MORE THAN STONE: TEN COMMANDMENTS SHAPED JUSTICE & CONSCIENCE

In a world where laws are endlessly revised, debated, and challenged, it’s easy to overlook the quiet permanence of the Ten Commandments. Etched in stone millennia ago, they remain among the most universally recognised moral imperatives in human history. Are they truly the most perfect laws ever given? Perhaps the better question is this: Why have they endured, when so many others have faded?

The 10 Commandments have been a moral compass across cultures and centuries. They have been given to Moses on Mount Sinai and are not just ancient religious directives but a moral framework. While originating within the Jewish tradition, their influence has spread across civilizations. Many of the world’s most cherished legal norms, against murder, theft, perjury, and dishonoring others, echo their words.

Even secular law, especially in the Western world, often finds its roots tangled with these ancient decrees. Courtrooms display them, philosophers discuss them, and societies return to them in times of ethical confusion. Why?

Because they don’t merely regulate behaviour, they appeal to conscience.

Most modern legal systems govern external behavior. They punish what can be proven and observed: theft, assault, fraud. But the Ten Commandments begin where law rarely ventures, the inner world.

“Do not covet” addresses envy.
“Honour your father and mother” points to gratitude, respect, and familial stability.
“Have no other gods” insists on loyalty of heart.

They blend the vertical (our relationship with God) and the horizontal (our relationships with others). Together, they outline a society where love of God fosters love of neighbour.

To ask whether the Ten Commandments are “perfect” requires us to ask what law is for. If law exists only to regulate crime, then modern penal codes are more detailed. But if law is meant to preserve life, protect dignity, anchor society, and elevate the soul, then the Ten Commandments remain unparalleled.

They are are more than just reactive; they are formative. They do not just punish wrong; they shape virtue. They do not serve one class, race, or nation; they speak to all humanity. No law can protect society unless it first protects the heart.

In Comparison to Modern Laws consider this: thousands of pages of legislation have been written to combat murder, lying, theft, family breakdown, and injustice. Yet the Commandments did it in ten lines.

And more than that: the Commandments never needed amendment. They were given, not invented. Their authority lies not just in logic or social contract, but in revelation and in the belief that these laws reflect the moral nature of the Lawgiver Himself.

In the end, the Ten Commandments are not just about law. They are about love. Love for God. Love for neighbour. Love for what is right, pure, and lasting. They point us toward a life that is not just orderly, but holy, functional and flourishing.  

Other laws may instruct, restrict, or reform. But only these ten have shaped the soul of civilisation.