that it embraced everything having to do with religion.
For it consisted of two tablets,
one of which contained everything on the part of God,
and the other everything on the part of man.
The precepts of that law were therefore
called the Ten Commandments,
called so because the number ten symbolizes everything.

Since that law is the means
of the Lord’s conjunction with a person,
and of a person with the Lord,
it is called a covenant and a testimony —
a covenant because it conjoins,
and a testimony because it testifies.
For a covenant symbolizes a conjunction,
and a testimony symbolizes
a testification of that conjunction.

For that reason there were two tablets,
one for the Lord, the other for man.
Conjunction is brought about by the Lord,
but only when someone
keeps the commandments written on man’s tablet.
For the Lord is continually present and acting,
and wishes to enter in,
but a person must open the way,
using the freedom to do so
that he has from the Lord.
For the Lord says:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him and dine with him,
and he with Me.
(Revelation 3:20)