The following "Question" was asked by an attendee at the 2005 Shepherds' Conference (a ministry of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California), and was "Answered" by John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from "General Session #10 John MacArthur - Q&A."  A copy of the CD, cassette tape, or MP3 can be obtained by going to:  www.shepherdsconference.org  ©2005. All Rights Reserved. Grace Community Church.

Questioner

When Jesus taught and He referred to the Ten Commandments and said, “You have heard in the past not to commit adultery,” and then He goes on to say, “But I say to you, if you lust in your heart after a woman, you commit adultery in your heart,” and then He says the same thing with murder and hate… My question is, did He, for lack of a better word, amend the Ten Commandments there?  Or, when God gave it to Moses in the beginning, did He already have that intention and we kind of messed it up?

John MacArthur's Answer

No, He was simply explaining the meaning of the Ten Commandments—the fullness of the meaning—and the intention of the Ten Commandments.  When He says, “You have heard it said,” He is, by that phrase—which is repeated many times in the Sermon on the Mount—He is saying by that phrase, “This is what the rabbis have taught you.  This is what you have heard from your teachers, but I say unto you”—is merely taking you back to the original, divine intention of the Ten Commandments.  The Ten Commandments are a way to expose sin and, while you might not murder, if you have the desire to kill, the desire to murder or to commit adultery or whatever, there is, therefore, the revelation of the wretchedness of your own heart. 

So, the Ten Commandments, while they are stated simply as behaviors, have, behind them, the power and the capability to reveal the character of the heart.  Jesus was, as I’m sure the people understood throughout the history before the Lord arrived, that—you remember in Luke 11 the other night, when the Pharisees are confronted by Jesus, He said, “You clean the outside of the cup and not the inside.  You think God is the god of the outside and not the inside?”  I mean, it was apparent from the character of the commandment that it involved the heart, because it was out of the heart that people did what they did.  So, Jesus is simply giving the truest interpretation of what those meant originally; He’s not amending them or changing them.  He makes it clear in the same Sermon on the Mount that He came not to add or take away from the law, even one jot or one tittle, but to completely fulfill it.  That included, not only when the perfect fulfillment of the law (that R. C. [Sproul] was talking about), but also in upholding the law without any amendment

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur's Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
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