The Foundation of Everything | Rev. Brooke Hartman

In the Ten Commandments, we find God giving to humanity a foundation for the rule of law and for discerning God’s will for human flourishing. Without God’s revelation of right and wrong, good and evil, human society will inevitably be based around how those in power in can maintain and extend their power rather than how all can live together with love and respect. Many people point out that the first four commandments are about God (theology) and the second six commandments are about people (morality). This order is no coincidence. The moral teaching of the 10 Commandments derives their lasting relevance from the reality and nature of God.

 

Physicists have long searched (so far unsuccessfully) for a “theory of everything” which will show how the entire physical world on the micro and macro level works together. For Jews and Christians, the 10 Commandments bear witness to a theory (or better said, “the foundation”) of everything. Everything we are, everything we do, and the reality of right and wrong are all based on the reality, power, and presence of the One True God.

Scripture - Exodus 32:15-16, Exodus 20:1-3