Question 12: What does God require in the ninth and tenth commandments?
Answer: Ninth, that we do not lie or deceive, but speak the truth in love. Tenth, that we are content, not envying anyone or resenting what God has given them or us.
Our survey through the ten commandments has brought us face-to-face with the reality that God’s law is holy, righteous, and good, and we are not. Because we are in Adam, we have inherited sin and guilt from birth that issues forth in inner motivations and outward actions that defy God. No one had to teach us how to sin; that was something we had within us from the beginning of our lives (Rom. 3:9-20).
The law not only holds out for us the way of righteousness, but in doing so it exposes our sin and points us to the only hope we have in light of our sin and guilt, and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our righteousness does not come through the law, but it is attested by the law that points us to our Savior (Rom. 3:21-22).
Suggested passage for family or personal reading: Romans 7. What does Paul teach us about the law in this passage? What does he teach us about ourselves? What does he teach us about the gospel?