The Ten Commandments hold a conspicuous position in that prolonged revelation of Himself, of His character, His will, and His relations to mankind, which God made to the Jewish people. They can, therefore, never become obsolete. The changing circumstances of the human race cannot destroy the significance and worth of any institutions or facts which reveal the life of God.
I. The Ten Commandments rest on the principle that God claims authority over the moral life of man. He claimed that authority in the earliest times. He claims it still.
II. There can be no doubt that God intended that these commandments should be kept. This may seem an unnecessary observation; but there are many religious people who have quite a different theory than this about the intention of Divine laws. They suppose that the commandments of God are principally intended to bring us to a sense of our guilt, and to suggest to us the sins for which we have to ask God's forgiveness. The thought of actually obeying them, and obeying them perfectly, scarcely ever occurs to them.
III. These commandments deal chiefly with actions, not with mere thought or emotion. Man is not a pure intellect or a disembodied passion. God's laws, which deal with man as he is, take large account of his external conduct. His actions are as truly part of his life as his thoughts and passions, his faith or unbelief, his sorrow for sin and his joy in the infinite love of God.
IV. Before God gave these commandments to the Jewish people, He wrought a magnificent series of miracles to effect their emancipation from miserable slavery and to punish their oppressors. He first made them free, and then gave them the law.
R. W. Dale, The Ten Commandments,p. 1
References: Exodus 20:1-3. J. Oswald Dykes, The Law of the Ten Words,p. 19; F. D. Maurice, The Commandments,p. 1.Exodus 20:1-17. J. Hamilton, Works,vol. v., p. 199.