Conclusion to the Ten Commandments

In the Ten Commandments, we have a complete summary of God's instruction for human life. They tell us what we must do to live in a way that pleases Him. They point us to the true source from which all good works spring and the true channel through which they must flow. No action, no pattern of conduct, can be genuinely good or pleasing to God, however impressive or admirable it may appear to the world, unless it lines up with the Ten Commandments. Now consider what our celebrated saints have to boast about in their religious orders and the elaborate, demanding practices they have invented for themselves, all while treating the commandments as though they were trivial or had long since been satisfied. My view is that we will have more than enough to keep us busy simply obeying these commandments: practicing gentleness, patience, love toward our enemies, chastity, kindness, and all the other virtues they require. The world, however, does not think much of such works, because they are neither unusual nor impressive. They are not confined to special times, places, rituals, or ceremonies. They are ordinary, daily obligations toward our neighbor, with nothing spectacular about them.

But those other works captivate everyone's attention, and these so-called saints spare no ceremony, no expense, no architectural grandeur in making their deeds as dazzling as possible. They burn incense, they chant, they ring bells, they light candles and tapers, until nothing else can be seen or heard. They consider it a precious and praiseworthy work for a priest to stand in a gold-embroidered surplice, or for a layman to spend the entire day on his knees in church. But a poor young maid who tends to a child and faithfully does what she is told? That counts for nothing. Otherwise, why would monks and nuns retreat into cloisters at all?

But stop and consider: isn't it detestable arrogance for these desperate saints to seek a higher and better way of life than the commandments themselves teach? They claim, as I've already noted, that the life the commandments describe is a simple life meant for ordinary people, while their own is reserved for saints and those who have reached perfection. Poor, blind souls! They cannot see that no one can perfectly keep even a single one of the Ten Commandments. Rather, the Creed and the Lord's Prayer must come to our aid, as we will hear shortly. Through them we must seek and ask for the grace to obey, and receive that grace continually. The boasting of these saints, then, amounts to something like this: I don't have a dime to my name, yet I confidently promise to pay ten dollars in full, without fail.

I say all of this with a specific purpose: to root out a deeply entrenched and widespread abuse, and to train ourselves, in every area of life, to look to these commandments and take them seriously. It will be a very long time before anyone constructs a teaching or rule of life that equals the Ten Commandments, because no one can fulfill them by their own strength alone. Whoever does fulfill them is a holy, angelic being, surpassing every form of holiness found on earth. Devote yourself to them, bringing every ounce of your ability and effort to bear on obeying them, and you will find so much to do that you will never feel the need to look for other works or some different kind of holiness. That is enough by way of teaching and encouragement for the first part of our Christian faith. Before closing, however, we must return to the text that forms part of the commandments themselves, which we mentioned in connection with the first commandment, so that we understand how urgently God wants us to learn, obey, and teach the Ten Commandments: "For I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing lovingkindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments."

This appended passage, though attached to the first commandment as noted earlier, applies equally to all the others; it is the crowning statement and conclusion of the commandments as a whole. For that reason, I have said it should be kept before young people and pressed firmly into their minds, so that they learn it, remember it, and understand what it is that makes obedience to the commandments so urgent. They should regard it as a seal placed on each commandment and as the animating spirit that runs through all of them.

As I mentioned earlier, these words carry both a threat of wrath and a promise of grace, designed to warn us and draw us toward accepting God's Word as a serious expression of His divine will. He makes clear how deeply He cares about these commandments and our obedience to them, and how severely He will punish those who despise and violate them. At the same time, He promises to richly reward, bless, and pour out every good thing on those who treasure them and live in joyful accordance with them. Through all of this, He wants to impress on us that everything we do should flow from a heart that fears God alone, keeps Him constantly in view, and avoids whatever might anger Him. Equally, we should trust in Him alone and, out of love for Him, do all that He asks of us, since He shows Himself to be a kind and generous Father who freely offers us His mercy and blessing.

This, then, is the meaning and the proper interpretation of the first and greatest commandment, from which all the others flow. The words "You shall have no other gods" mean simply this: you shall fear, love, and trust me as your one true God. When a heart holds this posture toward God, it has fulfilled this commandment and every other one. On the other hand, whoever loves and fears anything else in heaven or on earth will inevitably fail to keep this commandment or any of the rest. This is why Scripture constantly returns to this commandment, pressing on its two central points: the fear of God and trust in God. The prophet David captures this especially well when he writes, "The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love" (Ps 147:11). In a single verse, he seems to sum up the entire commandment, as if to say: the Lord delights in those who have no other gods.

The first commandment, then, is meant to illuminate all the others. Its words should run through every commandment like a frame running through a wreath, joining the end to the beginning and holding the whole thing together. These words must be continually repeated and kept in mind. So, in the second commandment, we are told to fear God and not to take His name in vain through cursing, lying, deceiving, or any other wicked and dishonorable use of it; but rather to make worthy and good use of it by praying, praising, and giving thanks to God in the love and confidence that the first commandment requires. In the same way, this fear, love, and trust in Him should move us not to despise His Word, but to hear it, learn it, honor it, and hold it as sacred.

So, through all the commandments that follow concerning our duty to our neighbor, every requirement ultimately flows back to the first commandment: we are to honor father and mother, masters and authorities, and obey them, not for their own sake, but for God's sake. You should not fear or respect your father and mother to excess, nor should you act or refrain from acting simply to please them. What matters is doing what God requires of you, what He will certainly hold you accountable for. Neglect that, and you will face an angry judge; obey it, and you will find a gracious father. In the same way, you are to do your neighbor no harm, no injury or violence, and in no way to wrong him, whether in regard to his body, his wife, his property, his honor, or his rights, as each commandment spells out, even when you have the opportunity and the reason to do so and no one could punish you for it. On the contrary, you are to show kindness to everyone, to help them and advance their interests whenever and wherever you can, purely for God's sake and in the confidence that He will richly repay everything you do. You can see, then, how the first commandment is the source from which all the others flow. Every commandment returns to it, depends on it, and the beginning and the end are bound together in it.

This, I say, is something the young need to hear repeatedly, and it will do them genuine good. It must be pressed on them in teaching and exhortation, so that they are raised not by force, like animals driven by fear of the rod, but in the fear and reverence of God. When a person sincerely grasps that these are not trivial human rules but commandments of the most high God, who issues them in earnest and who punishes those who despise them with stern anger while abundantly rewarding those who keep them, then we will obey God's will freely and gladly, from the heart.

It's not without reason, then, that the Old Testament commands the Ten Commandments to be written on every wall, every corner, and even on clothing (Deut 6:7-9). The point isn't simply to have them displayed as a decorative gesture, the way the Jews treated them, but to keep them constantly before our eyes and minds so that we can live by them in every situation and every action. Each of us should practice them daily, in every circumstance, in everything we do and every transaction we make, as if they were inscribed on every surface we see, every road we travel, every place we stop. In this way, we would find more than enough opportunity, both at home and among our neighbors, to obey the Ten Commandments, and no one would need to go searching for them.

All of this shows us how far above every other order, command, and practice these Ten Commandments deserve to be honored and revered. Here is a challenge worth issuing: let all the wise and all the saints come forward and show us, if they can, any work comparable to these commandments, works on which God insists so firmly, which He enforces with the threat of His most severe wrath and punishment, while at the same time attaching magnificent promises of abundant blessing to those who obey Him. The Ten Commandments are therefore to be taught above everything else, and to be treasured and valued as the richest gift God has ever given us.