The Grammar of Grace

Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2026

We often read the Ten Commandments as a list of do’s and don’ts designed to kill our fun. But if you look at the grand narrative, the Decalogue is actually a constitution for a free people. These people had just spent four hundred years under the thumb of Pharaoh, where their value was determined by their productivity. Now, God speaks words that define what it looks like to live as humans who are actually free. The law isn’t a ladder to climb to get to God; it’s a fence around the garden of life that God has already given us by grace; a grace revealed in the Garden itself even before the consequences (curses) of sin were pronounced.

The truth is that these commandments aren’t just moral suggestions; they are descriptions of reality. When God says, “No other gods,” He isn’t being insecure; He’s being honest, because nothing else can actually sustain the weight of our soul. Psalm 36 contrasts the “transgression of the wicked” with the “steadfast love” of God. The law points out the transgression, but it’s anchored in that steadfast love. In the progressive revelation of Scripture, we see Christ internalizing these laws in the Sermon on the Mount. He doesn’t lower the bar; He raises it to the heart level. The “freedom” offered here is the freedom from the tyranny of our own desires. If you want to know what it looks like to be truly human, look at the Ten Commandments through the lens of Jesus. It’s not about restriction; it’s about the architecture of a life that actually works.

Devotional Prompts:

Which of the Ten Commandments feels most like a restriction to you right now, and how might it actually be a protection?
If the law is a “grammar of freedom,” how does obedience change your perspective on autonomy?
How does the preface “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt” change the way we receive the subsequent commands?
In what ways does modern culture function like a Pharaoh, demanding our labor to define our worth?

Prayer: Lord of Liberty, who delivered Israel from the house of slavery: write Your law upon our hearts this day. Help us to see Your commands not as burdens, but as the path to true human flourishing. Grant us the grace to worship You alone and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Amen.