Ten

TEN
By J. John
Kingsway Publications. 299 pages
ISBN 0 85476 874 2

This is a straightforward treatment of living the Ten Commandments, for young Christians who are new to the concept of the Ten Commandments for Christian living.

It is about not telling white lies or taking the office stationery away or using God's namely profanely. That is, it is very down to earth and simple in its application.

This is not the place to look for discussion of just war, illegitimate taxation, covenantal oaths, and so on. Partly in consequence, the interpretation holds few surprises. I came across only two, and they are more implications than explicit injunctions. Apparently it is breaking the ninth commandment not to allow Third World governments to renege on their loans; it is breaking the third commandment not to accept extra-biblical revelations in the name of God.

J. John nicely points out that one can vainly misuse the name of God by never mentioning it - by never giving him credit before others for what he does.

One of the best pages in the book comes when J. John says that the commandments are not rules independent of God. He does not elaborate on this in presuppositional direction, but simply says the commandments don't really make sense without God behind them. This comes at the end of the book (because he treats the commandments in reverse order) and is a very necessary reminder, since the book spends much of its time on the practical benefits of the commandments.

Michael Peat

© Evangelicals Now - October 2000
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