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Book Reviews
Leithart, Peter J. The Ten Commandments: A Guide to the Perfect Law of Liberty. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020. 146 Pages.
Meilaender, Gilbert. Thy Will Be Done: The Ten Commandments and the Christian Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic Press, 2020. 131 Pages.
The ten commandments are foundational for Christian faith and ethics. While the examination of the ten commandments is often associated with catechesis, Peter Leithart’s The Ten Commandments, and Gilbert Meilaender’s Thy Will Be Done present renewed insights on the Decalogue for everyday reflection and practice. Indeed, both brief works insightfully interpret the ten commandments for living in, with, and under Christ in the complex realm of human relationships. Leithart’s book articulates life lived under the liberty of the lordship of Jesus, while Meilaender’s study explores the commandments through what binds us together to God and to our neighbor. Each of these readable and relatable books unfolds the fullness of the ten commandments for realizing fulfilling Christ -centered lives.
Leithart’s The Ten Commandments explores the Ten Words in relation to the person and work of Christ. The book contains an opening section on the two tables of the law, which divides the commandments: one to five on the vertical relationship with God, and six to ten on the horizontal relationship with the neighbor. It also reads the commandments from the perspective of God the Father to God the Son (Jesus) and vice versa. The following ten chapters correspond to each commandment and serve as stand-alone homiletical reflections. Drawing upon James 1:25 and 2:12, Leithart emphasizes throughout that the law of God is the perfect law of liberty and provides the positive path to realizing maturity and freedom in the gospel of Christ. Leithart consistently highlights the Ten Words as a character portrait of Jesus, “the heart and soul of the Decalogue.” Leithart’s short book imparts significant discoveries on the interconnections of the ten commandments and biblical themes and passages, and provides a primer on the Christological and trinitarian dimensions of the Torah, as evident in his discussion of the fifth commandment – on honoring father and mother as the relationship of God the Son to God the Father. He also summarizes how Christian traditions number the commandments differently. In addition, every chapter makes clear connections to Christ (for example, p. 110 on Jesus as true witness contra false witness, and p. 121 on filial freedom in Christ contra coveting. Grounded in the whole counsel of God, Leithart’s The Ten Commandments functions within a law-gospel dynamic by anchoring the commandments in the life and liberty of Christ, and works well for Bible study and adaptation into a Lenten or catechetical sermon series.
Meilaender’s Thy Will Be Done offers reflections on the Christian life in terms of the Decalogue. It incorporates the full sweep of the biblical narrative from creation to the healing Christ brings and the hope for redemption at the end of time, and centers on the intimate relationship of the Ten Words and Christ (chapter 1). Meilaender’s original discussions on the ten commandments as life-bonds, or the significant ways human lives are bound together, sets his meditations on the Decalogue apart: to include the marriage bond (chapter 2), the family bond (chapter 3), the life bond (chapter 4), the possessions bond (chapter 5), and the speech bond (chapter 6). Thy Will Be Done concludes with the first commandment, holding together the primary love of God and our natural human life-bonds and loves. In his overview of the Christian life in the interrelated bonds of divine commandments, Meilaender specifies ethical and contemporary examples of learning what it means to believe, teach, and confess “Thy will be done.” Leithart’s The Ten Commandments surveys a solid biblical basis for teaching and preaching, and Meilaender’s Thy Be Will Done ruminates ideas for application in the vocations of life. Both books deliver new takes on ancient teaching and remind readers that the law of the Lord is perfect and revives the soul (Psalm 19:7).
