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The Commandments in General
- By Anne Van Tilburg
- Published 06/4/2008
- Commandments
- Unrated
We must both believe and shape our lives in accordance with our beliefs, that is, in conformity with the Commandments of God. When a young man asked Jesus Christ: "Good Master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?" Our Divine Lord answered him: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the Commandments." (Matt. 19:16-17). And St. James the Apostle tells us plainly: "Faith without works is dead." (James 2:26) The first three Commandments deal with God's Rights and our Duties to-wards Him. The last seven deal with our own and our neighbors Rights and our Duties towards ourselves and our neighbor - his person, his property and his character.
A Right is a claim which one person has upon another. A Duty is the obligation of that other to respect that Right, and to render what is due whether it be goods or services. There can be no Rights without corresponding Duties. All Rights come from God. To violate any Right is to offend against God, as well as to injure the holders of the Right.
Jesus Christ, when speaking to the rich young man, enumerates the Commandments thus: "Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother. And: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as they self." (Matt. 19:18-19). Jesus on another occasion, answering one of the Scribes, summed up all the Commandments in these two "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first Commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two Commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets." (Matt. 22:37-40).
From Christ's words it is evident that all the Commandments are based on love. God Himself is a boundless ocean of goodness and love. The love which God has for His own Infinite Goodness is called Holiness. He has created the material universe in such a way that it is pervaded by a marvelous order. Beauty and harmony are the result of the blind obedience of the universe to its natural laws. He has created man in such a way that by following certain laws called moral laws, he will produce within his own soul a reflex of the goodness and love of his Maker. This reflex of God's goodness and love in man is the holiness for which man was created. "Be ye holy." God says to us, "because I the Lord your God am holy." (Levit. 1:44). And Jesus Christ tells us: "Be ye therefore perfect as also your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matt. 5:48). In other words: Do God's will by obeying the moral laws He has implanted in your hearts and which are a reflex of His own essential Holiness.
A Right is a claim which one person has upon another. A Duty is the obligation of that other to respect that Right, and to render what is due whether it be goods or services. There can be no Rights without corresponding Duties. All Rights come from God. To violate any Right is to offend against God, as well as to injure the holders of the Right.
Jesus Christ, when speaking to the rich young man, enumerates the Commandments thus: "Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother. And: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as they self." (Matt. 19:18-19). Jesus on another occasion, answering one of the Scribes, summed up all the Commandments in these two "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first Commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two Commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets." (Matt. 22:37-40).
From Christ's words it is evident that all the Commandments are based on love. God Himself is a boundless ocean of goodness and love. The love which God has for His own Infinite Goodness is called Holiness. He has created the material universe in such a way that it is pervaded by a marvelous order. Beauty and harmony are the result of the blind obedience of the universe to its natural laws. He has created man in such a way that by following certain laws called moral laws, he will produce within his own soul a reflex of the goodness and love of his Maker. This reflex of God's goodness and love in man is the holiness for which man was created. "Be ye holy." God says to us, "because I the Lord your God am holy." (Levit. 1:44). And Jesus Christ tells us: "Be ye therefore perfect as also your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matt. 5:48). In other words: Do God's will by obeying the moral laws He has implanted in your hearts and which are a reflex of His own essential Holiness.