Have you ever noticed that beautiful things always follow patterns? Music has structured rhythm and harmony. Art has proportion and colour theory. The natural world has symmetry and repeating cycles. Even love seems to have its own natural laws—kindness invites more kindness, betrayal breeds mistrust. These patterns are deeply ingrained into who we are, and something inside us resonates deeply with order and beauty. That’s because all this structure isn’t an accident, it’s simply a reflection of a greater law at the centre of our universe. Design comes from a Designer; structure and pattern come from a Creator, and the existence of rules and patterns in our universe points to a all-powerful Rulegiver.
The reason that we can find patterns of beauty all around is is because the Creator of everything is a God of order and His core values are reflected in the things He creates (Rom. 1:20). Like an artist who places his signature on each painting of his, God’s character traits are reflected in the things He creates. Scripture tells us that “God is not the author of confusion but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33), and that “to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” (Ecc. 3:1) God created laws for our planet to keep it orderly and beautiful, effectively making His character traits the ultimate standard for the universe.
And the Creator’s standards aren’t just standards for the natural world, they also apply to moral issues as well. Romans 13:8 and 10 help us to understand what God’s universal law requires of us, saying “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. …love is the fulfillment of the law.” 1 John 4:8 tells us that “God is love,” and Psalm 136:26 says that we should “give thanks to the God of heaven…[because] His mercy endures forever.” God’s character is love itself; it is expressed through blessing others and showing them mercy. The standard of morality we are held to is to love and bless one another in the same way that God loves and blesses all His creation.
Similar to how a composer gives musicians sheet music to help them all play in harmony and produce something beautiful together, God gave us a moral framework—a kind of relational score—so we could live in harmony with Him and each other. We know this framework as the Ten Commandments. Found in Exodus 20, these commandments are God’s character codified, a universal moral law that has always existed. This law was given to humanity to set our priorities straight and provide an example of what it looks like to love God and others. The first four commandments talk about our relationship with God, telling us to have no other gods before Him, to not have idols in our lives, not take His name in vain, and to set aside the seventh day of the week to worship Him. These commandments explain that to serve God means to give Him your worship, your allegiance, your words, and your time. The last six commandments go on to teach us how to expand that love to others. They outline things like the importance of honesty, not coveting what others have, and honouring one’s parents. These “commandments are not burdensome,” (1 Jn. 5:3) they show us how to live an abundant life, one of complete joy.
Yet the Law does far more than teach us how to love—it also exposes the reality of our sinful condition. It’s not just a list of suggestions for ideal living; it’s a Divine law we’re accountable to, a law that condemns all who break it. The Bible defines sin as the act of breaking God’s law (1 Jn. 3:4), and God is clear that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). God loves His people and does not want them to suffer, but He is also just and will not allow suffering to exist forever. “He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness,” eternally destroying sin and sinners (Acts 17:31). [See article on hell] In that final day of reckoning, God will “give to everyone according to [their] works” (Rev. 22:12). However, all people are sinners (Rom. 3:23), and therefore, all people are deserving of death. The only way to be saved from this coming judgement is to perfectly keep God’s Law, (Lev. 18:5), but unfortunately, “there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.” (Ecc. 7:20)
Even those who live seemingly good lives will not be acquitted in the coming judgment. James 2:10 says that even if you “keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, [you are] guilty of all.” That’s because God’s law is more than just a collection of do’s and don’ts, it’s an expression of His character of love. To keep God’s law correctly, you can’t just imitate the things He does and doesn’t do, you need to be motivated by a love like His. Unfortunately, because of sin, unselfish love doesn’t come naturally to us anymore. We are selfish people, and the Bible calls that kind of behaviour carnal. Describing what it means to be carnal, it says: “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” (Rom. 8:7) So long as we remain selfish and carnal, nothing we can do will keep God’s Law because we will not be reflecting the character of love behind it.
But don’t think for a moment that God has it out for you. He loves all His children, and He would never require something of us that we are incapable of doing (1 Cor. 10:13, 1 Jn. 5:3, Matt. 11:29-30). He takes “no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but [desires] that the wicked turn from his way and live.” (Ezek. 33:11) So what’s the solution then? How can God save the sinners His law condemns? Does He change His law, or abolish it completely? No, of course not. Instead of removing the law, God changes the hearts of His people so that they can and want to keep His law. God promises, “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts” (Jer. 31:33), He will ingrain His character into their very being. Jesus came to this earth, not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matt. 5:17). His death on the cross made available to us the power to keep God’s law. Jesus’s life is an example to us, showing us how to live a sinless life of love in God’s strength (1 Pet. 2:21-22).
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8) The true purpose of God’s law is to help us realize our helpless condition, cause us to see His loving nature, and motivate us to go to Him for help in overcoming sin. If we choose to fix our gaze on the Author of the moral law, we will see how He loved us enough to make a way for us to keep His law. If we choose to let Christ cover us with His righteousness, we can keep the law in His power. In the keeping of the 10 Commandments, there is a great reward—Christ–like character. (Ps. 19:11)
God has promised to cleanse us from sin, to write His law on our hearts so that one day we can live in heaven with Him. Don’t you want to accept that gift?