The governor of Louisiana recently signed a bill into law that the Ten Commandments shall be posted in every public school K-12 classroom. It’s been in the news this week, I have wanted to say something, but every time I think about it I also feel like “I can’t believe we have to say these things again.” Here is what Jimmy Humphrey of the Jimmy’s Table Podcast had to say on social media and he gladly gave me permission to copy and paste:

“In 2 Corinthians 3, the apostle Paul didn’t put much stock in the Ten Commandments. He called them glorious, as they were from God. But he sees them as fundamentally flawed and limited. To him they are letters of death, carved in stone, unable to touch the human heart. The Christian obsession with the Ten Commandments, and this weird feeling that it’s somehow a public good that must be displayed in schools and courthouses for the benefit of society has always bewildered me. Folks love themselves some Old Testament law. And they seem to have a spiritual allergy to the New Testament way of thinking. As a result, a lot of Christians are unfortunately stuck in a mindset that’s spiritually backwards. They somehow see the Ten Commandments as something that will make society a better place, and the law of Moses as something that must be boldly proclaimed.

“Unfortunately, well meaning such thinking is, it’s out of step with the radical nature of the New Testament message, and the way Jesus and the apostles thought. Such thinking is a false gospel. As great as the Ten Commandments are, they will never breathe life into one single person. They’ll never change one person’s heart. If anything, they’ll only worsen the state of the person that encounters them. According to the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 3, these dead letters carved in stone will never do the work that can only be done by the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit alone can give life. The Ten Commandments can only kill. The Spirit alone can do the work on the hearts of men that changes their hearts and minds, and brings about true reformation and life. So, instead of trying to champion strange ideas regarding the public posting of the Ten Commandments in public places, let us rather focus on bringing the gospel message to the world through the church. God has left the Ten Commandments behind for something far better. It’s time we embrace the better that has come in Christ.”

I replied “The Law, the entirety of which is often represented by the Ten Commandments, has a limited ability to restrain evil but it cannot produce righteousness. You can learn a lot about God by reading the Old Testament but all the O.T. saints and prophets died in faith waiting for the promise, which was received after the resurrection of the Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit.” Jimmy agreed.

I think it might be appropriate to display the 10 Commandments in a courtroom. Maybe display them in school in a history classroom, as well as the Code of Hammurabi and perhaps another ancient primary source document. What is the goal of placing the 10 Commandments in every classroom? Is it about fostering an environment in which we all follow the rules? Is it about morality? The Golden Rule is a better representation of Christianity than the foundational documents of Judaism.

I do not think we can win and perhaps should not fight the culture war, and that’s what this is. In response to some schools offering a Good News Club, opponents started Satanist clubs. As the culture slides more liberal the response of some Christians is to lean harder into conservativism; we see how well that works in the political landscape. There are casualties of war. My concern is that spending too much time and energy arguing over policy and procedure with unbelievers will lead to a high casualty rate and our greatest loss will be… the Gospel. I have no doubt that even after a long (and expensive) fight in the court system, possibly reaching the Supreme Court someday, the LA law will be overturned. Dying for the cause, martyring oneself, in the political and judicial process for the right to display the 10 Commandments does not share the Gospel or build the Kingdom. What if the law stands? What if we win in this case? I don’t think that shares the Gospel or builds the Kingdom either.

We cannot legislate or judicate people into Heaven. Share the Gospel. Be conformed to the image of Christ. Let others see that work in your life and let the Holy Spirit do what he does to convict people of sin and draw them to Christ. We fight “powers and principalities and spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). Lost people are the mission field, not the battlefield. We need to not get those mixed up.