Q23–113
I. Of the Law and Obedience
On the Ten Commandments and the duties of godliness
Master. Since obedience is the first thing we need to discuss, and since it must be measured against the standard of God's law, we need to begin by examining the full substance and nature of that law. Once we understand it clearly, we will also understand what our obedience should look like and what kind of obedience God actually requires. So tell me: what do you understand the law to be?
Scholar. I understand the law of God to be the complete and perfectly sufficient rule of righteousness that God requires of humanity. It commands what must be done and forbids the opposite. In this law, God has bound everything to His own will and judgment, so that no act of devotion toward Him, and no duty toward other people, can be acceptable to Him unless it fully conforms to the strict standard this law sets out. It is therefore pointless for people to invent their own forms of piety and duty based on personal preference. God has given us His law, written on two tablets, as the definitive standard both for how we worship Him and how we treat one another. In doing so, He has also made clear that nothing on earth pleases and satisfies Him more than our obedience.
Master. What does the first tablet address?
Scholar. The first table deals with our devotion to God and contains the first four commandments of the law.
Master. What does the second table cover?
Scholar. The duties of mutual love and charity among people, which contains six commandments. In summary, ten commandments make up the whole law, which is why it's called the Ten Commandments.
Master. Recite the first commandment of the first table for me.
Scholar. God spoke these words: "Hear, O Israel: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me."
Master. Why does God first say something about himself and what he has done for his people?
Scholar. His primary concern was that the laws he had given should not quickly fall into contempt and lose their authority. So, to give them the greatest possible weight, he opens with what amounts to a preamble: "I am the Lord your God." In these words, he declares that he is our Maker, our Lord, our Savior, and the source of every good thing. By his dignity as lawgiver, he rightly claims the authority to command; by his goodness, he wins favor for his law; and by both together, he places us under a binding obligation to obey it. To refuse is to be both a rebel against the most powerful of all rulers and ungrateful toward the most generous of all benefactors.
Master. But since God addresses Israel by name and specifically mentions the breaking of Egypt's bondage, doesn't this apply only to the people of Israel?
Scholar. God rescued the Israelites from physical slavery through His servant Moses, but He has delivered all who belong to Him from something far greater: the spiritual bondage of sin and the tyranny of the devil, under which they would otherwise remain crushed and oppressed. This deliverance belongs equally to all who place their trust in God as their deliverer and obey His laws as best they can. Those who refuse to do so stand condemned by this reminder of His greatest gift, guilty of the deepest ingratitude. Let every person picture the devil, that hellish Pharaoh, poised to destroy him, and recognize sin as the foul mire in which he wallows. Let him hold before his mind's eye the image of hell as the most wretched Egyptian captivity imaginable, and he will quickly understand that this freedom I am describing is the thing he should desire above all else, as the matter of greatest importance to him. Yet he will be utterly unworthy of it unless he honors the One who secured his deliverance with complete service and obedience.
Master. Continue.
Scholar. Having established the authority of His law in this way, the commandment itself now follows: "You shall have no other gods before me."
Master. What does this mean?
Scholar. This commandment condemns and forbids idolatry, which God utterly hates.
Master. What is idolatry, or what does it mean to have foreign gods?
Scholar. The essence of idolatry is this: taking the place that belongs to the one true God, who has revealed Himself openly and clearly to us in the holy scriptures, and substituting other persons or things in His place, fashioning them into gods of our own making, worshipping them as divine, and placing our trust in them. God commands us to acknowledge Him alone as our God. This means that everything belonging to His majesty, everything we owe to Him alone, must remain entirely His. We must not transfer even the smallest portion of it to anyone or anything else. All honor and service belong to Him completely, and to give any part of that to another is a most grievous offense.
Master. What are the things we owe exclusively to God, in which you say His true and proper worship consists?
Scholar. The things we owe to God are beyond counting, but they can all be gathered under four main headings.
Master. What are they?
Scholar. We owe His majesty the highest honor, and to His goodness the deepest love and trust. We must turn to Him and seek His help. And we must offer back to Him, with gratitude, both ourselves and everything we possess. These things belong to Him alone. If we truly desire Him as our God and wish to be counted as His own people, we must give them to no other.
Master. What do those final words mean: "before me," or "in my sight"?
Scholar. They mean that the moment we begin to drift from God, He is already a witness to it. Nothing is so hidden or so secret that it can be concealed from Him. Beyond that, these words declare that God requires not only outward confession and public honor, but also genuine, inward devotion of the heart, because He sees and judges our most private thoughts.
Master. Very well, let that be sufficient for the first commandment. Now let us move on to the second.
Scholar. "You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or the likeness of anything in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the sins of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments."
Master. What do these words mean?
Scholar. Just as the first commandment requires that God alone be honored and worshipped, this commandment restrains us from all superstition and from every false, man-made form of worship, since true worship of Him must be spiritual and pure. Above all, it warns us away from the most obvious form of wrongdoing: outward idolatry.
Master. It might seem, then, that this law condemns the arts of painting and portraiture entirely, making it unlawful to create any images at all.
Scholar. Not so. God first forbids us to make any image that attempts to represent or depict Him, or that would be used in worshipping Him, and second, He forbids us to worship images themselves.
Master. Why is it unlawful to represent God in a physical, visible form?
Scholar. Because there can be no true likeness or correspondence between God, who is an eternal Spirit, immeasurable, infinite, incomprehensible, and entirely removed from all mortal composition, and a frail, physical, lifeless, and empty shape. Those who attempt to represent Him in such a way do the gravest possible injury to the majesty of the most good and most great God.
Master. Haven't those who claim that images are the books of the unlearned said something worthwhile, then?
Scholar. I cannot say what kind of books they might be, but on the subject of God, they can teach us nothing but error.
Master. What kind of worship is it that this commandment condemns?
Scholar. When we intend to pray and turn ourselves toward portraits or images, when we bow and kneel before them with uncovered heads or with other gestures that show honor to them, as though God were somehow represented to us through them, we are violating this law. In short, this commandment forbids us from seeking or worshipping God through images, or, what amounts to the same thing, from worshipping the images themselves in God's honor, or from misusing them in any form of idolatry or superstition that dishonors His majesty. That said, the lawful practice of making portraits and paintings is not forbidden.
Master. From what you've told me, it's easy to conclude that placing images or pictures in churches is extremely dangerous, since churches are set apart specifically for the worship of God alone.
Scholar. We have already seen far too much proof of that truth, in the near-total collapse of true religion that followed.
Master. Yet there remains a kind of addition or supplement to this commandment.
Scholar. "For I," He says, "I the Lord your God am a jealous God, and I visit the sins of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me."
Master. What is the purpose of these words? Why were they spoken?
Scholar. They serve to establish and reinforce this commandment by attaching, as it were, a specific decree to it. By calling Himself our Lord and our God, He presses us to obey Him in all things on two grounds: His authority and His generosity toward us. And by the word "jealous," He makes clear that He will tolerate no rival or equal.
Master. What do you mean by this jealousy you speak of?
Scholar. A most fitting reason. Since God has given Himself to us, who have deserved nothing, purely out of His own infinite goodness, it is entirely right that He should want us to be wholly and entirely His own. This is the bond of a holy marriage, in which our souls, like faithful spouses, are joined to God as their devoted husband. The chastity of that union consists in being dedicated to God alone and cleaving wholly to Him. Conversely, our souls are said to commit adultery when they turn from God toward idolatry or superstition. And the more deeply a husband loves his wife, and the more faithful he is himself, the more grievously he is wounded when she breaks her vow.
Master. Go on.
Scholar. Now, to make clear just how intensely God hates idolatry, and to restrain us from it with a greater sense of fear, He threatens to take vengeance not only on those who commit it, but on their children and descendants as well.
Master. But how does this square with God's justice, that someone should be punished for another person's sin?
Scholar. The very condition of humanity answers this question well enough. By nature, we are all subject to condemnation, and if God simply leaves us in that state, we have no grounds to complain against Him. Just as He shows His love and mercy toward the godly by protecting and sustaining their descendants, giving them a preservation He was never obligated to give; so toward the ungodly He carries out His judgment by withholding that same goodness from their children. Even so, He does them no wrong, because He owes them no grace. He simply finds them as they are and leaves them to their own nature and inclinations.
Master. Continue with the rest.
Scholar. So that God would not seem to rely on threats alone, we now come to the other part of the commandment, where He draws us toward obedience through gentle and generous promises. He promises to show extraordinary mercy both to those who love Him and keep His commandments, and to their descendants as well.
Master. What reason do you see for this being just?
Scholar. Part of the reason lies in the godly upbringing that faithful parents give their children, who commonly follow in their parents' footsteps by inheriting a genuine fear and love of God. Nature itself also inclines us to feel goodwill toward the children of those we care about. But the surest reason of all is simply that God has promised it, and He can neither act unjustly nor ever break His word.
Master. Yet this doesn't seem to hold consistently in practice. Sometimes godly parents produce ungodly children, children who turn away from everything their parents stood for, and God has punished such children severely despite this promise.
Scholar. That cannot be denied. Just as God sometimes shows mercy to the children of the wicked, He is not so bound by obligation to the children of the godly that He cannot reject those among them as He sees fit. Yet He always exercises such careful moderation in this that the truth of His promise remains firm.
Master. When speaking of punishment earlier, He mentions only three or four generations at most. Why does He extend the promise of mercy here to a thousand?
Scholar. To show that He is far more inclined toward mercy and generosity than toward severity, just as He declares elsewhere that He is very slow to anger and most ready to forgive.
Master. From everything you have said, I take it that you understand God to have made special provision so that the worship due to Him, which should be spiritual and completely pure, would not be corrupted by crude idolatry or superstition.
Scholar. Yes, He provides for it most earnestly. He has not only spelled it out clearly and at length, covering every form of images, and decreed it in the very first part of His law as something that concerns His majesty above all else, but He has also backed this law with severe warnings for those who break it, while offering extraordinary rewards to those who keep it. It is therefore more than remarkable that this commandment has been either misunderstood as though it were obscure, overlooked as though it were buried among the others, or dismissed as trivial and of little weight. Indeed, it has lain almost entirely neglected, as if it carried no warnings and no promises at all.
Master. What you say is true. Now recite the third commandment for me.
Scholar. "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes His name in vain."
Master. What does it mean to take the name of God in vain?
Scholar. It means to misuse it: whether through false swearing, through swearing carelessly, impulsively, and without any real need, or even through uttering it once without a serious reason. Since the majesty of God's name is supremely holy, we must take every care not to show contempt for it ourselves, nor to give others any occasion to do so. We should never speak the name of God without the deepest reverence, so that it remains honorable and glorious, both to ourselves and to everyone around us. It is not lawful even to think of God and His works, let alone speak of them, in any way that does not honor Him. In short, whoever uses the name of God for anything less than the most weighty purposes and the most sacred matters is abusing it.
Master. What do you think, then, of those who blaspheme God, of sorcerers, and of others like them who live in open ungodliness?
Scholar. Those who misuse God's name out of crude habit and careless speech already do Him great wrong, but those who invoke His name in curses, in spells, in incantations, or in any other form of superstition commit an offense that is far more serious and inexcusable.
Master. Is there a lawful way to use God's name in swearing?
Scholar. Yes, certainly. An oath is lawful when taken for a just reason: either to confirm a truth, especially when a magistrate requires or commands it, or in any matter of serious importance where we must either uphold the honor of God or preserve goodwill and harmony among people.
Master. Does that mean we may lawfully attach an oath to anything we say, as long as we're telling the truth?
Scholar. As I said, that is not lawful. If we swore oaths constantly, the reverence due to God's name would be worn down until it became cheap and treated as ordinary. But when a serious matter is at stake and the truth would otherwise not be believed, we may lawfully confirm it with an oath.
Master. What comes next?
Scholar. "For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain."
Master. Since God declares elsewhere that He will punish all who break His law, why does He single out here those who misuse His name with a specific warning?
Scholar. His intention was to show how deeply He values the honor of His name, so that, seeing punishment close at hand, we would be all the more careful to avoid treating it with contempt.
Master. Do you think it is lawful to swear by the names of saints, or by the names of other people or created things?
Scholar. No. A lawful oath is simply the swearer's solemn declaration that he is calling on God, the one who knows and judges all things, to witness that he is telling the truth, and that he is calling on that same God to punish him if he swears falsely. It would therefore be a grave sin to share or divide this honor among other persons or creatures, since this honor of God's wisdom and majesty belongs to Him alone.
Master. Now we come to the fourth commandment, which is the last commandment of the first table.
Scholar. "Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no manner of work: thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant; thy cattle, and the stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it."
Master. What does the word "Sabbath" mean?
Scholar. Sabbath means rest. Because that day is set apart exclusively for the worship of God, the faithful must set aside all worldly concerns so they can give their full attention to religion and godliness.
Master. Why has God placed His own example before us as a pattern to follow?
Scholar. Because vivid and compelling examples do more to stir and sharpen the human mind than abstract instruction. Servants willingly follow their master, and children follow their parents. And nothing is more worth pursuing than shaping oneself after the example and character of God.
Master. Are you saying, then, that we must rest from all labor every seventh day?
Scholar. This commandment has two aspects to consider. As far as it contains a ceremony and requires only outward rest, it belonged specifically to the Jews and does not carry the force of a permanent, eternal law. Now, with the coming of Christ, just as the other shadows of Jewish ceremony have been abolished, so too has this law been reduced in that respect.
Master. What then, beyond the ceremonial element, still remains binding on us permanently?
Scholar. This law was established for three reasons: first, to set up and maintain an ecclesiastical discipline and a certain order within the Christian community; second, to protect servants by ensuring their condition was made bearable; and third, to express a particular form and image of spiritual rest.
Master. What is this ecclesiastical discipline you're referring to?
Scholar. It means that the people gather together to hear the teaching of Christ, to confess their faith, to offer public prayers to God, to celebrate and keep alive the memory of God's works and blessings, and to observe the sacraments He has left us.
Master. Is it enough to do these things every seventh day?
Scholar. Every person should privately reflect on these things each day; but because of our negligence and weakness, one specific day has been set apart by public order for this purpose.
Master. Why did this commandment make provision for the relief of servants?
Scholar. It was only right that those who live under others' authority should have some time to rest from their labor. Without it, their condition would be too harsh and too difficult to endure. And it was surely fitting that servants should, alongside us, sometimes worship the one who is the common master of us all, and indeed our Father too, since He has, through Christ, adopted them into His family just as He has adopted us. It is also in the masters' own interest that servants should rest periodically between their labors, so that after a brief respite they can return to their work refreshed and with renewed energy.
Master. Now you must speak about the spiritual rest.
Scholar. That is the rest in which, stepping back from worldly affairs and from our own works and pursuits, and enjoying a kind of holy sabbatical, we surrender ourselves entirely to God's governance, so that He may do His work in us. It is also the rest in which, as scripture describes it, we crucify our flesh: we rein in the wayward desires and impulses of our hearts, restraining our own nature so that we may obey God's will. In doing so, we most fittingly bring the pattern and image of eternal rest into full and living reality.
Master. May we then set aside this concern on the other days of the week?
Scholar. No, for once we have begun, we must press forward to the end, through the entire course of our lives. The number seven, since in scripture it signifies perfection, reminds us that we should strive with all our strength and effort, continually working toward perfection. And yet at the same time it shows us that, for as long as we live in this world, we fall far short of the perfection and full experience of this spiritual rest, and that what we are given here is only a foretaste of the rest we will enjoy, perfectly, completely, and most blessedly, in the kingdom of God.
Master. So far you have done well in reciting the laws of the first table, which briefly covers the true worship of God as the source of all good things. Now I want you to tell me about our duties of love and charity toward other people. These duties flow from that same source and are contained in the second table.
Scholar. The second table begins like this: "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you."
Master. What does the word "honor" mean in this context?
Scholar. Honoring one's parents involves love, reverence, and a healthy respect for their authority. In practice, this means obeying them, protecting and supporting them, and providing for them if they ever fall into need.
Master. Does this law apply only to biological parents?
Scholar. Although the words themselves seem to say no more than that, we should understand that all those who hold any kind of authority are included under the name of "fathers": magistrates, ministers of the church, schoolmasters, and indeed anyone who commands respect by reason of age, wisdom, learning, social standing, or any other form of superiority. This is because their authority and that of natural parents all flow from the same source.
Master. And what source is that?
Scholar. The holy decrees of God's law, by which these figures become worthy of honor just as natural parents are. All of them, whether parents, princes, magistrates, or other superiors of whatever kind, derive their power and authority from that source, because it has pleased God to govern the world through them.
Master. What is the significance of calling magistrates and other superiors by the name of "fathers"?
Scholar. This teaches us two things: that parents are given to us by God for our own good and for the good of society, and that the authority of parents, which people naturally resent less than any other kind, is meant to train the human mind. Left to itself, the human mind swells with pride and resists being under anyone else's authority, so this commandment works to shape us toward the obedience and respect we owe to those in authority. Notice that the commandment uses the word "parents" rather than "rulers," because we are called not merely to obey those in authority, but to honor and love them. And by the same token, those in authority are taught to govern those under them the way a good parent rules over good children.
Master. What does the promise attached to this commandment mean?
Scholar. It means that those who give proper honor to their parents and to those in authority will enjoy long life and will remain in secure, lasting possession of their prosperity.
Master. But this promise seems to apply specifically to Jews who treated their parents well.
Scholar. There is no question that what is said by name about the land of Canaan applies only to the Jews. But since God is Lord of the whole world, whatever place He gives us to live in, this law promises and assures us that we will keep it.
Master. But why does God count a long life in such a miserable and wicked world as a blessing?
Scholar. Because when He relieves the suffering of those who belong to Him, or protects them through the many dangers that surround them, or draws them back from sin and vice, He shows them the fatherly love and goodwill He has for them as His children.
Master. Does it follow, on the other side, that God hates those whose lives are cut short before their natural span is complete, or those who are weighed down by the miseries and hardships of this world?
Scholar. Not at all. In fact, the more dearly God loves a person, the more that person is typically burdened with hardship, or tends to leave this life sooner, as though God were releasing them from prison.
Master. Doesn't this seem to undermine the truth and reliability of God's promise?
Scholar. No. When God promises us good things in this world, He always attaches a condition, whether stated openly or implied quietly: namely, that those things must not be harmful or unprofitable to our souls. It would be contrary to all reason and right order if the soul were not given first priority, so that we might gain or go without worldly goods in whatever way best allows us to enjoy eternal life forever.
Master. What should we say, then, about those who disobey or mistreat parents and magistrates, or even kill them?
Scholar. In most cases, such people either live out their days in misery and degradation, or they lose their lives shamefully, cut off by untimely and violent death or by public execution. And not only in this life: in the world to come, they will suffer the eternal punishment their wickedness deserves. After all, if God's commandment, which follows immediately after this one, forbids us from harming any person, even those who are strangers to us, even our enemies and those who wish us dead, then it forbids us all the more from killing them. It is easy to see, then, how much more carefully we should avoid doing any injury to our parents, from whom we receive our very life, our inheritance, our freedom, and our homeland. The ancient sages put it well when they said that a natural bond of duty can be broken by a single look, and that to offend one's parents even with a careless word is among the gravest of wrongs. What punishment, then, could possibly be severe enough for someone who would bring death upon the very parent for whom, by the law of God and humanity, he should have been willing to die himself, if the need had ever arisen?
Master. But it is far worse to wrong or kill the father of one's country than one's own father.
Scholar. Absolutely. If it is already a grave offense for any private citizen to wrong his own parents, and outright parricide to kill them, then what are we to say of those who have conspired and taken up arms against the commonwealth, against their country, the most ancient, sacred, and universal mother of us all? She deserves to be dearer to us than our own lives; no honorable person would hesitate to die for her benefit. And what of those who act against the prince, the father of the country, the parent of the commonwealth itself? What of those who plot the ruin, death, and destruction of the very people it would be high treason merely to abandon or shrink from? An act so monstrous simply cannot be captured by any fitting name.
Master. Now recite the sixth commandment.
Scholar. "You shall not kill."
Master. Do we fully satisfy this law simply by keeping our hands free from bloodshed?
Scholar. God gave His law not only for outward actions, but also, and more fundamentally, for the inner life of the heart. Anger, hatred, and every desire to harm another person are, before God, judged as murder. Therefore, God forbids these things as well through this commandment.
Master. Then do we fully satisfy the law if we simply hate no one?
Scholar. By condemning hatred, God requires us to love all people, even our enemies, going so far as to wish health, safety, and every good thing even to those who wish us harm and carry toward us a hateful and cruel spirit, and to do them good to the fullest extent we are able.
Master. What is the seventh commandment?
Scholar. "You shall not commit adultery."
Master. What do you understand to be contained in it?
Scholar. This commandment forbids every form of corrupt and wandering lust, along with all the impurity that flows from it: inappropriate touching, indecent speech, and every kind of shameless look or gesture, including any outward display of unchastity. God forbids not only filthy words and impure actions, but also, since both our bodies and souls are temples of the Holy Spirit, He commands modesty and chastity so that both may remain undefiled. Our bodies must not be corrupted by lustful impurity, nor our minds by dishonest thoughts or desires; instead, both are to be kept always chaste and pure.
Master. Continue with the rest.
Scholar. The eighth commandment is, "You shall not steal." This commandment condemns not only the kinds of theft that human laws punish, but also all fraud and deception. Yet no one sins more gravely against this law than those who habitually exploit positions of trust to deceive the very people toward whom they claim friendship. Those who break faith are working to destroy the common foundation of trust that holds society together. We are therefore commanded not to deceive anyone, not to undermine anyone, and not to let the prospect of profit in buying or selling tempt us into wrongdoing. In all our commercial dealings, we must not pursue wealth through dishonest means, must not use false or inaccurate weights and measures, and must not enrich ourselves by selling shoddy or fraudulent goods.
Master. Do you think there is more to be said about this commandment?
Scholar. Yes, absolutely. This commandment forbids not only outward theft and fraud, and requires us to conduct all our dealings honestly and without deception, but it also demands that we be so thoroughly shaped in our character that even if we were certain we could escape punishment and detection, we would still refuse to wrong others on our own initiative. Whatever is wrong to do before other people is evil even to desire before God. Therefore, this law forbids all schemes and strategies, and especially the very impulse to profit at another's expense. Finally, this commandment requires us to do everything in our power to ensure that every person receives what is rightfully theirs as quickly as possible, and can hold on to what they already possess in safety.
Master. What is the ninth commandment?
Scholar. "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
Master. What does this commandment mean?
Scholar. That we must not break our oath or our word. This law forbids not only open and obvious perjury, but also every form of lying, slander, gossip, and malicious speech that could cause our neighbor harm or damage his reputation. A single example carries a general principle within it. We must never speak anything false or untrue ourselves, nor through our words, writing, silence, presence, or quiet consent give any approval to falsehood in others. Instead, we should always be lovers and followers of simple truth, grounding ourselves in truth at all times, bringing everything faithfully into the light of truth as occasion, circumstance, and necessity require, and always standing ready to defend truth and uphold it by every means available.
Master. To satisfy this law, is it not enough to control our tongue and pen?
Scholar. For the same reason I gave earlier: when God forbids evil speech, He also forbids malicious suspicions and unjust judgments of others. This lawgiver always looks first to the condition of the heart. The commandment, therefore, forbids us from so much as thinking ill of our neighbors, let alone slandering them. In fact, it calls us to hold such genuine goodwill and fairness toward them that we make every effort, as far as honesty allows, to think well of them, and to do everything in our power to protect their reputation.
Master. Why does the Lord in His law describe corrupt inner desires using the names of the most serious crimes? He places wrath and hatred under the heading of murder, all lustful and impure thoughts under the heading of adultery, and unjust craving under the heading of theft.
Scholar. Because human nature tends to dismiss the sinful desires of the heart as minor matters, the Lord names them for what they truly are, measuring them by the standard of His own righteousness. Our Savior, the best interpreter of His Father's meaning, explains it exactly this way: "Whoever is angry with his brother is a murderer; whoever lusts after a woman has already committed adultery."
Master. But since these commandments only explicitly forbid vices and sins, why do you say, in explaining them, that the opposite virtues are also commanded? You say that forbidding adultery implies a command to pursue chastity, and that forbidding murder and theft implies a command to show genuine goodwill and generosity. And so on for the rest.
Scholar. Because our Savior Himself interprets it that way. He places the heart of the law not merely in avoiding harm and wrongdoing, but in love and charity toward others, just as the royal prophet had already taught before Him: "Depart from evil, and do good."
Master. Now we come to the last commandment.
Scholar. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his."
Master. Since the whole law is spiritual, as you have already said many times, and is designed not only to restrain outward wrongdoing but also to govern the inner affections of the heart, what does this commandment add that the previous ones left out?
Scholar. God has already forbidden evil actions and corrupt desires of the mind, but now He demands of us a far more exacting purity: that we allow no desire, however slight, and no thought, however small, that in any way departs from what is right, to so much as enter our hearts.
Master. What do you mean, then? Are you saying that unguarded and sudden desires, and fleeting thoughts that arise even in the hearts of the truly godly, are sins, even when those people resist rather than give in to them?
Scholar. It is clear that all corrupt thoughts, even those we do not consent to, arise from our corrupted nature. And there is no question that sudden desires that tempt the human heart, even when they do not go so far as to win a settled agreement of the mind, are condemned by God in this commandment as sins. It is fitting that even our innermost hearts and minds should reflect before God the most complete purity and cleanness. Nothing less than perfect innocence and righteousness can please Him, and it is precisely that standard He has set before us in this law as its perfect measure.
Master. So far you have given a clear and concise account of the law of the Ten Commandments. Can everything you have explained in such detail be gathered into a brief summary?
Scholar. Why not? After all, Christ our heavenly teacher has summed up the entire substance of the law in a brief and memorable form: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the greatest commandment in the law. And the second is like it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. For in these two commandments are contained the whole law and the prophets."
Master. What kind of love toward God do you understand to be required here?
Scholar. The kind of love that is fitting for God; that is, we must acknowledge Him as our most powerful Lord, our most loving Father, and our most merciful Savior. This love must therefore be joined with reverence for His majesty, obedience to His will, and trust in His goodness.
Master. What is meant by all the heart, all the soul, and all the strength?
Scholar. It means a love so fervent and so genuine that there is no room left for any thought, desire, intention, or action that conflicts with the love of God. As one writer has put it: our parents are dear to us, our children are dear to us, as are our relatives, our friends, and dearer still is our country. Yet the wholehearted devotion we owe to God not only contains all these loves within itself but surpasses them all by a great measure. What good person would hesitate to die for God? Every godly person loves God not only more deeply than all those closest to them, but more deeply than themselves.
Master. Now, what do you say about the love of our neighbor?
Scholar. Christ's intention was that the strongest possible bonds of love should exist among His followers. Since we are by nature most inclined to love ourselves, no clearer, simpler, more concise, or more impartial rule of brotherly love could be devised than the one the Lord has drawn from our own nature and placed before us: that every person should extend to their neighbor the same goodwill they extend to themselves. From this it follows that we should not do anything to our neighbor, nor say nor think anything about them, that we would not want others to do, say, or think about us. If we could only keep within the bounds of this single law, which is in a sense the soul of all other laws, there would be no need for the endless legal barriers that people devise every day to restrain wrongdoing and maintain civil society. And all of those barriers are nearly useless anyway, if this one law is not honored among people.
Master. How broadly does the term "neighbor" extend?
Scholar. The term "neighbor" includes not only those related to us by blood or marriage, or our friends, or those connected to us by any civil bond of affection, but also strangers we have never met, and even our enemies.
Master. But what do our enemies have to do with us?
Scholar. They are bound to us by the same bond through which God has joined all of humanity together. It is His will that this bond remain unbreakable and firm, and therefore no person's stubbornness, hatred, or malice can dissolve it. Even if someone hates us, they remain our neighbor still and must always be regarded as such, because the order by which human fellowship and community are held together must always remain firm and inviolable. This makes it easy to see why Scripture has appointed love as one of the central pillars of religion.
Master. But what does that addition at the end mean, that the whole law and the prophets are contained in it?
Scholar. Because the sum of them all truly belongs to it. Every warning, commandment, exhortation, promise, and threat found throughout the law, the prophets, and the apostles points toward nothing other than the purpose of this law, as if toward a fixed mark. Everything in the holy scriptures is directed toward love in such a way that it seems to lead us by the hand straight to it.
Master. Now I want you to tell me what law you're referring to: is it the same as what we call the law of nature, or is it something else entirely?
Scholar. I remember, master, that you taught me this long ago: that the law, as the highest expression of reason, was planted by God in human nature while that nature was still sound and uncorrupted, having been created in the image of God. In that sense, this law truly is, and rightly is called, the law of nature. But since human nature became stained with sin, although the minds of wise men have been lit to some degree by the brightness of this natural light, in most people that light has been so thoroughly extinguished that barely a spark of it remains visible. And in many hearts there is deeply rooted a fierce hatred of God and neighbor, set directly against God's ordinances and the commandments written in this law, which call us to wholehearted love of God and neighbor. From this comes such profound ungodliness toward God, and such deadly cruelty toward other people.
Master. How did it come about that God chose to have these commandments written on tablets?
Scholar. Let me explain. Since Adam's fall, original sin and long habit have so darkened the image of God in humanity, and so corrupted our natural judgment, that we no longer understand clearly what separates right from wrong, or honesty from dishonesty. In His mercy, God determined to restore that image in us, and so He gave us His law, written on tablets, as the standard of perfect righteousness. He set it out so completely and so clearly that He asks nothing more of us than to follow it. He accepts no sacrifice except obedience, and therefore He rejects everything we introduce into religion or the worship of God that lacks the authority of His prescribed commands.
Master. But since this law contains no specific commandments covering every person's particular calling, how can it serve as a complete rule for life?
Scholar. Even though the law doesn't spell out the duties belonging to each individual role, it does command us to give every person what is owed to them, and in doing so it encompasses, in summary form, all the responsibilities belonging to every person in their particular station and way of life. In these tablets, the Lord has briefly and concisely gathered together everything that Scripture sets out at length elsewhere concerning the specific duties of every kind of person.
Master. Since the law reveals the perfect way to worship God rightly, shouldn't we order our entire lives according to it?
Scholar. Absolutely, and so completely that God promises life to those who live by the law's standard, while threatening death to those who break it, as I mentioned earlier. This is why, in my outline of the subject, I listed obedience as one of the central elements of true religion.
Master. Do you then consider those who obey God's law in every respect to be justified?
Scholar. Yes, certainly. If anyone were able to fulfill it perfectly, they would be justified by the law. But we are all so weak that no one keeps every part of their duty. Even if we suppose that someone manages to keep the law in one particular area, that still won't justify them before God, because He declares everyone who fails to fulfill everything the law contains to be cursed and condemned.
Master. Do you conclude, then, that no mortal person is justified before God through the law?
Scholar. No one at all. The scriptures say the same thing.
Master. Why, then, did God give a law that demands a perfection beyond our ability?
Scholar. When God gave the law, He was not primarily concerned with what we are capable of performing, since our weakness is our own fault. He was concerned with what His own righteousness requires. Because nothing less than the highest righteousness can satisfy God, the rule of life He set out had to be completely perfect. Beyond that, the law demands nothing from us that we aren't already obligated to give. But since we fall so far short of obeying it properly, no one has a sufficient or legitimate excuse to defend themselves before God. The law therefore charges every person as guilty and condemns them before God's judgment seat. This is why Paul calls the law the ministry of death and condemnation.
Master. Does the law then leave everyone in this utterly hopeless condition?
Scholar. For the unbelieving and the ungodly, yes: the law both places them and leaves them in exactly the condition I described. They cannot fulfill even the smallest part of the law, and they have no trust in God through Christ whatsoever. But among the godly, the law serves other purposes.
Master. What purposes?
Scholar. First, the law, by demanding such precise perfection of life, shows the godly something like a target to aim at and a finish line to run toward, so that as they grow daily, they can press with genuine effort toward the highest standard of uprightness. The godly, guided by God, take this aim to heart. Above all, they take care, as far as they are able, that no serious fault can be laid at their door. Second, because the law demands things far beyond human strength, and because they find themselves too weak for so great a burden, the law drives them to seek strength from the Lord. Furthermore, when the law continually accuses them, it strikes their hearts with a healthy sorrow, pushing them toward the repentance I mentioned earlier, and toward seeking and receiving God's forgiveness through Christ. At the same time, it holds them back from trusting in their own innocence or growing proud before God, serving always as a kind of bridle that keeps them in the fear of God. Finally, when they look into the law as though into a mirror and see the stains and impurity of their own souls, they learn that they cannot achieve perfect righteousness through their own works. In this way, they are trained in humility, and the law prepares them and sends them to seek righteousness in Christ.
Master. As far as I can tell, then, you're saying that the law is something like a tutor leading us to Christ, guiding us to Him through self-knowledge, repentance, and faith.
Scholar. Yes, exactly.