Bible, Moses, Exodus 20 ch.
Precepts, Ten Basic Laws of Christians
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; May you have no other gods before Me.
Do not make for yourself an idol or any image of what is in heaven above, and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth; do not worship them and do not serve them, for I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, punishing children for the guilt of their fathers up to the third and fourth generations that hate Me, and showing mercy to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Do not pronounce the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who pronounces His name in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; six days work and do [in them] all your works, and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: do not do any work in it, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your handmaid, your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor the stranger that is in your dwellings; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Honor your father and your mother, [that you may be well and] that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
Dont kill.
Don't commit adultery.
Don't steal.
Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Do not covet your neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, [nor his field,] nor his male servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, [nor any of his cattle,] anything that is with your neighbor.
Source: Bible, Moses, Exodus 20 ch.
photo liveinternet.ru
The Ten Commandments - the Decalogue or the Law of God - are prescriptions that, according to the biblical story, were given by God on Mount Sinai to Moses on the fiftieth day after the Exodus from Egypt.
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updated 12/12/2012
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Law of God is a guiding star for every Christian. This is the only way to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The modern world is very difficult for any person. Therefore, everyone should see the need for the 10 commandments of God and the 7 deadly sins. This applies not only to adults, but also to children. Therefore, many people turn to such authoritative guidance. The 10 commandments of God in Russian appeared relatively long ago.
Interpretation of the 10 Biblical Commandments
God created rules and laws. People should have an understanding of evil and good, of their own intentions and actions. Children cannot understand the commandments in an adult way, which means that they need to be explained in a simple way. Therefore, the commandments of God are presented here with understandable interpretations for children.
God is one
The Bible says, "I am the Lord thy God, and there are no other gods but Me." There is only one Creator, and there is no one else besides Him, and therefore one must believe with all one's soul and heart. This is tantamount to believing your parents - mom and dad. The creator who created the world does not forget about people and takes care of everyone. God must always be remembered and honored, and it is necessary to address him only through prayers.
God said so that people do not create any image for themselves, do not serve and worship him. If any idol appears, many forget about the commandments and about God himself. A bad child is one who is able to exchange his father and mother for a computer or dolls.
An example is Kai, who became addicted to evil, therefore, he lost love and goodness, because he chose the snow queen as an idol. The fairy-tale character had different toys, but he did not have happiness. Only after the arrival of Gerda in the ice castle, Kai's heart was filled with goodness and love, after which he came to life again. For Christians, God becomes above everything, and the next lower step is occupied by close people. Idols can be not only things, but also people, for example, celebrities. Therefore, you should not get carried away by popular people who will not do anything good for the soul.
Don't take the Lord's name in vain
The Lord's name should be treated with reverence and not pronounced unnecessarily. It is necessary to speak the name of God only with great reverence and attention. Every appeal to the Lord is done through prayer. One priest once said that it is like a telephone conversation: at one end of the tube they are talking, and at the other they are listening. Therefore, a Christian person should not cry out to God without reason. The Lord's name is kept in the heart with all frugality and in vain it is not worth letting it out from there. If during a conversation it was accidentally pronounced: “Lord”, then immediately in addition it is pronounced: “Glory to you” or “Have mercy on me”.
Six day work week
6 days you can do all things and work, but on the 7th day you can’t do this - this is God's day and is dedicated only to him. The seventh day is Sunday. On ordinary days, one must fulfill all the commandments and pray, but on Sunday, household chores stop and attention is devoted to the Heavenly Father. To fulfill the fourth commandment, you should go to church and take communion, as well as participate in worship.
Honor your parents
Christ said that the one who honors his parents will be blessed on earth. Children are obliged to help their parents, to obey them. When children are small, parents raise them and help them until they become adults. Adult children should not forget about the elderly mother and father.
Reverence is not limited to politeness, it is necessary to provide specific assistance. Parents will be already at the end of their lives, so adult children should provide all possible assistance, both materially and spiritually. Support means a lot, so you should obey your elders, respect mentors and teachers. To be worthy, you need to treat people well.
Don't kill
The deprivation of human life by another person is truly the most terrible event. God gave life is a priceless gift. No one has the right to take away such a gift from a person. If we take various wars as an example, then killing aggressors is also considered a sin, but to a small extent. This sin is justified, but refusing to come to the defense is truly a betrayal, and such a decision is ranked among the terrible sins. You always need to protect loved ones from invaders.
Adults and teenagers must understand that it is possible to commit murder without a weapon in hand. It is enough to take a sneaky step with the help of a word or deed. Although the one who plotted the terrible intention did not participate in direct contact, but he is the killer who started such an intention. It is unacceptable to mock the smaller brothers: domestic animals, birds, beasts and insects - all those who have life. God created man to take care of them.
Don't commit adultery
Love cannot be crossed. It is also forbidden to betray. This law of fidelity is about those who are loved by a person and love him. To preserve the family, it is important to keep the commandment of faithfulness. It is forbidden for a husband to look at other women - this is adultery. Even thoughts about others grow into lust, which in turn is a sin.
Faithful to each other, the husband and wife will remain together forever and live a long and happy life. Any factor of betrayal is treason. It is hard to live with such a feeling of guilt, besides, a person will bring a terrible sin onto his soul.
Do not steal
The next bad thing is stealing, which means to take someone else's things without return. Most people are inclined to believe that if any item was found on the street, then the act is not considered theft.
For example, a person was walking down the road from work and found an expensive phone. There are two options: take it with you, no matter how much it costs, or find the owner of the device. In the second case, the deed will become noble. You can't steal or take someone else's. In this way, God tests the faithfulness of a person, so you should not be tempted and take sin on your soul.
Don't bear false witness
Sometimes people deliberately use lies to hide the truth and overcome some unpleasant situations in life. They think it will help them. It is important to understand: no matter what the deception is, it will always be revealed, even later, but this cannot be avoided. It is a sin if one person invents evil against another. Many engage in slander to defame innocent people.
Don't want anything from someone else
Envy knows no bounds, it destroys joy. Therefore, you cannot be jealous. Usually this happens due to the fact that someone lives better than the other. There is a saying: "The miser pays twice." There are moments in life where a greedy and envious person cunningly buys some product, but after a while, albeit a long time, that person will also be outwitted. You can’t do this, you need to rejoice at positive situations when something good happens to friends or relatives. For such an event, one must thank God, and not grind one's teeth and envy. In Christianity, they do not envy "white envy", they can only rejoice. Such a virtue is much better than envy and greed.
Seven deadly sins
In this regard, there is a widespread opinion that "seven terrible sins" is an equal number of committed actions. This is not true. The list of small sinful acts can be very long, for example:
It's just that the number 7 consists of main groups and has many subgroups of bad deeds. Saint Gregory the Great was the first to propose the idea of such a classification. It happened in 590. But in the church there was a slightly different classification, and there were eight sins.
Deadly sins in Orthodoxy, a list of the main addictions:
- pride. A slight contempt for a person breeds pride. If a proud person feels contempt for others because they are low in origin, poor and ignorant, then he independently attributes himself to the wisest people. After all, he is rich, strong, noble and prudent. He resists, mocks the preferences of others. But he can be healed if he turns to God. After all, it was said that the Lord gives grace to the humble, but opposes the proud;
envy. The well-being of a neighbor always upsets an envious person. So human soul becomes evil. The vice of an envious person manifests itself in this way: to see a happy man unhappy, a rich man poor, a healthy man poor. The happiness of the envious appears when the happy life of another person is overtaken by disaster. Such a vice that has penetrated the heart forms a launching pad for all other sins, not counting the many upcoming small and big dirty tricks. As a result, a terrible sin can happen - murder, due to the fact that someone lives better and has his own good business. Perhaps the envious person is not capable of committing a crime, but this will always make him feel bad. Vice will begin to intensify and devour the soul. A person will needlessly reduce himself to the grave, but the afterlife will not save him either. There he will continue to suffer;- gluttony. There are three kinds of gluttony: eating at different times is the first kind; the second is oversaturation, and the third is the use of exclusively tasty dishes. A true Christian must be careful: meals are taken at a strictly defined time, one must not oversaturate, one must thank God, even for the most meager food. In gluttony, the stomach is in its own slavery. This is not only excessive gluttony at the dinner table, but also insane culinary choosiness with a preference for gourmet dishes. If you look at it from a cultural point of view, then there is a huge gulf between a gourmet and rampant gluttony. Nevertheless, they are doomed to food slavery. For such a category, food is not the usual source of energy, but becomes the main goal in life;
fornication. A person is not omnipotent and succumbs to various temptations, but one cannot stop fighting and repenting of sins. Only in this way is the path to holiness paved. At every step in the modern metropolis there is a mass of various images. These perversions are shown on TV, and the Internet is full of all sorts of bad things. Often a young person covers his good desires with poisonous images and is unable to think about anything else. He begins to take possession of the demon of passion. Passing next to women, a young man perceives them as females. The intoxicated brain is filled with lustful thoughts, and the heart yearns for the satisfaction of dirty thoughts. Such debauchery is not inherent even in animals, but a person is able to sink even to such a level. Fornication is considered not only extramarital sex life and betrayal, but also such thoughts;- anger. In a fit of anger, a person entails great danger. He swears at himself, yells at others, comes into a feverish state of anger. Such a person is like a demon. But for the human soul, anger is considered a natural property. The Lord God specially put such a quality into a person, but in order to resist and be angry at sin, and not at people. Over time, righteous anger perverted and began to be directed at his neighbor. Little things cause fights, swearing, screaming and murder. This is a harmful sin;
greed. Many say that only the wealthy who seek to increase their wealth can be greedy. But such a sin applies to everyone: both the rich and the poor. Passion consists in painful attempts to possess things and increase material wealth;- laziness. It is expressed by extreme pessimism and general bodily and spiritual relaxation. A strong-willed person purposefully goes to the goal with jealousy in his heart, which moves him forward. And despondency manifests itself in an unattainable goal. A person sets himself a too difficult task, therefore, jealousy does not move the will, which in turn results in laziness. A person is upset that he cannot achieve what he wants, and gives up, discouraged for days on end. This happens when a person departs from the Creator and directs all his thoughts to earthly affairs, and not to heavenly ones.
Ten Curious Facts About the Bible
The most legendary book is the Holy Scripture. It was written in ancient times several thousand years ago. It is one of the most famous and bought on the whole planet.
Interesting Facts:
The "Declaration" or "Ten Commandments", which were written on Mount Sinai on two stone tablets, have come down to us unchanged. According to their content, they consist of two parts, of which the first part (commandments 1-4) concerns the relationship of people to God, the second part (5-10) - the relationship of people with each other.
Both parts reflect the moral essence and love for God.
And so, the relationship of man to God 1-4 commandment.
(1st commandment)- I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
from the house of bondage; Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
The 1st Commandment affirms faith in God. God brought Israel out with the greatest miracles: He parted the Red Sea (Red Sea) and brought them out, working signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.
King Solomon erected pillars near the shores of the Red Sea in honor of the passage of the Jews through the sea, one pillar is in the museum and the second still stands near the Red Sea.
God does not claim primacy among certain gods. He does not want to be given more attention than any other gods. He says to worship Him alone, because other gods simply do not exist.
The Israelites were God's chosen people, but God specifies that people who accept Jesus Christ become God's children.
For you are all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus;
All of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is no longer a Jew, nor a Gentile; there is no slave nor free; there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
But if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
(Gal. 3:11-29)
Let not the son of a foreigner say, (* foreigner - A person belonging to another tribe, to a foreign nationality *) joining the Lord: "The Lord completely separated me from His people", Isaiah, chapter 56; 1-8
The 2nd Commandment forbids belief in other gods.
(2nd commandment)- Do not make for yourself an idol and no image of what is in the sky above, and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth; do not worship them and do not serve them, for I am the Lord your God, a jealous God who punishes children for the guilt of their fathers to the third and fourth [kind] who hate Me,
and showing mercy to thousands of generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
The God of eternity cannot be limited to wood, stone, or drawn on paper. Trying to do this humiliates Him.
When God said "Do not make yourself any image" he meant one danger, unfortunately Satan can safely use any image and no matter what is drawn on it.
I have personally studied such cases and I can say with caution, do not have any saints in the image, they can indeed be inhabited by unclean forces. As an example, I can name a story from the United States that shocked me. He is also familiar with numerous stories from Russia and Europe.
The 3rd Commandment forbids pronouncing the name of God in vain.
(3rd commandment)- Do not pronounce the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who pronounces His name in vain.
This commandment not only forbids false oaths and those ordinary words that people swear by, but it also forbids casually or carelessly pronouncing the name of the Lord without thinking about His holy meaning. We also dishonor God when we thoughtlessly mention His name in conversation, or repeat it in vain. “Holy and terrible is His name!” (Psalm 110:9).
Disregard for the name of God can be shown not only in words, but also in deeds. Anyone who calls himself a Christian and does not act as Jesus Christ taught will dishonor the name of God.
The 4th Commandment affirms obedience to God.
(4th commandment)- Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy;
work for six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God:
We must remember it and keep it in memory of the deeds of the Creator.
There was also the problem of being very careful not to mention that the First Church naturally kept the Sabbath. Usually the church explains that it was Jesus who canceled the Fourth Commandment (only the First Church did not yet know about this), and they immediately become guilty of violating another Commandment. This is the reason for the abolition of the Commandment - the most common reluctance to have anything to do with either the Jews or Jewish customs. But Jesus, His mother, all the Apostles were Jews.
(5 - 10) - the relationship of people with each other
5th commandment:“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).
The fifth commandment requires from children not only respect, humility and obedience towards parents, but also love, tenderness, care for parents, saving their reputation; demands that children be their help and comfort in their advanced years.
6th commandment: "Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 20:13).
God is the source of life. He alone can give life. She is a holy gift from God. A person has no right to take it away, i.e. kill. The Creator has a certain plan for each person, but to take the life of a neighbor means to interfere with God's plan. To take the life of oneself or another is to try to take the place of God.
In all actions that shorten life - the spirit of hatred, revenge, evil feelings - are also murder. Such a spirit, no doubt, cannot bring happiness to a person, freedom from evil, freedom to good. The observance of this commandment implies a reasonable reverence for the laws of life and health. The one who shortens his days by leading an unhealthy lifestyle, of course, does not commit direct suicide, but does it imperceptibly, gradually.
The life that was bestowed by the Creator is a great blessing, and it cannot be thoughtlessly squandered and reduced. God wants people to live full, happy, and long lives.
7th commandment: "Do not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14).
Marriage is the original establishment of the Creator of the Universe. In establishing it, He had a specific goal - to preserve the purity and happiness of the people, to elevate the physical, mental and moral strength of a person. Happiness in relationships can be achieved only when the attention is focused on cash, to which you give all of yourself, your trust and devotion throughout your life.
By forbidding adultery, God hopes that we will not seek anything other than the fullness of love, securely protected by marriage.
8th commandment: "Do not steal" (Exodus 20:15).
This prohibition includes both overt and covert sins. The eighth commandment condemns kidnapping, the slave trade, and wars of conquest. She condemns theft and robbery. It requires strict honesty in the most insignificant worldly affairs. It forbids fraud in trade, and requires a fair settlement of debts or in the issuance of wages. This commandment says that any attempt to take advantage of someone's ignorance, weakness, or misfortune is recorded in the heavenly books as a deceit.
9th commandment: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor" (Exodus 20:16).
Any deliberate exaggeration, allusion or slander, calculated to produce a false or imaginary impression, or even a description of misleading facts, is a lie. This principle forbids any attempt to defame a person's reputation by unfounded suspicion, slander, or gossip. Even the deliberate suppression of the truth, which may harm others, is a violation of the ninth commandment.
10th commandment: “Do not covet your neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife...anything that thy neighbor has" (Exodus 20:17).
The desire to appropriate the property of a neighbor means to take the first most terrible step towards a crime. An envious person can never find satisfaction, because someone will always have something that he does not have. Man becomes a slave to his desires. We use people and love things instead of loving people and using things.
In this article, we have listed the ten commandments of Christianity. We have also prepared for you an interpretation of the laws of God.
Ten Commandments of Christianity
Here are the Commandments that the Lord God of Hosts gave to the people through His chosen one and the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:2-17):
- Dont kill.
- Don't commit adultery.
- Don't steal.
Truly, this law is short, but these commandments say a lot to anyone who knows how to think and who seeks the salvation of his soul.
Anyone who does not understand with his heart this main God's law will not be able to accept either Christ or His teachings. Whoever does not learn to swim in shallow water will not be able to swim in depth, for he will drown. And whoever does not learn to walk first will not be able to run, for he will fall and be broken. And whoever does not first learn to count to ten will never be able to count thousands. And whoever does not first learn to read in syllables will never be able to read fluently and speak eloquently. And whoever does not first lay the foundation of the house will try in vain to build a roof.
I repeat: whoever does not keep the commandments of the Lord given to Moses will knock in vain at the doors of the Kingdom of Christ.
FIRST COMMANDMENT
I am the Lord your God... Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
This means:
God is One, and there are no other gods besides Him. From Him all creatures come, thanks to Him they live and return to Him. All strength and power resides in God, and there is no strength outside of God. And the power of light, and the power of water, and air, and stone is the power of God. If an ant crawls, a fish swims and a bird flies, then this is thanks to God. The ability of a seed to grow, grass to breathe, a person to live, are the essence of God's abilities. All these abilities are the property of God, and every creature receives its ability to exist from God. The Lord gives to everyone as He sees fit, and takes back when He sees fit. Therefore, when you want to gain the ability to do something, seek only in God, for the Lord God is the source of life-giving and mighty power. There are no other sources besides Him. Pray to the Lord like this:
“God, Merciful, inexhaustible, the only source of strength, strengthen me, the weak, give me greater strength so that I can better serve You. God, give me wisdom so that I do not use the power received from You for evil, but only for the benefit of myself and my neighbors, to magnify Your glory. Amen".
THE SECOND COMMANDMENT
Do not make for yourself an idol or any image of what is in heaven above, and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth.
It means:
Do not deify creation instead of the Creator. If you climbed a high mountain where you met the Lord God, why should you look back at the reflection in a puddle under the mountain? If a certain person longed to see the king and after much effort managed to stand before him, why would he then look around to the right and left at the king's servants? He can look around for two reasons: either because he does not dare to stand face to face before the king, or because he thinks that the king alone cannot help him.
THIRD COMMANDMENT
Do not pronounce the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who pronounces His name in vain.
What, are there really such people who decide to commemorate, without reason and need, the name that leads to trepidation - the name of the Lord God Most High? When the name of God is pronounced in heaven, the heavens bow, the stars flash brighter, the Archangels and Angels sing: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts,” and the saints and saints of God fall on their faces. Then who among mortals dares to commemorate the Most Holy Name of God without spiritual trembling and without deep sighing from longing for God?
THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT
Work six days, and do all your work; and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.
This means:
The Creator created for six days, and on the seventh day He rested from His labors. Six days are temporary, vain and short-lived, and the seventh is eternal, peaceful and durable. By the creation of the world, the Lord God entered into time, but did not leave eternity. This mystery is great...(Eph. 5:32), and it is more fitting to think about it than to talk about it, for it is not available to everyone, but only to God's chosen ones.
FIFTH COMMANDMENT
Honor your father and your mother, that your days on earth may be long.
This means:
Before you knew the Lord God, your parents knew Him. This alone is enough for you to bow to them with respect and give them praise. Bow down and give praise to everyone who has known the Highest Good in this world before you.
THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT
Dont kill.
This means:
God breathed life from His life into every created being. Life is the most precious wealth given by God. Therefore, whoever encroaches on any life on earth raises his hand on the most precious gift of God, moreover, on the very life of God. All of us living today are only temporary bearers of God's life in ourselves, custodians of the most precious gift that belongs to God. Therefore, we do not have the right, and we cannot take away the life borrowed from God, either from ourselves or from others.
SEVENTH COMMANDMENT
Don't commit adultery.
And this means:
Do not have an illegal relationship with a woman. Indeed, in this, animals are more obedient to God than many people.
THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT
Don't steal.
And this means:
Do not grieve your neighbor by disrespecting his property rights. Don't do what foxes and mice do if you think you're better than a fox and a mouse. The fox steals without knowing the law on theft; and the mouse gnaws at the barn, not realizing that it is harming someone. Both the fox and the mouse understand only their own need, but not someone else's loss. They are not given to understand, but you are given. Therefore, you are not forgiven what is forgiven for a fox and a mouse. Your benefit must always be subordinate to the law, it must not be to the detriment of your neighbor.
NINTH COMMANDMENT
Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
A this means:
Do not be deceitful either towards yourself or towards others. If you lie about yourself, you yourself know that you are lying. But if you slander someone else, that other person knows that you are slandering about him.
THE TENTH COMMANDMENT
Do not covet your neighbor's house; do not covet your neighbor's wife; neither his servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is with your neighbor.
And this means:
As soon as you desired someone else's, you have already fallen into sin. Now the question is, will you come to your senses, will you catch yourself, or will you continue to roll down the inclined plane, where the desire of someone else leads you?
Desire is the seed of sin. A sinful act is already a harvest from the seed sown and grown.
People who are far from the Church, who have no experience of spiritual life, often see only prohibitions and restrictions in Christianity. This is a very primitive view.
In Orthodoxy, everything is harmonious and natural. In the spiritual world, as well as in the physical world, there are laws that, like the laws of nature, cannot be violated, this will lead to great damage and even catastrophe. Both physical and spiritual laws are given by God Himself. We are constantly confronted in our daily lives with warnings, restrictions and prohibitions, and no sane person would say that all these prescriptions are unnecessary and unreasonable. The laws of physics contain many dire warnings, as do the laws of chemistry. There is a well-known school saying: “First water, then acid, otherwise big trouble will happen!” We go to work - there are their own safety rules, they must be known and observed. We go out into the street, get behind the wheel - we must follow the rules of the road, in which there are a lot of prohibitions. And so everywhere, in any area of life.
Freedom is not permissiveness, but the right to choose: a person can make the wrong choice and suffer very much. The Lord gives us great freedom, but at the same time warns of dangers on the path of life. As the apostle Paul says: Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is useful(1 Cor 10:23). If a person ignores spiritual laws, lives as he wants, disregarding either moral standards or the people around him, he loses his freedom, damages his soul and causes great harm to himself and others. Sin is a violation of very subtle and strict laws of spiritual nature; it harms first of all the sinner himself.
God wants people to be happy, love Him, love each other and not harm themselves and others, therefore He gave us commandments. They express spiritual laws, they teach how to live and build relationships with God and people. Just as parents warn their children about danger and teach them about life, so our Heavenly Father gives us the necessary instructions. The commandments were given to people in the Old Testament, we talked about this in the section on the Old Testament biblical history. New Testament people, Christians, are required to keep the ten commandments. Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill(Matthew 5:17), says the Lord Jesus Christ.
The main law of the spiritual world is the law of love for God and people.
All ten commandments speak of this. They were given to Moses in the form of two stone slabs - tablets, on one of which the first four commandments were written, speaking of love for the Lord, and on the second - the remaining six. They talk about respect for others. When our Lord Jesus Christ was asked: What is the greatest commandment in the law?- He replied: Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; the second is like it: love thy neighbor as thyself; on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets(Mt 22:36-40).
What does it mean? That if a person has really achieved true love for God and neighbor, he cannot break any of the ten commandments, because they all talk about love for God and people. And to this perfect love we must strive.
Consider ten commandments of the law of God:
- I am the Lord your God; Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
- You shall not make for yourself an idol or any image of what is in heaven above, and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth; do not worship them and do not serve them.
- Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; Six days you work and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.
- Honor your father and your mother, that your days on earth may be long.
- Dont kill.
- Don't commit adultery.
- Don't steal.
- Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- Do not covet your neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
First Commandment
I am the Lord your God; Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
The Lord is the Creator of the universe and the spiritual world. He is the Origin of all that exists. Our whole beautiful, harmonious and very complex world could not have arisen by itself. Behind all this beauty and harmony is the Creative Mind. To believe that everything that exists came into being on its own, without God, is nothing but madness. The fool said in his heart: "There is no God"(Ps 13:1), says the prophet David. God is not only the Creator, but also our Father. He cares, provides for people and everything He created, without His care the world could not exist.
God is the Source of all blessings, and a person should strive for Him, for only in God does he receive life. We need to conform all our actions and actions to the will of God: whether they are pleasing to God or not. So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). The main means of communion with God are prayer and the Holy Mysteries, in which we receive the grace of God, Divine energy.
Let us repeat: God wants people to glorify Him correctly, that is, Orthodoxy.
For us, there can be only one God, glorified in the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and we, Orthodox Christians, cannot have other gods.
The sins against the first commandment are:
- atheism (negation of God);
- lack of faith, doubt, superstition, when people confuse faith with unbelief or all sorts of signs and other remnants of paganism; those who say: “I have God in my soul” also sin against the first commandment, but at the same time they do not go to church and do not approach the Sacraments or rarely approach;
- paganism (polytheism), belief in false gods, satanism, occultism and esotericism; this includes magic, witchcraft, healing, extrasensory perception, astrology, divination and turning to people involved in all this for help;
- false opinions that contradict the Orthodox faith, and falling away from the Church into schism, false teachings and sects;
- renunciation of faith, hope in one's own strength and in people more than in God; this sin is also associated with lack of faith.
Second Commandment
You shall not make for yourself an idol or any image of what is in heaven above, and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth; do not worship them and do not serve them.
The second commandment forbids worshiping the creature instead of the Creator. We know what paganism and idolatry are. Here is what the apostle Paul writes about the Gentiles: calling themselves wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image like corruptible man, and birds, and quadrupeds, and reptiles ... They replaced the truth of God with a lie ... and served the creature instead of the Creator(Rom 1:22-23, 25). The Old Testament people of Israel, to whom these commandments were originally given, were the guardians of faith in the True God. He was surrounded on all sides by pagan peoples and tribes, and in order to warn the Jews not to adopt pagan customs and beliefs in any case, the Lord establishes this commandment. Now there are few pagans, idolaters among us, although there is polytheism, worship of idols and idols, for example, in India, Africa, South America, and some other countries. Even here, in Russia, where Christianity has been around for over a thousand years, some people are trying to revive paganism.
Sometimes one can hear an accusation against the Orthodox: they say that icon veneration is idolatry. The veneration of holy icons cannot in any way be called idolatry. Firstly, we offer prayers of worship not to the icon itself, but to the Person Who is depicted on the icon, to God. Looking at the image, we ascend with the mind to the Prototype. Also, through the icon, we ascend in mind and heart to the Mother of God and the saints.
Sacred images were made in the Old Testament at the command of God Himself. The Lord commanded Moses to place in the first movable Old Testament temple (tabernacle) the golden images of the Cherubim. Already in the first centuries of Christianity in the Roman catacombs (gathering places of the first Christians) there were wall images of Christ in the form of the good Shepherd, the Mother of God with raised hands and other sacred images. All these frescoes were found during excavations.
Although there are few direct idolaters left in the modern world, many people create idols for themselves, worship them and make sacrifices. For many, their passions and vices have become such idols, requiring constant sacrifices. Some people fell into their captivity and can no longer do without them, they serve them as their masters, for: who is defeated by whom, that is the slave(2 Peter 2:19). Let us recall these idols of passion: gluttony, fornication, love of money, anger, sadness, despondency, vanity, pride. The Apostle Paul compares serving the passions with idolatry: covetousness...is idolatry(Col 3:5). Indulging in passion, a person stops thinking about God and serving Him. He forgets about the love of neighbors.
The sins against the second commandment also include a passionate attachment to some business, when this hobby becomes a passion. Idolatry is also the worship of a person. Many people in modern society treat popular artists, singers, athletes as idols, idols.
Third Commandment
Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
To pronounce the name of God in vain means - in vain, that is, not in prayer, not in spiritual conversations, but during idle conversations or out of habit. An even greater sin is to pronounce the name of God in jest. And it is an absolutely grave sin to pronounce the name of God with the desire to blaspheme God. Also a sin against the third commandment is blasphemy, when holy objects become the subject of ridicule and reproach. Failure to fulfill the vows made to God, and frivolous oaths with the invocation of the name of God are also a violation of this commandment.
The name of God is sacred. He must be treated with reverence.
Saint Nicholas of Serbia. Parable
One goldsmith was sitting in his shop at a workbench and, while working, constantly remembered the name of God in vain: either as an oath, or as a favorite word. A certain pilgrim returning from holy places, passing by a shop, heard this, and his soul was indignant. Then he called out to the jeweler to come out into the street. And when the master left, the pilgrim hid. The jeweler, seeing no one, returned to the shop and continued to work. The pilgrim called out to him again, and when the jeweler left, he pretended not to know anything. The master, angry, returned to his room and began to work again. The pilgrim called out to him for the third time, and when the master came out again, he again stood in silence, pretending that he had nothing to do with it. The jeweler in a rage attacked the pilgrim:
“Why are you calling me in vain? What a joke! I have work up to my throat!
The pilgrim replied peacefully:
- Truly, the Lord God has even more work to do, but you call on Him much more often than I do you. Who has the right to be more angry: you or the Lord God?
The jeweler, ashamed, returned to the workshop and has kept his mouth shut ever since.
Fourth Commandment
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; Work six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.
The Lord created this world in six days and, having completed the creation, blessed the seventh day as a day of rest: sanctified it; for in him he rested from all his works, which God created and created(Gen 2, 3).
In the Old Testament, Sabbath was the day of rest. In New Testament times, Sunday became a holy day of rest, when the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ is remembered. It is this day that is the seventh and most important for Christians. Sunday is also called Little Easter. The custom of honoring Sunday comes from the time of the holy apostles. On Sunday, Christians must attend the Divine Liturgy. On this day it is very good to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Sunday we dedicate to prayer, spiritual reading, pious activities. On Sunday, as a day free from ordinary work, you can help your neighbors or visit the sick, help the weak, the elderly. It is customary on this day to thank God for the past week and prayerfully ask for blessings on the work of the coming week.
You can often hear from people who are far from the Church or who have few churches that they do not have time for home prayer and church visits. Yes, a modern person is sometimes very busy, but even busy people have a lot of free time to often and for a long time talk on the phone with friends and relatives, read newspapers, sit at the TV and computer for hours. Spending evenings like this, they do not want to devote even a very small time to the evening prayer rule and to read the Gospel.
People who honor Sundays and church holidays, pray in the temple, regularly read morning and evening prayers, as a rule, manage to do much more than those who spend this time in idleness. The Lord blesses their labors, multiplies their strength and gives them His help.
Fifth Commandment
Honor your father and your mother, that your days on earth may be long.
Those who love and honor their parents are promised not only a reward in the Kingdom of Heaven, but even blessing, prosperity and long life in earthly life. Honoring parents means respecting them, showing obedience to them, helping them, taking care of them in their old age, praying for their health and salvation, and after their death, for the repose of their souls.
People often ask: how can you love and honor parents who do not take care of their children, neglect their duties, or fall into serious sins? We do not choose our parents, the fact that we have them like this, and not some others, is the will of God. Why did God give us such parents? In order for us to show the best Christian qualities: patience, love, humility, the ability to forgive.
Through our parents, God gave us life. Thus, no care for parents can compare with what we received from them. Here is what St. John Chrysostom writes about this: “As they gave birth to you, you cannot give birth to them. Therefore, if in this we are inferior to them, then we will surpass them in another respect through respect for them, not only according to the law of nature, but also primarily before nature, according to the feeling of the fear of God. The will of God resolutely requires that parents be honored by their children, and rewards those who do this with great blessings and gifts, and punishes those who violate this law with great and grave misfortunes. By honoring our father and mother, we learn to honor God Himself, our Heavenly Father. Parents can be called co-workers with the Lord. They gave us a body, and God gave us an immortal soul.
If a person does not honor his parents, he can very easily come to disrespect and deny God. At first he does not respect his parents, then he ceases to love the Motherland, then he denies the Mother Church and gradually comes to the denial of God. All this is interconnected. It is not for nothing that when they want to shake the state, destroy its foundations from within, they first of all take up arms against the Church—faith in God—and the family. Family, respect for elders, customs and traditions (translated from Latin - broadcast) hold society together, make the people strong.
sixth commandment
Dont kill.
Murder, taking another person's life, and suicide are among the gravest sins.
Suicide is a terrible spiritual crime. This is rebellion against God, who has given us the precious gift of life. Committing suicide, a person passes away in a terrible stupefaction of the spirit, mind, in a state of despair and despondency. He can no longer repent of this sin; there is no repentance beyond the grave.
A person who negligently takes the life of another is also guilty of murder, but his guilt is less than that of the one who consciously encroaches on the life of another. Also guilty of the murder is the one who contributed to this: for example, the husband who did not dissuade his wife from having an abortion, or even himself contributed to this.
People who shorten their lives by bad habits, vices and sins and harm their health also sin against the sixth commandment.
Any harm done to a neighbor is also a violation of this commandment. Hatred, malice, beatings, bullying, insults, curses, anger, malevolence, rancor, malevolence, unforgiveness of insults - all these are sins against the commandment "Thou shalt not kill", because everyone who hates his brother is a murderer(1 Jn 3:15), says the word of God.
In addition to bodily murder, there is no less terrible murder - spiritual, when someone seduces, seduces a neighbor into unbelief or pushes him to commit a sin and thereby destroys his soul.
St. Philaret of Moscow writes that “not every taking of life is a lawful murder. It is not unlawful to kill when a life is taken away by office, such as: when a criminal is punished by death by justice; when they kill the enemy in the war for the Fatherland.
seventh commandment
Don't commit adultery.
This commandment forbids sins against the family, adultery, all carnal relations between a man and a woman outside of legal marriage, carnal perversions, as well as impure desires and thoughts.
The Lord established the marriage union and blessed the carnal fellowship in it, which serves procreation. Husband and wife are no longer two, but one flesh(Gen 2:24). The presence of marriage is another (albeit not the most important) difference between us and animals. Animals don't get married. People have marriage, mutual responsibility, obligations to each other and to children.
What is blessed in marriage is a sin outside of marriage, a violation of the commandment. The marriage union unites a man and a woman in one flesh for mutual love, the birth and upbringing of children. Any attempt to steal the joys of marriage without mutual trust and the responsibility that a marriage union implies is a serious sin, which, according to the testimony of Holy Scripture, deprives a person of the Kingdom of God (see: 1 Cor 6, 9).
An even greater sin is the violation marital fidelity or the destruction of someone else's marriage. Cheating destroys not only marriage, but also defiles the soul of the one who cheats. You can't build happiness on someone else's grief. There is a law of spiritual balance: having sowed evil, sin, we will reap evil, our sin will return to us. Shameless talk and not keeping one's feelings are also a violation of the seventh commandment.
eighth commandment
Don't steal.
It is a violation of this commandment to appropriate someone else's property, both public and private. The types of theft can be varied: robbery, theft, fraud in commercial matters, bribery, bribery, tax evasion, parasitism, sacrilege (that is, the appropriation of church property), all kinds of scams, machinations and fraud. In addition, any dishonesty can be attributed to sins against the eighth commandment: lies, deceit, hypocrisy, flattery, sycophancy, human pleasing, since by this people try to gain something (for example, the favor of their neighbor) dishonestly.
“You can’t build a house with stolen goods,” says a Russian proverb. And again: "No matter how the rope winds, there will be an end." Cashing in on the appropriation of someone else's property, a person will sooner or later pay for it. A sin committed, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is sure to return. A man familiar to the authors of this book in the yard accidentally hit and scratched the fender of a neighbor's car. But he didn't say anything to him and didn't make amends. Some time later, in a completely different place, far from his home, his own car was also scratched and fled the scene. The blow was inflicted on the same wing, which he spoiled to a neighbor.
The love of money leads to the violation of the commandment “Thou shalt not steal”. It was she who led Judas to betrayal. Evangelist John directly calls him a thief (see John 12:6).
The passion of covetousness is overcome by cultivating non-covetousness in oneself, mercy to the poor, diligence, honesty and growth in spiritual life, because attachment to money and other material values always comes from lack of spirituality.
ninth commandment
Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
With this commandment, the Lord forbids not only direct perjury against one's neighbor, for example, in court, but also any lie spoken against other people, such as: slander, false denunciations. The sin of idle talk, so common and everyday for modern man, is also very often associated with sins against the ninth commandment. In idle talk, gossip, gossip, and sometimes slander and slander are constantly born. During an idle conversation, it is very easy to say too much, to divulge other people's secrets and secrets entrusted to you, to put your neighbor in a difficult position. “My tongue is my enemy,” people say, and indeed our language can be of great benefit to us and our neighbors, or it can do much harm. The apostle James says that with our tongue we sometimes we bless God and the Father, and with it we curse men who are made in the likeness of God(James 3:9). We sin against the ninth commandment not only when we slander our neighbor, but also when we agree with what others have said, thereby participating in the sin of condemnation.
Judge not lest ye be judged(Mt 7:1), the Savior warns. To condemn means to judge, to boldly admire the right that belongs only to God. Only the Lord, who knows the past, present and future of man, can judge His creation.
The story of the Monk John of Savva
Once a monk from a neighboring monastery came to me, and I asked him how the fathers live. He answered: "All right, according to your prayers." Then I asked about a monk who did not enjoy a good reputation, and the guest said to me: “He has not changed at all, Father!” Hearing this, I exclaimed: "Bad!" And as soon as I said this, I immediately felt as if in ecstasy and saw Jesus Christ crucified between two thieves. I was rushing to worship the Savior, when suddenly He turned to the upcoming Angels and said to them: “Put him out, this is the Antichrist, for he condemned his brother before My Judgment.” And when, according to the word of the Lord, I was cast out, my mantle was left in the door, and then I woke up. “Woe is me,” I then said to the brother who had come, “this day is angry with me!” "Why is that?" he asked. Then I told him about the vision and noticed that the mantle I left behind meant that I was deprived of the protection and help of God. And from that time I spent seven years wandering in the wilderness, neither eating bread, nor going under shelter, nor conversing with people, until I saw my Lord, who returned the mantle to me.
That's how scary it is to pass judgment on a person.
tenth commandment
Do not covet your neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
This commandment forbids envy and grumbling. It is impossible not only to do evil to people, but even to have sinful, envious thoughts against them. Any sin begins with a thought, with a thought about something. A person begins to envy the property and money of his neighbors, then a thought arises in his heart to steal this good from his brother, and soon he embodies sinful dreams into action.
Envy of the wealth, talents, and health of our neighbors kills our love for them; envy, like acid, corrodes the soul. An envious person finds it difficult to communicate with others. He is pleased with the sorrow, the grief that befell those whom he envied. That is why the sin of envy is so dangerous: it is the seed of other sins. An envious person also sins against God, he does not want to be content with what the Lord sends him, he blames his neighbors and God for all his troubles. Such a person will never be happy and satisfied with life, because happiness does not depend on earthly goods, but on the state of the human soul. The kingdom of God is within you (Lk 17:21). It begins here, on earth, with the correct spiritual dispensation of man. The ability to see the gifts of God in every day of one's life, appreciate them and thank God for them is the key to human happiness.
