THE 10 COMMANDMENTS

First Commandment: I am the Lord your God: you shall not have strange God’s before me.

Definition:
It means to only have one God, which is God. We still pray to God and not to the new thing. He is more
important than anyone or anything else. This First Commandment sets the tone for the first four
commandments, which can be summarized as, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). Jesus Christ called this summation the great
commandment (Matthew 22:37-38). It is a reminder to focus on the awesome power and majesty of our
Creator God. God’s power was on display when He thundered these commandments from Mount Sinai.
“Now all the people witnessed the thundering, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the
mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off” (Exodus 20:18). Respect
and awe of God’s power is not a bad thing. Moses told the people the result that our loving Creator wanted:
“And Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before
you, so that you may not sin’” (Exodus 20:20).
Example:
When I was a kid, I thought I was home safe on this commandment—I didn't sacrifice to a golden calf on
my household altar!

Second Commandment: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Definition:
The third commandment also prohibits false visions and false claims to speak on God’s behalf, for such
prophets “prophesy lies in my name” (Jer. 23:25). Strangely enough, sacrificing one’s children to the false
god Molech was considered a violation of the third commandment because it profaned the name of God
(Lev. 18:21). The Israelites were to stone the man who sacrificed his children in this way. Failure to do so
would allow for uncleanness to permeate the camp, thereby besmirching the name of the Lord, who dwelt
in the midst of his people. The third commandment also forbids empty or false oaths: “You shall not swear
by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:12; cf. Hos. 10:4a).
When you make a declaration, swearing by God’s name, it must not be a false promise or one you do not
intend to keep.
Example:
Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: `These people honor me with
their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Third Commandment: Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.

Definition:
God’s “rest” on the seventh day was his contemplative gaze enjoying the good of creation, especially its
crown in man and woman. It was not a matter of divine inactivity, but rather the deeper “work” of
contemplation and the restful act of loving us (cf. CCC, nos. 2184-2185). This is true also of ourselves. If
we never stop working, when would we ever have time to contemplate and worship God and nourish a love
relationship with him or with anyone else? Every human person, having been created by God, owes him
worship and thanksgiving for what the Lord has done and continues to do. The scriptural history of the
Sabbath demonstrates that it was a day of worship of God and relaxation with one’s family: “Then [on the
Sabbath] you shall delight in the Lord / and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth” (Is 58:14). At
their liturgies, the people of ancient Israel remembered the great works God performed on their behalf.
They looked back on their history and family roots in the light of God’s plans for them. They sang praises to
God for his love and mercy. They recalled, “Everything belongs to God!” The Christian Sunday carries
forward Sabbath themes of contemplative rest and worship. The Third Commandment calls us to keep holy
the Sabbath day. For Christians, the observance of the Sabbath is transferred to Sunday, the day that
Jesus rose from the dead. God, through the Church, obliges us to make Sunday holy by participation in the
Eucharist and by our being prayerfully reflective as far as possible. Sunday observance fulfills the interior
law inscribed in the human heart to render to God visible and public worship as a sign of radical
dependence upon God and as gratitude for all the blessings we have received.
Example:
He has invited us into relationship with Him. He has given us His name. We must not take this for granted.

Fourth Commandment: Honor your father and your mother.

Definition:
We should fear and love God, so that we do not despise our parents or superiors, nor provoke them to
anger, but honor, serve, obey, love and esteem them. Honor means to love and respect them. When you
honor your parents you love and obey them because they are wiser. God wanted homes to be happy so he
made this an important rule. It is required by God's commandment. (Exodus 20:12) Respect for parents
(filial piety) derives from gratitude toward those who, by the gift of life, their love and their work, have
brought their children into the world and enabled them to grow in stature, wisdom, and grace. According to
the teachings of the Catholic Church, the commandment to honor father and mother reveals God's desired
order of charity – first God, then parents, then others. Keeping the commandment to honor father and
mother brings both spiritual and temporal rewards of peace and prosperity, while failure to honor parents
harms the individual as well as society. The pervasive societal effect of obedience or disobedience to this
command is attributed to the status of the family as the fundamental building block of society.
Example:
Make a sincere comment or ask an honest question during family scripture study.

Fifth Commandment: You shall not kill.

Definition:
The fifth commandment forbids direct and intentional killing as gravely sinful. The murderer and those who
cooperate voluntarily in murder commit a sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance. ’’Human life is sacred’’
because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special
relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its
end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human
being… The deliberate murder of an innocent person is gravely contrary to the dignity of the human being,
to the golden rule, and to the holiness of the Creator. The law forbidding it is universally valid: it obliges
each and everyone, always and everywhere.
Example:
Catholic teaching strictly prohibits euthanasia and suicide as violations of the commandment.
Sixth Commandment: You shall not commit adultery.
Definition:
Adultery is the complete corruption of God’s good creation of marriage. Through the sin of adultery, Satan
tempts us to seek sexual fulfillment in avenues other than the one God has ordained—within the bounds of
monogamous, heterosexual marriage. Adultery rips at the fabric of society because it tears apart marriages
and families which are the building blocks of society. God’s law in general, and the 7th commandment in
particular, is held up as the standard for Christian behavior. Not to have intercourse with another man's
wife. There shall be no intercourse with a woman, without previous marriage with a deed of marriage and
formal declaration of marriage.
Example:
The unfaithfulness of a married person to the marriage bed; sexual intercourse by a married man with
another than his wife, or voluntary sexual intercourse by a married woman with another than her husband.
It is adultery on the part of the married wrongdoer.

Seventh Commandment: You shall not steal.

Definition:
The seventh commandment forbids unjustly taking or keeping the goods of one's neighbor and wronging
him in any way with respect to his goods. It commands justice and charity in the care of earthly goods and
the fruits of men's labor. For the sake of the common good, it requires respect for the universal destination
of goods and respect for the right to private property. This commandment is viewed to forbid the taking or
keeping of a neighbor’s goods and demanding respect for the right to private property. Stealing occurs in
many forms besides robbing someone. Any time we acquire something of value from its rightful owner
without consent, we are engaging in theft. Misappropriating resources or funds for personal use is stealing.
Using deception to make sales, gain market share, or raise prices is stealing because the deception means
that whatever the buyer consents to is not the actual situation.
Example:
Stealing Another Person's Reputation, Dignity, etc.

Eighth Commandment: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Definition:
You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.
You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many,
so as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit. The command against false
testimony is seen as a natural consequence of the command to “love your neighbor as yourself”. This moral
prescription flows from the command for holy people to bear witness to their deity. Offenses against the
truth express by word or deed a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness: they are fundamental
infidelities to God and, in this sense, they undermine the foundations of covenant with God.
Example:
Speaking falsely in any matter, lying, equivocating, and any way devising and designing to deceive our
neighbor.
Ninth Commandment: You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
Definition:
The commandment refers to desire to the point of seeking to take something that belongs to another
individual. It's to want what isn't ours. People steal because they covet something that doesn't belong to
them. It's to want what isn't ours. People steal because they covet something that doesn't belong to them.
Coveting leads to committing one of the aforementioned four acts: murder, adultery, theft and lying. this
Commandment is directly addressed men in reference to another’s married woman, the same
Commandment is equally applicable to women in reference to married men. This Commandment can be
seen as an extension of the sixth Commandment with a difference in emphasis. Whereas the sixth
Commandment emphasizes physical act, the ninth Commandment makes an emphasis on the deliberate
and conscious intention, thought and sight.
Example:
If you covet something, you eagerly desire something that someone else has.

Tenth Commandment: You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.

Definition:
Specifically, the Tenth Commandment forbids the capital sin of avarice, also known as greed or
covetousness. Avarice refers to an excessive desire, or inordinate love, for wealth, status and power. It is
characterized by a willingness to make the accumulation of these things the center of our lives, the purpose
for which we alone live. Now, we all desire pleasant things that we do not have – and these desires are
good in themselves. Further, there is nothing wrong with desiring to obtain things that belong to another, as
long as we obtain them by just means. The problem comes when our desires exceed the limits of reason
and “drive us to covet unjustly what is not ours and belongs to another or is owed to him [or her].” It is
precisely this problem that the Tenth Commandment hopes to help us avoid.
Example:
You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or
his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.