The Ten Commandments for Today

The Ten Commandments for Today
By Brian H. Edwards
Day One Publications. 287 pages. £8.99
ISBN 0 902548 69 7

This book's title gives a clear indication of its contents. Brian Edwards sets out to explain to us the true meaning, scope and significance of each of God's ten great laws. The result is a book that is eminently thorough, biblical and orthodox throughout, and yet is readable, practical and satisfying.
It would repay any Christian, young or mature, with rich dividends for the investment of £9.00. For it is a book to read, re-read and read again, but always on one's knees with a readiness to be humbled and challenged. It is true that it contains many contemporary illustrations and allusions that will date with time, but it contains so much timeless wisdom and careful exposition of Scripture that it will continue to provide help long after its illustrations appear nostalgic and its contemporary statistics seem dated.
Before the detailed exposition of each of the commandments in turn (and indeed throughout the book), Mr. Edwards gives us a passionate defence of the orthodox view that the ten commandments are the summary of the just demands that the Creator lays upon humanity in every age. Of particular significance is his robust defence of the view that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath. His basic view of the commandments is that they are the standard of holiness for all, and reveal the kind of God with whom we all have to do. He never deviates from the view that the commandments are a wonderful blessing to the Christian, and that we should love them precisely because in interfering with our natural desires they set us free from the path of sin, which is bondage.
Mr. Edwards touches on a vast range of issues, from the handling of the temptation to euthanasia and from reincarnation to whether it is ever justified to steal or lie. In so doing, he brings light and wisdom from a vast array of Scriptures, providing a real treasury of biblical understanding. Perhaps there is slightly less clarity and insight on the commandments that relate directly to God, but surely that is where we are all weakest today. Yet even here there is much to help us in our worship and service.

Graham Heaps
Dewsbury, West Yorkshire

© Evangelicals Now - April 1997
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Main Articles

• Being a Christian university student
  A discussion of attitudes to be adopted by Christian students at university
• Shanty town church
  An account of Christian witness in a slum area of the Mathare valley just outside Nairobi
• How to help Muslim converts
  The condition of Christians in Muslim countries and the help given by the Barnabus Fund
• Strasbourg's Cockney Christian
  Interview with David Hallam MEP (Member of European Parliament)
• Labels past their sell-by date (Bulldog for April)
  The labels of charismatic and reformed
• Let's keep asking questions
  Discussion on the question of Biblical inerrancy

Other articles

• Killing Fields - Living Fields - An account of the suffering of the Cambodian church during the Khmer Rouge regime - an extract from the book Killing Fields, Living Fields
• In Pursuit of God: The Life of A W Tozer - The evangelical mystic - remembering A W Tozer - extract from the book In Pursuit of God: The Life of A W Tozer
• The Doctrine of Humanity
• The Beauty of the Lilies
• Shine - The story of the Australian pianist David Helfgott
• The Openness of God - A challenge to the traditional understanding of God
• Treasures of Darkness - Reaching a new understanding of God's sovereignty through suffering
• The Blessing of Tears - Healing benefit in weeping
• A Grace Disguised - Reflections of Gerald Sittser on the years following the loss of his mother, wife and child in a road accident
• The Naked Feet of Nicaragua - Account of a project to open up the interior of Nicaragua by the provision and use of a hovercraft
• The Ten Commandments for Today
• Becoming a Premier League Husband - (Audio tape)
• Cure for Life
• Revelation Unwrapped (Bible Application Series)
• Kriss - Biography of athlete Kriss Akabusi
• Jesus Here and Now
• Renewal for Life
• Manual of Congregational Principles - (Reprint of work first published 1884)
• I Believe in Taking Action
• Animal Rights and Wrongs - A Biblical Perspective