The Ten Commandments in Calligraphy

I created this after a friend asked for the Ten Commandments for his wall. I was challenged to figure out a way to list them in a visually appealing way. Originally I had listed the commandments in neat blocks, one under the other, in two columns, but it wasn’t visually interesting. Then I had the idea of doing it this way.

I used gouache paint for the interior section (inside the lettered border) with a base of brown and occasionally adding red or black for variation. I used about 5-6 different Speedball broad nib sizes for all the lettering on 12 x 18″ watercolor paper. It was all lettered on paper first, then transferred to the watercolor paper by using a lightboard to trace.

The outside lettering was written with a brown Sigma Micron marker. It consists of three verses from the New Testament about how the commandments are to be used. I put them there because people have a tendency to think that if they follow a handful of these laws, then they’ll be good people. However, it reminds us from Roman 3:20, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” In other words, we don’t follow the law in order to be righteous, but to see in what way we are sinners. The Ten Commandments (fully listed in Exodus 20, from which this was taken in the King James Version), is like a policeman pulling us to the side of the road who points out that we went through the stop sign. We say that we didn’t know; but we SHOULD have known, for we are responsible as drivers to know these things, and must pay the fine. So it is with the law here; we must pay the fine of death for breaking even one of these laws.

The second verse is from Galatians 3:24, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” When we find ourselves breaking the law in our country, we have the option of falling on the mercy of the court. Here, with God’s laws broken, we have the same chance: we can fall on the mercy of God through Jesus, and God will forgive us and justify us, that is, declare us righteous in His site. This is the true purpose of the laws, to turn us to faith in Jesus for righteousness rather than look to our deeds.

The third verse is taken from a portion of 1 Timothy 1:9 (whatever would fit in the available remaining space). There, we learn that the Ten Commandments are great for sharing with people who are not walking in faith, but in sin. Thus, the artwork is a cool way to share the gospel in the home.