Concepts of God Affect Human Behavior

Many heathen nations claimed that their images were only symbols by which the Deity was worshiped, but God has declared such worship to be sin. The attempt to represent the Eternal One by material objects would lower our concepts of God. Our minds would be attracted to the creature rather than to the Creator, and as our concepts of God were lowered, the human race would become degraded.BOE 147.6

“I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.” The close relation of God to His people is represented by the illustration of marriage. Since idolatry is spiritual adultery, the displeasure of God against it is fittingly called jealousy.BOE 147.7

“Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me.” Children are not punished for their parents’ guilt, except as they take part in their sins. Usually, however, by inheritance and example the children become partakers of the parents’ sin. Wrong tendencies, perverted appetites, and debased morals, as well as physical disease and decline, are passed along from parent to child, to the third and fourth generation.BOE 147.8

“Showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” To those who are faithful in His service, God promises mercy, not merely to the third and fourth generation like the wrath threatened against those who hate Him, but to thousands of generations.BOE 148.1

(3) “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”BOE 148.2

This commandment forbids us to use the name of God in a light or careless manner. By the thoughtless mention of God in common conversation, and by frequent, thoughtless repetition of His name, we dishonor Him. “Holy and awesome is His name” (Psalm 111:9). We should speak it with reverence and solemnity.BOE 148.3

(4) “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”BOE 148.4

The Sabbath is not introduced as a new institution but as having been established at creation. Pointing to God as the Maker of the heavens and the earth, it tells the difference between the true God from false gods, so the Sabbath is the sign of our allegiance to God. The fourth commandment is the only one of the ten in which we find both the name and the title of the Lawgiver—the only one that shows by whose authority the law is given—as it contains the seal of God.BOE 148.5

God has given us six days in which to work, and He requires that we do our work in those six days. Acts of necessity and mercy are permitted on the Sabbath. The sick and suffering are always to be cared for, but we should strictly avoid unnecessary work. To keep the Sabbath holy, we should not even allow our minds to dwell on things of a worldly character. And the commandment includes everyone within our “gates” (meaning our homes). All the members of the household are to set aside their worldly business during the sacred hours. All should unite to honor God by their willing service on His holy day.BOE 148.6

(5) “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”BOE 148.7

Parents are entitled to a degree of love and respect owed to no other person. To reject the rightful authority of one’s parents is also to reject the authority of God. The fifth commandment requires children not only to respect, submit to, and obey their parents, but also to give them love and tenderness, to lighten their cares, to guard their reputation, and to care for and comfort them in old age. It also requires respect for ministers and rulers and for all others to whom God has given authority.BOE 148.8

(6) “You shall not murder.”BOE 149.1

All acts of injustice that tend to shorten life—the spirit of hatred and revenge, or indulging any passion that leads to injurious acts toward others (even to wish them harm, for “whoever hates his brother is a murderer”), a selfish neglect of caring for the needy, self-indulgence or overwork that tends to injure health—all these are, to a greater or less degree, violations of the sixth commandment.BOE 149.2

(7) “You shall not commit adultery.”BOE 149.3

God’s law demands purity not only in the outward life but in the secret intents and emotions of the heart. Christ, who taught the far-reaching obligation of the law of God, declared that the evil thought or look is as truly sin as is the unlawful deed.BOE 149.4

(8) “You shall not steal.”BOE 149.5

This prohibition condemns kidnapping and slave dealing, wars of conquest, theft and robbery. It demands strict honesty in the smallest details of life. It forbids shady business dealings and requires the payment of rightful debts or wages. Every attempt to gain advantage by the ignorance, weakness, or misfortune of another is registered as fraud in the books of heaven.BOE 149.6

(9) “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”BOE 149.7

An intention to deceive is what makes a lie. By a glance of the eye, a motion of the hand, an expression of the face, we may tell a lie as effectively as by words. It is a lie even to state the facts in such a way as to mislead. Every effort to injure our neighbor’s reputation by misrepresentation, slander, or gossip, and even hiding truth in order to injure others, is a violation of the ninth commandment.BOE 149.8

(10) “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”BOE 149.9

The tenth commandment strikes at the very root of all sins—it prohibits the selfish desire, from which springs the sinful act. The person who refuses to indulge even a sinful desire for something that belongs to another will not be guilty of a wrong act toward anyone else.BOE 149.10

God proclaimed His law with demonstrations of His power and glory, so that His people would never forget the scene. He wanted to show everyone the sacredness and permanence of His law.BOE 149.11