We wrap up our discussion of the Ten Commandments this week, with Lesson Thirty-Fourth of the Baltimore Catechism No. 2, which examines the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Commandments.
The Seventh Commandment—"Thou shalt not steal"—requires us to respect those things that belong to others. It extends beyond simply refraining from taking other people's belongings to include giving others what they are owed. Withholding just payment, not returning in a timely manner something that you have borrowed, failing to make restitution for damage you caused to another's goods—all of these are violations of the Seventh Commandment that we do not often consider.
The Eighth Commandment—"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor"—requires us not only to avoid lies but to speak the truth. We must, however, speak the truth in charity; we cannot justify causing damage to the reputation of others by saying that we are telling the truth. To do so is a form of backbiting or gossiping, which are both sins against charity.
The Ninth and Tenth Commandments are often lumped together because they both discuss coveting something that belongs to our neighbor. But they are related in another, deeper sense. They Ninth and Tenth Commandments extend the Sixth and Seventh Commandments, respectively, to cover impure thoughts, greed, and other illicit desires, as well as actions. They have a positive component, too, because by keeping ourselves free of desire for those things which do not belong to us, we can rejoice in the goodness of those things that are rightfully ours. If we obey the Ninth and Tenth Commandments, we may find that the grass is greener on our side of the fence, rather than our neighbor's; and we may learn to be happy for our neighbor in his good fortune.
Lesson Thirty-Fourth from the Confirmation Catechism has 16 questions. Note that the lesson begins with Question 373, continuing with the numbering from Lesson Thirty-Third.The parallel lesson this week in the First Communion Catechism is Lesson Thirtieth. It includes 14 questions drawn from Lesson Thirty-Fourth of the Confirmation Catechism.
Check out this week's lesson, and if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments or ask them in the Catholicism Forum!
Previous Lessons in Sunday School:- Welcome to Sunday School!
- On God and His Perfections
- On the Unity and Trinity of God
- On Creation
- On Our First Parents and the Fall
- On Sin and Its Kinds
- On the Incarnation and Redemption
- On Our Lord's Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension
- On the Holy Ghost and His Descent Upon the Apostles
- On the Effects of the Redemption
- On the Church
- On the Attributes and Marks of the Church
- On the Sacraments in General
- On Baptism
- On Confirmation
- On the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Ghost
- On the Sacrament of Penance
- On Contrition
- On Confession
- On the Manner of Making a Good Confession
- On Indulgences
- On the Holy Eucharist
- On the Ends for Which the Holy Eucharist Was Instituted
- On the Sacrifice of the Mass
- On Extreme Unction and Holy Orders
- On Matrimony
- On the Sacramentals
- On Prayer
- On the Commandments of God
- On the First Commandment
- On the Honor and Invocation of Saints
- From the Second to the Fourth Commandment
- From the Fourth to the Seventh Commandment
The 10 Commandments – I read with interest the tablets posted on Wordless Wednesday and realized that you left out the second commandment and then split the tenth commandment into two parts to commensate!
God’s Word is very explicit and should NOT be changed/ignored because by changing/ignoring will not leave one faultless and one will have to give account.
By these 10 Commandments, true theology and true worship, the name of God and the Sabbath, family, honor, life, marriage, and property, truth and virtue are well protected. They can also be grouped into 2 broad categories: the vertical, namely man’s relationship to God (Ex 20:2-11), and the horizontal, namely man’s relationship to the community (vv12-17). [These comments from the MacArthur Study Bible, Copyright 1997, Word Publishing].
I am looking at a Bible printed in 1839 (Translated out of the original tongues) as well as the Thompson Chain-Reference Bible (initially copyright 1908) and The MacArthur Study Bible (copyright 1997) and ALL have 10 commandments (Ex 20:3-17) as follows:
1. V3 – THOU SHALT HAVE NO other gods before Me.
[COMMENTS from The MacArthur Study Bible: Meaning "over against Me," a most appropriate expression in the light of the next few verses. ALL false gods stand in opposition to the true God, and the worship of them is incompatible with the worship of Yahweh. When Israel departed from the worship of the only one and true God, she plunged into religious confusion (Judg 17,18)]
2. V4-6 – THOU SHALT NOT make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate Me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.
Why this commandment is so important is because: [The mode or fashion of worship appropriate to ONLY ONE LORD forbids any attempt to represent or caricature Him by use of anything He has made. Total censure of artistic expression was not the issue; the ABSOLUTE CENSURE OF IDOLATRY and FALSE WORSHIP was the issue. Violation would seriously affect succeeding generations because the Lord demanded full and exclusive devotion, i.e. He is a jealous God (cf. 34:14; Deut 4:24, 5:9). THE WORSHIP OF MAN-MADE REPRESENTATIONS WAS NOTHING LESS THAN HATRED OF THE TRUE GOD. Moses had made it clear that children were not punished for the sins of their parents (Deut 24:16; see Ezek 18:19-32) BUT children would feel the impact of breaches of God's law by their parents' generation as a natural consequence of its disobedience, its hatred of God. Children reared in such an environment would imbibe and then practice similar idolatry, thus themselves expressing hateful disobedience. The difference in consequence served as both a warning and a motivation. The effect of a disobedient generation was to plant wickedness so deeply that it took several generations to reverse.] COMMENTS from The MacArthur Study Bible.
3. V7 – THOU SHALT NOT take the name of the LORD thy God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4. V8-11 – Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. V12 – Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
6. V13 – You shall not murder.
7. V14 – You shall not commit adultery.
8. V15 – You shall not steal.
9. V16 – You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. V17 – YOU SHALL NOT covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his femaile servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any thing that is your neighbor’s.
You will notice that there is no period in the middle of this sentence and it IS 10th Commandment, NOT 9 and 10. The error occurs because the Catholic Church wants to ignore #2 will prohibits IDOLTRY.
[Comments from The MacArthur Study Bible: The thoughts and desires of the heart do not escape attention. A strong longing to have what another has is wrong. This tenth command suggests that none of the previous 9 commandments are only external acts with no relation to internal thoughts (cf. Matt 15:19; Rom 7:7, 13:9)].
And I pray: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” Eph 1:17.