The Ten Commandments and sin

I heard someone say recently that the 10 commandments are divided into two parts. The first half lists sins against God; the second half lists sins against your neighbor, thus corresponding to the two greatest commandments.

There is some helpfulness in dividing the commandments this way. But this isn’t quite an accurate picture of God and his relationship with man. David wrote Psalm 51 when the prophet Nathan confronted him about his adultery with Bathsheba.

In verse 4, David writes, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.” So, even with a sin that appears to man to be a sin against another man, it is a sin against God alone!

Maybe we should consider these two categories of the 10 commandments as direct sins against God, and indirect sins against God through others.