Objection 4: The very wording of the Sinaitic law proves that it was designed only for the Jews. God introduced the Ten Commandments by stating: “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee . . . out of the house of bondage” (Ex. 20:2). To whom is that applicable? Only to the Israelite nation, of course. See, also, Deuteronomy 4:8, Romans 9:4, and similar passages, which state specifically that the law was given only to the Israelites.
We would ask: To whom else could the Lord have given the 'Ten Commandments? To the Egyptians, the Philistines, the Amalekites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, or any other of the many pagan peoples that cursed the earth with their unholy presence? No, you say. God could not make a revelation of Himself to any people until that people were of a mind and heart to hear Him.
God found in Abraham and his descendants such a people. Accordingly He gave to them a revelation of His will and ways. Yes, He spoke exclusively that great day at Sinai to a literal people called Israelites, who had been delivered from a literal bondage in Egypt. But, we inquire again: To whom else could He have spoken?
We would further inquire: To whom was God speaking when He gave His great messages through Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and all the mighty prophets of Old Testament times? The answer is: To the Israelites. The inspired messages that constitute the Old Testament were addressed almost wholly to the Jews, and the prophets who delivered the messages were Jews.
But does any lover of the Bible wish to suggest that therefore the beautiful messages of salvation in Isaiah, for example, which are so often addressed directly to Jerusalem, are not also addressed to us? Many a Christian minister has taken for his text these words from Isaiah: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift tip thy voice like a trumpet, and show thy people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” Isa. 58:1. But no listener in the pew is troubled or confused or informs the preacher that the text is addressed to Jews, not Gentiles.
And who are the writers of the New Testament? With one possible exception they are all Jews. To whom did Christ address virtually all that He said while on earth? To the Jews. To whom is the Epistle to the Hebrews addressed? Obviously, to Jews. To whom is the Epistle of James addressed? “To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.” James 1:1. But does any Christian have difficulty with these facts, or feel that any portions of the New Testament are not really for him? No.
In the objection before us, Romans 9:4 is cited. It reads as follows: “Who are Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises.” Evidently it is offered as proof because it says that “the giving of the law” was to them.
But it says more than that. The “covenants” also were given to them. Note the plural. Both the old and the new covenant! The new covenant is made with the “house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.” (Jer. 31:31; Heb. 8:8.) But does any Christian believe that the new covenant is confined to the believing Jew? No. We all claim a part in it and believe that the new covenant promise is intended for us as well, even though the announcement of it is addressed directly, and apparently exclusively, to the Jews.
The words of Moses in Deuteronomy 4:8 are also cited. They read as follows: “And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” This statement is a good commentary on Romans 9:4, which we have already shown proves more than the objector wants to prove.
Another inspired comment on Deuteronomy 4:8 is the statement of Christ: “Salvation is of the Jews.” John 4:22. But has any Christian despised salvation because of this fact?
We must never forget that the revelations and admonitions of the Scriptures are not given in a vacuum. Almost always they are placed in the context of historical events and flesh-and-blood people. The sermon on the mount has as literally a rocky platform as the address from Sinai. And the multitudes addressed in that sermon were as definitely Jewish as the hosts gathered before Sinai.
Often God took occasion in giving a revelation, or invoking a certain course of conduct, to refer to some actual experience through which the listeners had passed. That is a hallmark of the Bible’s teachings. But that fact never troubles any of us, nor prevents us from believing that the teachings of God’s word also apply to us as well.
Now, inasmuch as God worked mighty miracles to draw out of the turbulent sea of paganism a people for Himself, how appropriate that He should place His revelation to them in the context of the immediate experience that they had miraculously come through. Thus they might be prompted to give that revelation maximum weight in their minds and be most diligent in obeying it. Furthermore, that historical context provides a setting that we today, who are also flesh and blood, can understand, and, understanding, be likewise prompted to greater obedience to God.
A Bible commentator observes on Exodus 20:2:
"This [deliverance out of Egypt] in the manner of Scripture and of Providence is the earnest and the guarantee of their deliverance from all other and greater kinds of bondage. The present is the type of a grander future. We must descend the stream of revelation to the New Testament before we fathom the depths of this greatest deliverance.” - James G. Murphy, Commentary on the Book of Exodus.
Any display of God's mercy and deliverance to His children at any moment in earth's history is a reason why those living at that time and those who read of the account in all subsequent ages should serve Him with their whole heart and obey His holy will.
We cannot forget Paul’s extended lesson in Romans, to wit: We are sinners because the law points out our sin. “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Rom. 3:19.
So are we gentiles not actually sinners, not guilty before God, because the moral law was not given to us? Are Jews the only sinners because the moral law was given only to the Jews? No, the text clearly states that, “all the world” are guilty before God. It is obvious that the Ten Commandment law was given to the whole world, because it points out the sin of “all the world.”
And there is no way to avoid this by claiming that the law Paul is referring to is not the moral law. Look at his examples: “Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Rom. 2:21-22
So we are obviously discussing the moral law, the Ten Commandment law, and just as obviously, it condemns the whole world, Jews and gentiles. Although the Ten Commandment law was given to Moses on stone tablets at Mt. Sinai amid thunder and lightening, and God’s audible speaking, it was not only for the Jews. It clearly applies to all of us, Jew and gentile alike, and it points out the sins of everyone, Jew and gentile alike. And, as we demonstrated in our answer to objection 3, it was in the world long before Sinai.
Yes, the law’s condemnation is not limited to Israel, but makes us all sinners, “all the world.” Paul is quick to add, however, that just as one law—the Ten Commandment law—condemns all of us, one gift of salvation in Jesus Christ is provided to all of us:
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. Rom. 3:20-25
Attempts to confine the Ten Commandment law to the Jews do not make sense biblically. They also illustrate an unseemly desire to be free of moral strictures that God clearly intends to be universal. (Of course, few are so bold as to argue that Christians are now free to worship idols, murder, steal, perjure themselves, or sleep with their neighbor’s wife. Per usual, this objection is really directed only at the Fourth Commandment.)