The context in which Abinadi places “the commandments” is helpful in gaining a proper understanding of them. It is common in our day to hear someone make an expression to the effect that if only people would live the Ten Commandments the great problems and difficulties that beset the world would disappear. Surely this would greatly improve the world in which we live, but it need be understood, as Abinadi is about to testify, that neither the law of Moses nor the Ten Commandments can of themselves bring salvation.
Salvation comes only in and through Christ (verses 27-28). It would be marvelous to live in a society in which there was no killing, adultery, stealing, lying, coveting, and so on. Yet if that were the extent of the gospel given us, though we would have temporal peace and tranquility, we would be without such things as the gift of the Holy Ghost, the priesthood, the promise of resurrection, and the hope of eternal life. The promises of the gospel reach far beyond israel’s covenant to keep the Ten Commandments.