In our study, we are trying to understand the Ten Commandments and the ethical implications of the commandments, understanding that they represent categories for sins without God having to enumerate every little possible thing. The Ten Commandments are the summation of all the laws. 

Remember the context: Israel, 50 days free from Egyptian slavery, stands at Mount Sinai where God descends in smoke and fire.

At Mount Sinai, God is giving Israel His law. He is writing these Ten Commandments on stone tablets. Before God gave Israel the Law, Israel freely entered into a covenant relationship with God where they promised Him their love, devotion, and to keep all of His laws and statutes. 

This is an important point that I want you always to remember: God’s covenant precedes the law, the requirement to walk in obedience. This reveals that the law isn’t what gives us a relationship with God; God’s grace grants us a relationship with Him. Though the law is the standard by which all humanity is going to be judged, it is not what grants access to God.