I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. It was such a fresh look at the Ten Commandments. It really convicted me and made me think!

This book was an excellent deep dive into the ten commandments. Highly recommend for any women's study or bible study

I loved this book. Jen wilkin is one of the best theologians of our day. She is incredibly smart and eloquent. Her words bring meaning and change to the text and her applications are both relevant and timely. She so wonderfully bridges the gap between the Old Testament and my current life today.

Love how this unpacks the 10 commandments in an easy to explain way. Definitely a resource I will come back to and recommend often.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book!

Do the 10 commandments matter in 2021? Are the tables of the law relevant today? This book will make you consider it. If you are also wondering how to live in obedience and at the same time in freedom, this content will help you understand it. Jen Wilkin writes in a useful, clear, and orderly way, which is why I have purchased her previous books as well. This material is useful if you want to study it individually or someone has asked you about this topic.

I really enjoyed this deeper look into the Ten Commandments. It’s a great reminder of what they mean and how we can better apply them to our lives. I think we often forget how they do apply to us and how often we ignore them.

I have never read a book by Jen but I would definitely read more she has a great way of relating to her readers.

There are questions, scriptures and a guide to prayer at the end of each chapter.

A copy of this book was given to me through Netgalley. All opinions are my own

Ten Words to Live By
Publishing date: March 30, 2021

In Ten Words to Live By, Jen Wilkin presents a fresh biblical look at the Ten Commandments, showing how they come to bear on our lives today as we seek to love God and others, to live in joyful freedom, and to long for that future day when God will be rightly worshiped for eternity. I really liked this book and have recommended it to others. Thanks to NetGalley and Jen's publishing for the digital ARC.

5star

Jen Wilkin’s books are my favorite and always so, so good and challenging. Her newest book was just the same. Ten Words to Live By looks at the Ten Commandments & how they are about holiness and obedience. These commandments, or words, are important in the lives of believers still today and in her book, Jen Wilkin shows how these can help us to love God and others more. This book is definitely worth reading, and it is certainly one of the best books I have read and will read this year.

A Review of Ten Words to Live By - Jen Wilkin
“This is a book about the law of God in all of its life-giving beauty. In the church today there exists a great forgetfulness about the role of the law in the life of the believer. This book is an exercise in remembrance.” Jen Wilkins (Introduction)

I can’t think of a better way to describe what Jen Wilkin has written in her latest book Ten Words to Live By. It is a book that delves into the Ten Commandments and looks to remind, encourage, and convict. The book is laid out in ten chapters, one designated for each commandment. In true Jen Wilkin fashion each chapter ends with some scripture to reflect on and some discussion questions that can be used for personal or group study settings. It also has prayer prompts to further lead you to confession, repentance, praise and worship.

I believe Jen did a great job explaining the commandments so that anyone could understand them. She also did a good job digging deeper into the command, showing more than just a surface level understanding. In each commandment, everything pointed back to the Gospel. She showed how we fall short but did not leave us there. She shared the hope that is found in Christ to all who would believe and trust in Him.

There were a few commands I feel have a stricter application to them than maybe she ascribes to and there were topics left unsaid such as the 2nd command referring to anyone in the Godhead not just God the Father, the 4th commandment and showing the importance of the Christian Sabbath being on Sunday. I found myself saying yes and amen but wanted her to go further into the application. I felt the tension of these topics not being addressed or touched on. She very easily could have added these topics without adding too much volume to the chapters. I also recognize she that is writing to a very broad audience and not the deep niche of theological tradition that I ascribe to (Reformed Theology) and that may be why they weren’t addressed.

A challenging section that stuck out to me would be Chapter Three, the section on the Sin of Lip Service. Here is a quote from the section, “We can also misuse the name of the Lord by speaking hallowed words while living hollow lives. When we preach a moral code that we ourselves do not strive to uphold, we become like those Jesus railed against during his ministry-a people who honor God with our lips, but whose hearts are far from him….it is the mentor who dispenses godly wisdom to a younger believer that he has not himself learned to employ……It is the woman singing praise songs at the top of her lungs, eyes closed and hands extended, who has not cracked open her Bible in months…..” (Chapter 3) In the words of Voddie Baucham, “If you can’t say ‘Amen!’, you gotta say ‘Ouch!’”

Some challenging but also encouraging quotes from the book I would also like to share would be these, “Honor is an expression of rightly ordered love.” “Sometimes we honor our parents by demonstrating forgiveness in what we leave unsaid.” “If your family of origin was a painful one, the family of God can be a haven and a recompense.” (Chapter 5)

All in all, I would recommend this book. I would hope that any fellow believer would read this book, be convicted and encouraged and it would lead them to a deeper personal study of the commandments. This book is now available for purchase from all major retailers and I have included some in the resources below. To leave you with a quote from the last chapter, “What a mercy that God sees the end from the beginning. He engraves good boundaries for us even before we know we need them.” (Chapter 10) Let that encourage you and direct you towards this book and a deeper study of God’s word.

*I received this book free from NetGalley along with Crossway in exchange for an honest review.*

Resources:

https://www.christianbook.com/words-live-delighting-doing-what-commands/jen-wilkin/9781433566349/pd/566349?en=google&event=SHOP&kw=christian-living-0-20%7C566349&p=1179710&dv=m&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvYSEBhDjARIsAJMn0lhagZOU2gFqno7pxkEywkhy3c8nKDWxcUUjF-l52mpX0SyCSRi_XawaAmK2EALw_wcB

https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Words-Live-Delighting-Commands/dp/1433566346/ref=asc_df_1433566346/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=459726680617&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10498678797874166739&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9015893&hvtargid=pla-995627779677&psc=1

Great new book by Jen Wilkin that guides the reader to a deeper and unique perspective into the Ten Commandments. Too often looked at as a set of do and don’t rules Jen helps the reader see how and how these words set the obedient believer up for abundant living. Ten Words is easy to read but full of depth and too good to miss.

I love everything Jen Wilkin writes. She writes in a down-to-earth, relatable way that easily explains the gospel while simultaneously not holding back. She tells the truth. I like the set up of the book, each commandment (or word) is broken down to a segment, which makes it easy to start and stop this book, while letting the mean sink in. .

More than any contemporary Christian author I've read, Jen Wilkin has a gift for making her readers contemplate the Bible in theologically deep ways with practical implications. Much like in her previous works (None Like Him, and In His Image), this book takes a familiar concept and illuminates the text with connections and significance for our lives. In this book, the passage of choice is the Ten Commandments. While most Christians are familiar with this Old Testament passage, this book is full of insights for the ways we so often break these commandments without even realizing it. I came away from this book with a deeper understanding of this passage, and learned so much about the ways the text builds on itself. I am always impressed by Jen's clarity and intention in her writing as well.

Everything Jen Wilkin writes is gold, such sound, rich biblical teaching in an easy to understand manner with a bit of humor mixed in. I love all of Jen Wilkin's books, and this new one did not disappoint! She writes, "This is a book about the law of God in all its life-giving beauty." I am so grateful for her writing and teaching as she takes biblical literacy and depth and explains it in such a plain, transparent way. What an incredibly talented bible teacher, and I am so glad to know of her voice!

The heart of God's laws is seen in this book, especially how they are meant to bring us life. For such a difficult and misunderstood passage of scripture (because the law certainly does step on toes), I appreciate this so. I cannot say enough for how much aide and treasure this book really is. Each chapter was essentially a commentary on one of the ten laws, very educational and informative, yet it didn't read very heavy or like a textbook. Deep truths in a concise, illustrated, and conversational manner.

I'll end with the final words in her book: "Ten words to put to death our sin. Ten words to herald abundant life. Ten words to steady and strengthen us on the narrow path that leads us home."

Thank you to Crossway and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for a review!

*I'll come back to add more later!

Jen Wilkin is such a powerful teacher, and she stays true to form with her latest book. In Ten Words to Live By, she brings the Ten Commandments to life and explains why taking them strictly at face value doesn't necessarily mean we are doing it right.

This book is beautifully written. It is insightful, direct, and a must read for anyone hoping to dive deeper in their Bible study.

Christians, even the most devout, have an uneasy relationship with the Old Testament. We rhapsodize over the psalms and spin heroic tales from Israel’s hall of fame, but to be honest, we’re queasy over discussions of slavery, God-sanctioned Canaanite slaughter, the exclusion of women from worship spaces, and all manner of bizarre customs. We’re far more confident talking about Jesus and his gracious words from the Beatitudes–entirely forgetting that Jesus frequently referred to the Law, reminded his listeners that if they loved him they would keep his commandments, and even claimed to be, himself, the fulfillment of the Law.

Author and Bible teacher Jen Wilkin describes our estrangement from the Ten Commandments as “a PR problem.” In her latest book, Ten Words to Live By: Delighting in and Doing What God Commands, she admits that “we have trouble seeing any beauty in the Ten Words.” She counters the popular sentiment that “Christianity isn’t about rules, it’s about relationship” with the truth that “rules show us how to live in those relationships. Rather than threaten relationships, rules enable it.”

Moses handed down the inscribed tablets fresh off Mt. Sinai as a basis for the people’s moral law, and I read them with new eyes as Wilkin’s commentary pointed my heart back to God, the loving Law Giver. Has there ever been an era in which all of this is more needful?

Like Israel, we are a people steeped in paganism, so the Ten Commandments are more relevant today than ever. Examining what God forbids, we discover what God values. “The Ten Words show us how to live holy lives as citizens of heaven while we yet dwell on earth. For the believer, the law becomes a means of grace.”

Because Christ has met for us the requirements of the law and dwells in us by his Spirit, we are empowered to live in an expansive obedience, not committing murder, certainly, but also not falling into the sin of contempt for others; not being merely a “not-thief, [but becoming] a provider of abundance.” Our New Covenant lives are shaped by the Ten Words, carved on our hearts, holding us in right relationship with God and others, helping us to hunger for a holiness that keeps us longing for our true home.

Many thanks to Crossway and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.

Jen Wilkin is one of my favorite authors so I was so excited for this new book! Ten Words to Live By unpacks The Ten Commandments theologically and why they still matter now for how we live. It can be so tough to see how scripture applies to our present day but Jen so carefully walks the reader through this. I hope that others are encouraged by this book. It is short but packed with so much truth,

Jen Wilkin inspires again with her straightforward wisdom in this book. Walking through the Ten Commandments and laying out how to find life and abundance through God’s law, Jen encourages us all to seek deeper obedience to the Lord and to find ways to make our lives “on earth as it is in Heaven” through our pursuit of holiness and reflecting God’s character. I am endlessly thankful for her work that teaches, inspires, encourages, and equips. Recommend for all believers

As our world grows increasing relativistic each and every minute, amidst social mantras of ‘You do you,” Jen Wilkin provides a timely, theologically astute as well as intensely practical book exploring the Ten Words/God’s 10 commandments. I found myself highlighting numerous sections for further contemplation, I appreciated the authors boldness in challenging Christ followers while at the same time, confessing her own struggles in observing God’s directives, A book on this topic could so easily drift into legalism, but Wilkin’s book is blanketed with gospel grace. Highly recommend. This would be a great small group discussion book.

I read an advance copy which I received from NetGalley and the publisher but I was no compensated in any way or required to leave a positive review.

When you think about how God shows his love, giving us rules is probably not the first thing that pops in your mind. In this short and easy read, Jen Wilkin masterfully explains why love and rules go together perfectly.
We've all heard of the 10 Commandments, but how often do we misread and misunderstand them? I remember learning them as a child when we did a craft of writing them on two clay slabs in VBS. I've learned so much about them since then but they still felt like a list of rules to abide by rather than beautiful words to cherish. Once again, Jen helps us see the beauty of the Word and deepen in our love for the Lord by connecting the dots in our knowledge to our heart. Even though I've already done her Exodus study (also amazing!!) I still gleaned new and deeper understanding of how these words are to be read, obeyed, and appreciated as a beautiful gift from a God who cares for us. Each chapter has questions that can be used for personal reflection group discussion.

To deepen our understanding of what obedience to these commands looks like, she connects them with New Testament and shows how Jesus expounded them. My favorite part was her observation in the closing that each word was not just a command for us to obey but a prophecy about Christ. "YOU shall have no other Gods before me, YOU shall make no idols, YOU shall not take the name of the Lord in vain...." Jesus fulfilled these words perfectly in action, mind, and heart. In loving these words we continue to love the Word of God as we become more like Christ.

Blessed is the one who's delight is in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. (Psalm 1:2)

When I went back and counted, I realized I’d sent my brothers nine texts telling them I thought they should pre-order Jen Wilkin's latest, Ten Words To Live By. Normally, I’d just hand my brothers my book when we’re in the same city. Not this time. When it comes out, I want them to have their own copy to 1) read immediately, and 2) be able to pass onto their small groups, because Ten Words To Live By isn’t a book for women. It’s a book for the Church. And it's a GIFT.

“No more external obedience. Obedience that pleases God begins in the heart . . . The tablets given to Moses have long since crumbled to dust, but the beauty of their commands lives on from generation to generation in the hearts of God’s people . . . "

“Ten Words to put to death our sin. Ten Words to herald abundant life. Ten Words to steady and strengthen us on the narrow path that leads us home.”