The Law for Lawbreakers

Paul’s Use of the Ten Commandments in 1 Timothy 1:8-11

Do the Ten Commandments play a role beyond the Sinai Covenant? Is there an ongoing usefulness for the moral law? The answer is yes, especially when we consider how Paul relied on the Ten Commandments to make a particular argument in 1 Timothy.

When theologians in church history like Luther and Calvin discussed the purposes of God’s law, they contended that it benefited society by restraining wickedness, it convicted unbelievers of their sin and thus established their need for salvation in Christ, and it served to guide the ethical lives of Christians by identifying what a God-honoring life of wisdom looked like.