Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant Today?

The Ten Commandments are about three thousand years old. They talk about oxen and donkeys, servants and a neighbor’s house, and they were given to a people who had just left slavery in Egypt. It is fair to ask whether a list from that world has anything to say to ours.

The Bible itself expected the question. Moses told Israel that obeying the commandments would show other nations that they were wise, and that people would notice:

Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who shall hear all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

Deuteronomy 4:6

The short answer: yes, the Ten Commandments are still relevant, because each one protects something every society has to protect: worship, rest, family, life, marriage, property, truth and contentment. The details of ancient life have changed; the goods have not. The commandments also ask a question that is not ancient at all: what do you treat as sacred? See The Ten Commandments: What Each One Means.

Anyone writing about this has heard the objections. Here are the main ones, with a fair answer to each:

“They are too old.” The wording belongs to its time, with its oxen, servants and city gates. But the prohibitions are not about farm animals. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house” moves easily from an ancient village to a modern apartment block, or a feed full of other people’s lives.

“They are religious, so they cannot apply to everyone.” The first four commandments are religious: they concern God, images, his name and the Sabbath. The last six are the kind of rules found in almost every society: do not kill, steal or lie under oath, and respect the family. Even the Code of Hammurabi, written several centuries before Moses, punishes murder, theft and false accusation. The commandments are not unique in what they forbid; they are distinctive in grounding it in the character of God.

“The law already covers this.” Law does cover some of it: murder, theft, perjury. But no law covers honoring your parents, the Sabbath or coveting. Neither the first four nor the tenth can be enforced by a court, and they were never meant to be. They aim at the person, not just the act.

“They are impossible to keep.” That is true, and the Bible agrees. Paul said that the commandment against coveting was what showed him his own sin (Romans 7:7). A list that no one keeps perfectly is still a list that tells the truth about what a good life looks like.

The best test of relevance is to take each commandment out of the ancient setting and ask what it protects now. The Bible gives the starting point: the commandments open with a rescue, because they describe the life of free people.

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Exodus 20:2

• No other gods. It protects what a person or a society treats as ultimate. Modern rivals are career, money, status and the approval of strangers (What Does ‘No Other Gods Before Me’ Mean?).
• No images. It guards against shrinking God to fit our preferences, a risk as real for a modern believer as for an ancient one (What Is Idolatry?).
• God’s name. It protects honesty in religious speech: promises made in God’s name, and “God told me” used to win an argument (What Does Taking the Lord’s Name in Vain Mean?).
• The Sabbath. It protects rest in a world of constant work and constant notifications. Many countries now guarantee workers a weekly day of rest in their labor laws (Remember the Sabbath).
• Parents. It protects the dignity of older people and the family as the place where care is first learned, which matters more as populations age (What ‘Honor Your Father and Mother’ Means).
• Murder. It protects human life, and Jesus extended it to the contempt that precedes violence (Thou Shalt Not Kill — or Murder?).
• Adultery. It protects marriage, trust and the children who depend on both (You Shall Not Commit Adultery).
• Stealing. It protects wages, property and fair dealing: in business, in taxes and online (What Does ‘You Shall Not Steal’ Mean?).
• False witness. It protects truth in court and in everyday talk, now including rumors that travel across the world in minutes (Bearing False Witness).
• Coveting. It protects contentment against a culture built to make us want more and compare constantly (What Does ‘You Shall Not Covet’ Mean?).

Not everything near the commandments is still applied today, and being honest about that is part of answering the question. The ten are surrounded by other laws, in Exodus 21 to 23 and beyond, covering servants, injuries, farm animals and punishments. Neither Jews nor Christians apply those laws directly today. Jews apply them through centuries of rabbinic interpretation, and Christians generally treat the civil and ceremonial laws of ancient Israel as fulfilled in Christ.

The ten are treated differently, for reasons the Bible itself gives. They were spoken by God aloud to the whole people (Exodus 20:1), written on stone (31:18), and kept in the ark (Deuteronomy 10:5). Jesus and the apostles repeat them, and Jesus compressed them into two commandments about love (see What Is the Greatest Commandment?). The question of how the ten relate to the other 603 laws of the Torah is explained in How Many Commandments Are in the Bible?, and how Christians read them in Do Christians Have to Keep the Ten Commandments?

A reader who does not believe in God can still ask whether the commandments are useful. For the last six, the answer is straightforward: they describe the minimum conditions for people to live together. Trust collapses when witnesses lie, families collapse when promises are broken, and nobody can plan a life where life and property are not safe.

How much modern law actually rests on the Ten Commandments is debated. Some historians see a strong influence, especially on the laws of Europe and America; others point to Roman law, English common law and Enlightenment ideas, and note that several societies reached similar rules without them. A careful reader can agree that they are part of the story without claiming that they are all of it.

The first four commandments are a different matter. They cannot be enforced, and a secular state has no business trying. Yet they ask something that anyone can ask: what do I treat as ultimate, and what is it doing to me? People who answer “nothing” often find that something has taken that place anyway. The psalmist described what the commandments were meant to do for the one who keeps them:

The LORD’s law is perfect, restoring the soul. The LORD’s covenant is sure, making wise the simple. The LORD’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart. The LORD’s commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes.

Psalm 19:7–8

Are the Ten Commandments still relevant today?

Yes. Each commandment protects something every society needs: worship, rest, family, life, marriage, property, truth and contentment. The ancient details have changed, but modern life shows these goods are still at risk, from overwork and online rumors to broken families and consumer culture.

Why do some people say the Ten Commandments are outdated?

The language belongs to an ancient farming society, with oxen, servants and city gates, and the first four commandments are explicitly religious. Critics also note that they are not the whole of ethics. Defenders reply that the principles behind them, such as not killing, stealing, lying or coveting, apply in any age.

Are the Ten Commandments the basis of modern law?

Partly. Laws against murder, theft and perjury overlap with the commandments, and some historians see strong influence in Western legal traditions. Others point to Roman law, common law and Enlightenment thought, and to similar rules in older codes such as Hammurabi’s. Most scholars say the influence is real but not the only one.

Do you have to believe in God for the Ten Commandments to matter?

No. The last six describe conditions for any community to live well, and many people who do not believe still agree with them. The first four ask a question that anyone can face: what do I treat as sacred, and what is it doing to my life?

Which of the Ten Commandments is most relevant today?

There is no single answer. Many people point to the Sabbath, in a culture that rarely rests, or to coveting, in an age of constant comparison. Others choose false witness, because rumors now travel instantly. The commandments work as a set, and Jesus summed them up as love for God and for neighbor.