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Introduction to The Second Tablet of the Ten Commandments (Love in Theology Pt 2 Series)
The Christian life is marked by the biblical virtues of faith, hope, and love. Having seen how the essence of our faith is expressed in the Apostles’ Creed, the essence of our hope in the Lord's Prayer, we now learn how the essence of our love is found in the Ten Commandments.
The Apostle Paul teaches that love is greater than faith and hope. "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13). Though superior, love is not separated from faith and hope. These godly virtues overlap. For example:
Our faith, rooted in the truths of the Apostles’ Creed, leads us to hope and love.
Our hope, stirred up by the Lord’s Prayer, leads us to faith and love.
Our love, founded in the Ten Commandments, leads us to faith and hope.
What does this godly virtue of love look like? The Bible tells us it looks like the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:3–17).
1. You shall have no other gods before me. (3)
2. You shall not have false images of God in worship. (4-6)
3. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God. (7)
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. (8-11)
5. Honor your father and mother. (12)
6. You shall not murder. (13)
7. You shall not commit adultery. (14)
8. You shall not steal. (15)
9. You shall not give false testimony. (16)
10. You shall not covet. (17)
When someone asked Jesus, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" he responded:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Matt. 22:37–39)
In his response, Jesus is not replacing the Ten Commandments but summarizing their essence as loving God with our whole being and loving others as ourselves.[1]
The first four commandments focus on our duty to love God with our whole being.[2]
1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not have false images of God in worship.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
The next six commandments focus on our duty to love others as we love ourselves.[3]
5. Honor your father and mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false testimony.
10. You shall not covet.
The Westminster Larger Catechism contains a helpful summary of these two sections:
Q. 102. What is the sum of the four commandments which contain our duty to God?
A. The sum of the four commandments containing our duty to God, is, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, and with all our mind.
Q. 122. What is the sum of the six commandments which contain our duty to man?
A. The sum of the six commandments which contain our duty to man, is, to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to do to others what we would have them do to us.
Though the commandments to love God and others are separated, they are also integrated in that your love for God is demonstrated by your love for others.
The way you fulfill the purpose for your life—to glorify God and enjoy him forever—is to love him with your whole being and love others as you love yourself, in obedience to the Ten Commandments.
In the first book on the Ten Commandments we examined the first four commandments, traditionally called the "first tablet of the law," with the focus on the meaning of loving God with our whole being.
We now begin our examination of the last six commandments, traditionally called the "second tablet of the law," with the focus on the meaning of loving others as ourselves.
What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?
Immediately after Jesus taught that "the great and first commandment" is to love God with your whole being (all your heart, soul, mind, and strength), he quoted Leviticus 19:18 saying, "And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Matt. 22:39).
Jesus taught that your neighbor is not limited to someone who belongs to your particular group or community, but includes anyone you encounter in life, even your enemy, and especially those in need (Matt. 5:43–44; Luke 10:30–37).
The command to love your neighbor "as yourself," is not a command to love yourself, but an assumption that self-love is a natural human condition, and your love for others should mirror this natural love you have for yourself.[4] Jesus' command implies that even those with self-hatred possess an innate self-concern, which should be redirected towards loving others.
Jesus takes this opportunity to teach that the whole law of God includes both a wholehearted love for God and others. When Jesus says that this second commandment to love others "is like" the great and first commandment to love God, he means that it resembles it in importance.
The Ten Commandments reflect an ordered and integrated love for God (commandments 1–4) and others (commandments 5–10). The first four commandments that require us to love God with our whole being are the necessary foundation for the remaining six commandments that require us to love others as ourselves.
The order of the commandments—first love for God, then love for others—reflects the importance of having our primary love for God above everyone and everything else.
Only when our love for God and trust in God is first in our life, can we truly love others for their sake and for God's sake, not only for our own sake. All our other loves for people or things are properly ordered only when our greatest love is for God.
If you have not read the earlier introduction to the Ten Commandments in the first book in this series, you should read it before beginning your study of this second book. This introduction is in the appendix to this book. The topics include:
the significance of the Ten Commandments
the nature of the Ten Commandments
the purpose of the Ten Commandments
the meanings of the Ten Commandments
the Ten Commandments and the gospel
the Ten Commandments and the Christian life
the commandments to love God and your neighbor
The First Tablet of the Ten Commandments
The Lordship Catechism
What is the First Commandment?
The first commandment is, "You shall have no other gods before me."
What is forbidden by God in the First Commandment?
God forbids me to worship other gods, called idols.
What is required by God in the First Commandment?
God requires me to worship him alone as the only true God.
What is the Second Commandment?
The second commandment is, "You shall not make false images of God in worship."
What is forbidden by God in the Second Commandment?
God forbids me to have false images of him in worship.
What is required by God in the Second Commandment?
God requires me to worship him in spirit and truth.
What is the Third Commandment?
The third commandment is, "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God."
What is forbidden by God in the Third Commandment?
God forbids me to dishonor his name.
What is required by God in the Third Commandment?
God requires me to honor his name in all that I do and say.
What is the Fourth Commandment?
The fourth commandment is, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy."
What is forbidden by God in the Fourth Commandment?
God forbids me to work on the Sabbath day, except for works of mercy and necessity.
What is required by God in the Fourth Commandment?
God requires me to set apart one day in seven to rest from all my work and be refreshed by my worship of him.
The Second Tablet of the Ten Commandments
The Lordship Catechism
What is the Fifth Commandment?
The fifth commandment is, "Honor your father and your mother."
What is forbidden by God in the Fifth Commandment?
God forbids me to be disrespectful to my parents and all those he places in authority over me.
What is required by God in the Fifth Commandment?
God requires me to honor my parents and all those he places in authority over me.
What is the Sixth Commandment?
The sixth commandment is "You shall not murder."
What is forbidden by God in the Sixth Commandment?
God forbids me to do anything that might cause harm or bring an end to human life.
What is required by God in the Sixth Commandment?
God requires me to protect, support, and honor human life in all possible ways.
What is the Seventh Commandment?
The seventh commandment is, "You shall not commit adultery."
What is forbidden by God in the Seventh Commandment?
God forbids me to cause harm to or violate his design for marriage by immoral sexual thoughts, desires, and behaviors.
What is required by God in the Seventh Commandment?
God requires me to protect, support, and honor marriage in all possible ways, especially by my sexual thoughts, desires, and behaviors.
What is the Eighth Commandment?
The eighth commandment is, "You shall not steal."
What is forbidden by God in the Eighth Commandment?
God forbids me to harm or violate his design for work by coveting or stealing anything that rightly belongs to someone else.
What is required by God in the Eighth Commandment?
God requires me to be content and do honest work so that I can share generously with others in need.
What is the Ninth Commandment?
The ninth commandment is, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
What is forbidden by God in the Ninth Commandment?
God forbids me to prejudice, distort, or compromise truth in all possible ways, especially when it will cause harm to someone’s reputation.
What is required by God in the Ninth Commandment?
God requires me to uphold, affirm, and defend truth in all possible ways, especially by protecting and upholding someone's reputation.
What is the Tenth Commandment?
The tenth commandment is, "You shall not covet anything that is your neighbors."
What is forbidden by God in the Tenth Commandment?
God forbids me to have improper desires for anything that he provides for others.
What is required by God in the Tenth Commandment?
God requires me to be content with everything he provides for me and thankful for everything he provides for others.
Footnotes:
[1] Jesus is explaining the Ten Commandments the same way Moses did to Israel: "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deut. 10:12–13, 11:13, 22, 30:20; Lev. 19:18).
[2] The Bible teaches that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone (Ex. 31:8, 34:1; Deut. 4:13; 5:22). However, the Bible does not reveal which specific commandments were on the two tablets. Views throughout history include: 1) an equal division of five commandments on each tablet, 2) all ten commandments on both tablets, and 3) the first four commandments (representing love for God) on the first tablet and the last six commandments on the second tablet (representing love for others). The first commandments (146 words) are three times longer than the second commandments (26 words), and the tablets may have had writing on both sides.
[3] Following the example of Jesus, the Apostle Paul also presents the Ten Commandments as descriptions of love for others when he writes, "For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Rom. 13:9).
[4] Jesus also taught this in the Sermon on the Mount: “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 7:12).
Applying the Fifth Commandment (Love in Theology Pt 2 Series, 1 of 6)
Fifth Commandment: Honor your father and mother.
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." (Ex. 20:12)
What is the Command?
The fifth commandment is, "Honor your father and your mother."
The fifth commandment is the first commandment that shifts away from our duty to love God with our whole being (commandments 1–4) to our duty to love others as ourselves (commandments 5–10).
In the first four commandments, God claims for himself the exclusive right to our honor by commanding us to: 1) worship him alone, 2) worship him rightly, 3) honor his name, and 4) honor his Sabbath. Then, in the fifth commandment, he tells us to "Honor your father and your mother."
At the heart of the fifth commandment is honoring and loving God by honoring and loving your father and your mother. One of the reasons God places this commandment first in the six commandments to love others, is because of the centrality of the family in his plan for people to flourish in the world according to his design.
This commandment was originally given to the Israelites with a direct reference to the land of Canaan, which God was giving them. In this context, God’s promise of long life in the land implies his promise to bless the people of Israel, personally and corporately, if they obey this commandment when they enter the land.
In Ephesians 6:1–2, Paul refers to this commandment when he writes, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 'Honor your father and mother' (this is the first commandment with a promise), that it may go well with you and that you may live long on the earth." Paul's use of the fifth commandment when writing Gentiles in Ephesus reveals his broader application of the fifth command and its promises to Gentiles.[1]
One of God's purposes for instructing young children to honor him by honoring their parents is to equip and prepare them to honor him by honoring all those he will place in authority over them as adults in various aspects of life, including those in their work, church, government, etc.
The focus of this commandment on the parent-child relationship highlights the foundational experience of all humanity in which respect and submission to all of God's established authorities in life is first learned and shaped in the family. Patterns that children develop in their relationship with their parents, especially as it relates to their respect for authority, influence all their subsequent relationships and experiences in life.
The fifth commandment acts as a bridge, connecting our duty to honor and love God with our duty to honor and love others he places in authority over us—beginning with our parents. Paul teaches that showing respect for those God places in authority over us, including our parents, employers, civil leaders, and others, is how we are to love people and to fulfill God's law.[2]
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.... Pay to all what is owed to them...respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. (Rom. 13:1, 7–8)[3]
The Westminster Larger Catechism expresses this concept in its answer to question 124:
Q. 124. Who are meant by father and mother in the fifth commandment?
A. By father and mother, in the fifth commandment, are meant, not only natural parents, but all superiors in age and gifts; and especially such as, by God’s ordinance, are over us in place of authority, whether in family, church, or commonwealth.
Because of the far-reaching negative consequences of disobedience to the fifth commandment, in both individual lives and society as a whole, the Old Testament presents disrespect for parents as a major sin: one who cursed a parent could be executed (Ex. 21:17; Lev. 20:9). In the New Testament disobedience to parents is a sign of moral decadence and unbelief (Rom. 1:30; 2 Tim. 3:2).
What is Forbidden?
God forbids you to be disrespectful to your parents and those he places in authority over you.[4] God forbids you to be disrespectful to the authorities he places over you so that you will flourish in life according to his design.
In Ephesians 6:1, Paul writes to children still living under the authority of their parents, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." The phrase, "in the Lord" conveys that such obedience is not unconditional but is in alignment with the character and the word of God. God forbids children to disobey the godly discipline and direction of their parents.
However, this commandment does not condone parental abuse or the blind obedience of children. Paul writes, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4).[5] Therefore, it is right for children to disobey parents if their parents require them to disobey God.
Because of the fall of humanity into sin, many, if not all, of the authorities God places over you in life will fail you. Some of these authorities may even seriously abuse you and ask you to do things clearly against God's will. In such cases you must join with the apostles and say, "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). But even when you must disobey these authorities, you must treat them in a loving and honorable way.
God forbids disrespect for authority not only from children towards parents but in all relationships in life. This involves all kinds of disrespect toward those in positions of authority, including disregarding their directives, being angry and hateful to them, provoking them to anger, causing them grief and sorrow, insulting them, hurting them, holding them in contempt, and neglecting to help them when they're in need.[6]
For example, employees are to respect their employers, honor and obey directives, avoid wasting time, and refrain from dishonesty or neglect that could harm the employer's reputation or business. Furthermore, everyone is called to respect civil laws and the authority of the church.
What is Required?
In this commandment, God requires you to honor and show love to your parents and to all those he places in authority over you. The Heidelberg Catechism describes it like this:
Q. 104: What does God require in the fifth commandment?
A. That I show all honor, love, and faithfulness to my father and mother and to all those in authority over me, submit myself with due obedience to their good instruction and discipline, and also have patience with their weaknesses and shortcomings, since it is God’s will to govern us by their hand.
The Hebrew word used for honor in this commandment literally means "to make heavy." The way children are to honor their parents when they're younger, and still under the parent's authority, is by obeying them. Their obedience shows they are "not taking their parents lightly." God calls children to recognize and treat their parents with great respect, to give them a position of weightiness in their lives.
As children become adults, they are no longer called by God to obey their parents as they did when they lived under their parents' authority. But adult children are called by God to always show honor to their parents throughout their lives, not only by how they act toward them, but also by how they speak to them and about them to others.
In the ancient world, before governmental welfare programs like social security, the elderly had only their children to care for them. However, even when the elderly have government assistance, they still need their children’s devoted, loving care, just as their children once needed their care.
Jesus confronted Jewish religious leaders who were promoting a religious tradition which was being used by adult children to justify their failure to honor and love their parents. The tradition was that if people gave offerings in a certain way, they would not be required to help care financially for their parents. Jesus said to them:
Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.' But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, " What you would have gained from me is given to God," he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! (Matt. 15:1–7)
There is a God-designed cycle for families. For the first part of life, parents provide care for children. Then, as time passes, the roles begin to reverse as children provide care for parents. Paul writes, "But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever" (1 Tim. 5:8).
As with all the commandments, Jesus obeyed this one perfectly. One of the last words he spoke on the cross was to his disciple John, instructing him to care for Jesus' mother. At the brink of death, Jesus honored and loved his parent (John 19:26–27). [7]
Honoring your parents and those in authority over you can be extremely hard, especially when you do not consider them honorable, or if they have not treated you honorably. It is especially challenging to love and honor those in your family, workplace, civil government, and church who have abused or wrongly hurt you.
But Jesus calls you to love and pray for even your enemies, including those God places in authority over you (Matt. 5:43–48).
Catechism Questions
What is the Fifth Commandment?
The fifth commandment is, "Honor your father and your mother."
What is forbidden by God in the Fifth Commandment?
God forbids me to be disrespectful to my parents and all those he places in authority over me.
What is required by God in the Fifth Commandment?
God requires me to honor my parents and all those he places in authority over me.
Footnotes:
[1] In Ephesians 6:3, Paul's use of the Greek word often translated earth (γῆς), instead of the word translated land (χώρα), may indicate his intentional, broader application of the commandment and its promises to the Gentiles. The NAS, NIV, KJV, and RSV translations are earth. God's people in this age are now a people from every tribe, tongue, and nation on earth, and God's promised blessings to his people for their obedience to the fifth commandment are now spiritual blessings in Christ.
[2] In Ephesians 6, Paul shares examples of relationships in which respect for God-ordained roles should be honored including wives and husbands (Eph. 5:22–32), children and parents (Eph. 6:1–4), and bondservants and masters (Eph. 6:5–9). See also Colossians 3:18–21.
[3] Peter also teaches that all believers should be in submission to all the authorities God establishes over them in life "for the Lord's sake." "Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people" (1 Pet. 2:13–15).
[4] "The fifth commandment forbids being disrespectful to or not treating others as their position or relationship to us demands." Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 65.
[5] Paul also writes, "Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged" (Col. 3:21).
[6] The penalty for breaking the fifth commandment in the Old Testament civil law is the same as that for murder. "Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death." " Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death." (Ex. 21:15, 17). Proverbs 30:17 says, "The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures."
[7] Luke describes how Jesus honored his parents as a young man: "And he [Jesus] went down with them [his parents] and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man" (Luke 2:51–52).
Applying the Sixth Commandment (Love in Theology Pt 2 Series, 2 of 6)
Sixth Commandment: You Shall Not Murder
"You shall not murder." (Ex. 20:13; Deut. 5:17)
What is the Command?
The sixth commandment is, "You shall not murder."
The Hebrew word translated "murder" (תִּֿרְצָֽ֖, ratzach) signifies malicious and unlawful killing.[1] Lawful killings in the Bible include killing in war (Deut. 20:10–13) and judicial executions. Exodus 21 includes a list of crimes that were punishable by death.
Jesus taught that this commandment is more than a prohibition against physical acts of violence that lead to taking human life. It's also God's call for his people to honor and love him by honoring and loving all human beings in all possible ways. Jesus said:
You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. (Matt. 5:21–22)[2]
This commandment rests on the biblical truth that all human life is sacred because it is created by God in his image. "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Gen. 1:27). After the flood, God told Noah, "Whoever sheds human blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made mankind" (Gen. 9:6).
Because only humans are created in the image of God, we reflect a divine glory that sets us apart from all other created things. Therefore, all human life has infinite value and is inherently priceless. And since God is the ultimate creator of all human life, he alone has the rights to it. Human life cannot belong to anyone other than God.
Therefore, all human life is a sacred trust and a divine gift from God which God holds you accountable to protect, support, and honor in all possible ways.[3] In this commandment, God calls you to treat all human beings with honor, love, and dignity, reflecting the honor and love you owe to God, who created them in his image.
In the grand scheme of God's unfolding plan for humanity and the world no human being is insignificant. Every human being is an immortal being with potential for eternal significance regardless of their background, status, or struggles. There are no ordinary people.[4]
What is forbidden by God in the Sixth Commandment?
God forbids you to do anything that might cause harm or bring an end to human life. Human life is so valuable that anything which might cause it harm or cause it to come to an end must be avoided.
Murder, in its worst form, involves a callous disregard for life that results in someone's death. It includes the malicious and unlawful killing of a human being, either by direct or indirect intent. Even though someone may not intend to kill another person, but only cause them serious bodily harm, if the result is the loss of their life, that is murder.
There are several things, not always called murder, which this commandment also forbids. First, this commandment forbids suicide. Suicide is the act of self-murder. While the Bible does not teach that suicide is an unpardonable sin, it remains a serious violation of God's will that is forbidden in this commandment.
Euthanasia—the practice of using lethal means to end human life similar to the way animals are euthanized—is also forbidden. Although end-of-life decisions can be very complicated and difficult, the Bible is clear that no one but God has the right to directly end a human life.
The sixth commandment also forbids abortion, because life begins at conception, and the fetus is considered by God to be a human being created in his image. The psalmist praises God saying, "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Ps. 139:13–14).
These are very challenging and complicated ethical issues that must not be taken lightly or dealt with in an overly simplistic way. For example, biblical exceptions to the sixth commandment may include killing someone in self-defense to protect your life or the lives of others, or removing life support from a loved one so they can die naturally.
Jesus also taught that the sixth commandment refers to much more than outward physical acts that end human life. Murder also includes the underlying heart issues that lead to harming and ending human life.
The Heidelberg Catechism gives us a fuller biblical meaning of this commandment when it answers Question 105: "Does this commandment refer only to murder?" with the words: "By forbidding murder God teaches us that he hates the root of murder: envy, hatred, anger, vindictiveness. In God’s sight all such are disguised forms of murder."
The Apostle John also equates hatred with murder when he writes, "Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him" (1 John 3:15).
When Jesus teaches that anger is "heart-murder," he is not teaching that God sees anger as equal to actual murder. Although both anger and murder make us guilty before God, murder is worse in God's eyes than anger or insults.[5]
God considers anger, hatred, and insults as serious offenses because they reflect the desire to harm others whom he created in his image. You can commit "heart-murder" in God's eyes without any physical violence. The only distinction might be the level of restraint you exercise due to the fear of consequences.
Phrases that express anger or hatred toward others highlight the seriousness of this issue in God's eyes, including statements such as, "I wish he were dead," "Just drop dead," or "Go to hell." Terms like "character assassination," equate verbal attacks with murder.
Therefore, God forbids not only all physical actions that might cause harm or end a human life, but all harmful thoughts and desires that might lead to these actions. Harmful actions include showing disrespect by treating people with indifference, flippancy, coldness, and rejection.[6]
The Heidelberg Catechism Question 106 tells us:
I am not to belittle, hate, insult, or kill my neighbor—not by my thoughts, my words, my look, or gesture, and certainly not by actual deeds—and I am not to be party to this in others; rather, I am to put away all desire for revenge. I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself either.[7]
What is required by God in the Sixth Commandment?
The sixth commandment also directs us positively. Not only are we not to do anything that might cause harm or bring an end to human life, but we are also to protect, support, and honor human life in all possible ways.
This commandment is not just a prohibition against physical acts of violence but also a call to preserve life and act in ways that promote the well-being and dignity of others. The Heidelberg Catechism Question 106 asks:
Question: "Is it enough, then, that we do not kill our neighbor in any such way?"
Answer: "No. When God condemns envy, hatred, and anger, he commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves, to show patience, peace, gentleness, mercy, and friendliness toward them, to protect them from harm as much as we can, and to do good even to our enemies."[8]
Because all human life is infinitely valuable, we must not only avoid anything that might cause it harm, but we must also seek to treat all people with true dignity, warmth, seriousness, kindness, love, and acceptance, especially the weak, sick, poor, defenseless, and marginalized in society.
Therefore, we disobey the sixth commandment not only when we cause harm or bring an end to human life, but also when we have the opportunity to protect, support, and honor human life, but fail to do so.[9]
In his Large Catechism on the sixth commandment, Martin Luther writes:
Therefore, God rightly calls all persons murderers who do not offer counsel or assistance to those in need and peril of body and life. He will pass a most terrible sentence upon them at the Last Day, as Christ himself declares [in Matt. 25:42–43]. He will say, ‘I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ That is to say, ‘You would have permitted me and my family to die of hunger, thirst, and cold, to be torn to pieces by wild beasts, to rot in prison or perish from want.’[10]
The religious leaders of Jesus' day thought they were keeping the sixth commandment because they had not maliciously and unlawfully killed someone. Jesus taught them that they were all murderers in God's sight because of their anger toward others and their lack of love. They were all "liable to judgment...to the hell of fire" (Matt. 5:22–23).
Jesus raised the bar of this commandment, and all God's commandments, to the highest level so that we would understand our desperate need for the forgiveness and salvation that God the Father has graciously given us through Jesus by his Spirit. Jesus said, "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48).
Through Jesus' sinless life he suffered in your place to obey the sixth commandment perfectly in all his thoughts, words, and actions. He lived the perfect life you have not lived so that he could die the death you deserve to die, in your place, to satisfy God's just requirements in all his commands that you love God and others perfectly.
The good news is that God promises all who believe in Jesus that when they fail to obey the sixth commandment perfectly, they can be forgiven. And they can be empowered by the Holy Spirit, not only to not do anything that might cause harm or bring an end to human life, but also to protect, support, and honor human life in all possible ways.
Catechism Questions
What is the Sixth Commandment?
The sixth commandment is "You shall not murder."
What is forbidden by God in the Sixth Commandment?
God forbids me to do anything that might cause harm or bring an end to human life.
What is required by God in the Sixth Commandment?
God requires me to protect, support, and honor human life in all possible ways.
Footnotes:
[1] The ESV, NAS, and NIV translate this verse, "You shall not murder," better reflecting the original meaning of the Hebrew word. The KJV, RSV, NEB translate the verse, "You shall not kill."
[2] The "judgment" spoken of by Jesus was that of the local courts that had the power of capital punishment (Deut. 16:18). The "council" refers to the Jewish Sanhedrin which had the power of capital punishment by stoning.
[3] The concept of a sacred trust conveys the idea that just as a trustee is responsible to hold and manage the assets of a trust for the sole benefit of the beneficiary, so everyone entrusted by God with human life is responsible to protect, support, nurture, and honor that life in all possible ways as a precious and inviolable gift.
[4] C.S. Lewis writes, "It is a serious thing...to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations.... There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors." C.S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory,” in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2001).
[5] Therefore, you must avoid the erroneous conclusion that since you've already committed heart-murder in God’s eyes because of your anger, you might as well go ahead and commit actual murder. Although every sin, even the least, makes us guilty before God and deserving his just curse, there are some sins in themselves that are worse (more heinous) in the sight of God than others. What makes some sins worse than others? The Westminster Larger Catechism Q&A 150 tells us it is "by reason of several aggravations." These include the type of person that you sin against and the nature and quality of the sin. For example, the sins that involve only your heart are not seen by God as being equally evil as the sins that also involve your words and actions. And your sins against defenseless "particularly weak brethren" like children or the elderly are considered worse than sins against strong adults who can defend themselves.
[6] "We must not kill, either by hand, heart, or word, by signs or gestures, or by aiding and abetting." Martin Luther, the Fifth Commandment of Part First. The Ten Commandments of The Large Catechism , translated by F. Bente and W.H.T. Dau in Triglot Concordia: The Symbolic Books of the Ev. Lutheran Church (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921) uploaded in full at https://www.ccel.org/l/luther/large_cat/large_catechism.html (access date 02.23.24).
[7] The Westminster Larger Catechism Question 136: "What are the sins forbidden in the Sixth Commandment?" Answer: "The sins forbidden in the Sixth Commandment are, all taking away the life of ourselves, or of others, except in case of public justice, lawful war, or necessary defense; the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of preservation of life; sinful anger, hatred, envy, desire of revenge; all excessive passions, distracting cares; immoderate use of meat, drink, labor, and recreations; provoking words, oppression, quarreling, striking, wounding, and whatsoever else tends to the destruction of the life of any."
[8] In Jesus’ answer to the question, "Who is our neighbor?," he tells the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29–37) in which he teaches that someone who truly loves God and others is like the Samaritan who is willing to give up his plans and risk his safety to provide costly personal care to a total stranger of another social class and race. When Jesus tells us to "go and do likewise" he’s calling us to show our love for God and others by how we love those without housing, money, health care, etc., including our enemies.
[9] The Apostle James writes, "If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith, by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:14–17).
[10] In Martin Luther's Large Catechism, The Fifth Commandment, he also writes, "If you send a naked person away when you could clothe him, you have let him freeze to death. If you see anyone who is suffering from hunger and do not feed her, you have let her starve.... It will be of no help for you to use the excuse that you did not assist their deaths by word or deed, for you have withheld your love from them and robbed them of the kindness by means of which their lives might have been saved."
Applying the Seventh Commandment (Love in Theology Pt 2 Series, 3 of 6)
Seventh Commandment: You shall not commit adultery.
"You shall not commit adultery." (Ex. 20:14)
What is the Command?
The seventh commandment is, "You shall not commit adultery."
The Old Testament Hebrew word for adultery, like its New Testament Greek counterpart, refers to the breaking of God's ordained covenant bond of marriage between a man and a woman through acts of sexual immorality.[1]
The sixth commandment reveals the sacredness of human life, forbidding you to harm or end it and requiring you to protect, support, and honor it. The seventh commandment reveals the sacredness of marriage, forbidding you to harm or end it by sexual immorality, and requiring you to protect, support, and honor it in all possible ways.
Like all the commandments, this command has not only a narrow meaning, but also a broad meaning. Just as Jesus taught that the sixth commandment includes the sin of anger that is at the root of murder (Matt. 5:21–22), so he taught that the seventh commandment includes the sin of sexual lust that is at the root of adultery (Matt. 5:27–28).
And like all the commandments, the purpose of this commandment is not to restrict your personal freedom or rob you of pleasure in life, but just the opposite. The Bible teaches that true freedom is not found in doing whatever you want, but in being and doing what God designed you to be and do.
In the beginning, God created humanity and the world with a creative order for the way things are supposed to be (Gen. 1:26–28, 2:15). In God's design, he created marriage as the first institution that is central to all human flourishing on earth.[2]
After creating Adam, God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper (עֵזֶר ezer) fit for him" (Gen. 2:18). The Hebrew word, usually translated "helper," conveys an indispensable other who alone can deliver Adam from his incomplete state of aloneness. Adam's aloneness reflected his incompleteness in God's design and purpose for his life to "be fruitful, fill the earth, and rule over it"—making God's invisible kingdom visible over all areas of life (Gen. 1:28).[3]
God did not design Adam to flourish in life only through his relationship with God, but also through his relationship with others, especially his wife.[4] Adam needed someone to be in intimate union with him, not just as a companion and lover, though Eve would be that, but someone who would complete him and join with him to carry out God's mission in the world.
So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took from the [his] side and closed up the area with flesh. And from the side that the LORD God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him. And the man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called “woman,” for out of man she was taken.’ (Gen. 2:21–23)
The Hebrew word (צֵלָע tsela), usually translated "rib," is not an anatomical term but an architectural term that conveys an essential structural component, a side, of a building. God's creation of Eve from Adam's side was an act of divine architecture in which God solved Adam's aloneness problem, not by creating an unequal subordinate, but an essential missing counterpart to complete his whole being.
God then pronounced his institution of marriage for accomplishing his mission on earth: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24).
God designed this intimate "one flesh" union for husbands and wives, including their sexual union, to be not only an expression of their intimate union with each other but also a reflection of their intimate union with God. Paul teaches that marital union on earth is to be seen as a mirror of the ultimate relationship of Christ and his church, as the groom and bride (Eph. 5:31–32).
Jesus affirmed the sacredness of this marriage bond, saying, "So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate" (Matt. 19:3–6).[5]
The Bible presents adultery as an act that egregiously separates what God has joined together in the sanctity of the marriage covenant.[6] It violates and tears apart the marital union. It defies God’s plan for human flourishing, and undermines the oneness that God designs marriage to reflect to the world. Adultery is not merely a breach of human trust but a direct affront to God. This is why King David, after committing adultery, prayed, "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight" (Ps. 51:4).[7]
What is forbidden by God in the seventh commandment?
God forbids you to cause harm to or violate his design for marriage by immoral sexual thoughts, desires, and behaviors. The seventh commandment forbids all sexual activity outside of the exclusive marriage relationship between a man and a woman.[8]
Adultery, in its most narrow and worst form, involves someone breaking a relationship with a marriage partner through acts of sexual immorality. However, Jesus taught that the seventh commandment also forbids the underlying sexual lust that leads to adultery.[9] He said, "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to
you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matt. 5:27–28).
Lustful intent is not mere "desire," but an "over-desire," that surpasses rightful, loving boundaries established by God.[10] The Bible teaches that sexual desire is a gift from God, but when it becomes lustful intent for someone who is not your spouse, it becomes distorted, corrupt, and damaging.[11]
The Bible presents adultery (μοιχεία, moicheia) as a form of sexual immorality (πορνεία, porneia), but all sexual immorality is not adultery. There are many forms of sexual immorality beyond adultery which God forbids, including premarital sex, homosexuality, polygamy, incest, sexual abuse, bestiality, pornography, etc.[12]
Sexual lust and all other forms of sexual immorality break the seventh commandment because they violate God’s design for all sexual activities to be exclusively limited to one man and one woman in a marriage covenant. If you're married, you obey this command by confining all your sexual activity to your marriage partner. If you're single, you obey this command by abstaining from all sexual activity outside of marriage.
Therefore, God forbids not only physical adultery that breaks a marriage bond, but all forms of sexual immorality, in and out of marriage, and everything that can lead to any form of adultery, including all harmful thoughts, desires, and actions, “and whatever may incite someone to them."[13]
What is required by God in the seventh commandment?
God requires you to protect, support, and honor marriage in all possible ways, especially by your sexual thoughts, desires, and behaviors.[14] Like all the commandments, this command has both a negative and positive meaning.
Put Off Sexual Immorality
The negative side of this command requires you to turn away from all illicit sexual thoughts, desires, and behaviors toward anyone who is not your marriage partner. Paul calls the church at Corinth to, "Flee from sexual immorality" (1 Cor. 6:18).[15] Paul teaches that, unlike any other kind of sin, sexual immorality is a grave offense against your body because your body is a temple of the indwelling Holy Spirit designed to glorify God.[16]
When Jesus explains how his followers must turn away from sexual immorality, he uses the graphic imagery of self-mutilation.
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. (Matt. 5:29–30)
Jesus does not use this graphic imagery to teach you to actually mutilate your physical body, but to take radical action against all forms of sexual temptation you encounter.[17]
Therefore, you must never pamper with sexual immorality, but instead learn how to hate it and dig it out in its earliest forms, before it destroys you.[18]
Jesus is not referring to the normal sexual attraction which exists between men and women. There is no sin if the temptation is resisted, and the focus is turned elsewhere.[19] Jesus is also not referring to unavoidable exposure to sexual temptation, but to the intentional deep-seated lustful intent of the heart when your imagination fantasizes about sexual activity outside of marriage.
Martin Luther is reported to have said about his struggles with temptation, "It is one thing to allow the birds to fly over your head—but it is totally another to allow them to nest in your hair."[20]
Put On Chastity
The positive side of this command is that God requires your thoughts, desires, and behaviors to support, strengthen and honor the marriage covenant.
Chastity is a biblical virtue that includes more than merely abstaining from sexual immorality; it also involves elevating the sacredness and blessedness of marital love by maintaining sexual purity, whether single or married. It means learning how to control your body in a way that loves people and honors God.[21]
A biblical understanding of chastity includes a positive view of human sexuality. Books of the Bible like Song of Solomon and Proverbs show that God's view of sex is positive and beautiful when it is experienced according to his design in the context of marriage (Prov. 5:15–19).[22]
To help married couples resist sexual immorality and strengthen their marriage covenant, Paul writes, "The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband" (1 Cor. 7:3).[23]
Paul challenges the cultural views of his time, which regarded women as inferior to men, by teaching that both spouses have equal rights and responsibilities over each other's bodies. "For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does" (1 Cor. 7:4).
This shared authority is not about control or demand over the other’s body, but rather a call to a mutual love and respect that reflects the relationship between Christ and the church. However, throughout history, these verses have been misused to justify sexual demands and even sexual abuse in marriage.
The core of Paul's message is one of mutual consent rooted in love that never coerces or demands, but always seeks the best for the other person. Husbands are especially reminded to love their wives as Christ loved the church—selflessly and sacrificially (Eph. 5:25).[24]
To help single people resist sexual immorality and strengthen their commitment to chastity, Paul presents two clear paths. First, he presents celibacy as a commendable choice, one that he has chosen, allowing for undivided devotion to serving Christ.[25] But he recognizes that everyone cannot live contentedly without a sexual relationship, like him. For them, he offers marriage as a God-honoring alternative for the channeling of their sexual passion.[26]
Finally, Paul warns that the sexually immoral and adulterous will not inherit the kingdom of God. "Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral...nor adulterers, nor homosexuals...will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:9–10).
However, he also celebrates the transforming power of the gospel that is beautifully displayed in all those who once practiced sexual immorality, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor. 6:11).[27]
Catechism Questions
What is the Seventh Commandment?
The seventh commandment is, "You shall not commit adultery."
What is forbidden by God in the Seventh Commandment?
God forbids me to cause harm to or violate his design for marriage by immoral sexual thoughts, desires, and behaviors.
What is required by God in the Seventh Commandment?
God requires me to protect, support, and honor marriage in all possible ways, especially by my sexual thoughts, desires, and behaviors.
Footnotes:
[1] In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for adultery (נאף, na’aph) is distinguished from the Hebrew word for sexual immorality in general (זנה, zanah) that includes adultery. Similarly, in the New Testament, the Greek word for adultery (μοιχεία, moicheia) is distinguished from the Greek word for sexual immorality in general (πορνεία, porneia) that includes adultery. The English word adultery originates from the Latin term adulterare for "to alter, corrupt," conveying the concept of someone altering or corrupting a marriage bond.
[2] Besides marriage, God's creation order also includes the sanctity of life, the Sabbath rhythm of time, the sanctity of work, and political order (Gen. 1:26–28, 2:1–2, 15, 24; Rom 13:1; 1 Tim 4:3–4; 1 Pet. 2:13) for the ultimate flourishing of humanity on earth.
[3] As Adam and Eve learned how to apply God’s creative order in all their spheres of life, God’s plan was to establish his kingdom on earth through their application of them, developing the whole domain of human relationships and societal organizations—called "culture"—for his glory. This is how God ruled over not just the physical world in creation, but all the developing spheres and domains of human rule, including the early forms of family, government, industry (vocation), education, and the arts. This included developing his purposes for creation through Adam and Eve as his "sub-creators," as they continued God’s creative work of building a world that brings glory to God.
[4] God's creation of humanity in his image as male and female (Gen. 1:27), reflects his unity in diversity, mirroring the triune relationship of God's one essence and three persons. In marriage, God's image is reflected in the unity and diversity of the husband–wife relationship.
[5] Paul taught that the marriage bond is broken if the spouse dies. “For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.” (Rom. 7:2–5)
[6] The Bible often uses adultery as a metaphor to illustrate Israel’s unfaithfulness to God through idolatry. Adultery introduces a corrupting element into marriage, just as idolatry does to our relationship with God. The book of Hosea aligns adultery with idolatry, each breaking the sanctity of God’s covenant (Hos. 1:2, 2:2–5, 3:1, 4:12–13, 9:1). Idolatry, covetousness, and apostasy are referred to as adultery (Jer. 3:6, 8, 9; Ezek. 16:32; Rev. 2:22). An apostate church is called an adulteress (Isa. 1:21; Ezek. 23:4, 7, 37), and unbelieving Jews are called "an adulterous generation" (Revelation 12; Matt. 12:39).
[7] David's prayer is not a denial of his horrible sin against Bathsheba and her husband, Uriah, but a profound recognition that his sin against God, as the judge of all moral failures, was far greater by comparison.
[8] One reason God restricts all sexual activity to marriage is because he knows that intimacy and exclusivity always go together in any meaningful relationship.
[9] Jesus teaches that the root of sexual immorality and adultery is the sinful, corrupt, human heart. "For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality (πορνεία, porneia), theft, murder, adultery (μοιχεία, moicheia), coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person" (Mark 7:21–23).
[10] The New Testament Greek word translated "lustful intent" (from the verb ἐπιθυμέω, epithumeo) does not refer to normal sexual desire, but to inordinate sexual desire. The etymology of the Greek word is made up of two parts: 1) ἐπι (epi) meaning over, and 2) θυμέω (thumeo) meaning desire.
[11] Jesus teaches that lustful intent is "heart adultery," but he's not teaching that lustful intent is equal to physical adultery. All heart adultery does not lead to physical adultery, but all physical adultery begins in the heart. Although both lust and adultery make us guilty before God, physical adultery is far worse in God's eyes. Jesus teaches that only "physical adultery" can break the marriage bond and be the ground for divorce. "I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery" (Matt. 5:32). In this context, the word Jesus uses for sexual immorality (πορνεία, porneia) refers to the immoral physical sexual acts of a married person (adultery).
[12] See 1 Cor. 7:2; Leviticus 18; Rom. 1:26–27; 1 Tim. 3:2; 1 Thess. 4:3–8; Job 31:1; Matt. 5:28.
[13] Heidleberg Catechism answer to Question 109. See also Question 72 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism that inquires, "What is forbidden in the seventh commandment?" to which it answers, "All unchaste thoughts, words, and actions."
[14] "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous" (Heb. 13:4).
[15] To his disciple, Timothy, Paul pleads, "flee youthful passions" (2 Tim. 2:22), and to the church at Thessalonica, he writes, "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality (πορνεία, porneia)," (1 Thess. 4:3). To the church at Ephesus he writes, "Sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints" (Eph. 5:3). When Paul explains why followers of Jesus must flee from sexual immorality, he draws a dramatic contrast between "the two become one flesh" marriage union in Genesis 2 and the immoral union when someone has sexual relations with a prostitute. "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, ‘The two will become one flesh’" (1 Cor. 6: 15–16).
[16] "Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body" (1 Cor. 6: 18–20).
[17] The Proverbs strongly warn against the adulterous woman, portraying her as dangerously seductive (Prov. 7:10–21) and a grave threat to one’s moral and spiritual well-being (Prov. 2:16–19). The consequences of succumbing to her temptations are severe, leading to both personal and social ruin (Prov. 5:3–14, 6:26–35). Therefore, the Proverbs call for radical action to avoid her at all costs: "Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, lest you lose your honor to others and your dignity to one who is cruel, lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich the house of another. At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent" (Prov. 5:8–11; 6:24–25).
[18] Once identified, you must be willing to take radical action against your temptations, sapping the life-dominating power they can have over your heart. In Romans 13:14 Paul writes, "Make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." All that is idolatrous before your eyes must have its vivid appeal drained out of it. The Puritans called this mortification.
[19] The Bible presents the eyes as the gateway to lustful thoughts. Sexual immorality always begins with the eyes and the heart. This is why Job declared, "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman" (Job 31:1). Job's radical covenant with his eyes helped him prevent his internal sexual temptation from turning into external action.
[20] This is specifically quoted in John Nicholas Lenker, D.D., The Catechetical Writings of Martin Luther: God’s Call to Repentance, Faith, and Prayer, vol. 1 (Minneapolis, Minn.: The Luther Press, 1907) 305. The actual line from Luther reads, “In the book of an old father we read that a young brother expressed a desire to be rid of his thoughts. Thereupon the old father said: ‘Dear brother, you cannot prevent the birds from flying in the air over your head, but you can prevent them from building a nest in your hair.’"
[21] Paul writes, "Each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God" (1 Thess. 4:4–5).
[22] God not only commands us to put off all sexual immorality and adultery, but he also commands all who are married to put on the rich blessings of sexual pleasure within their marriage relationship, e.g., to "drink" (quench their sexual thirst), "rejoice in," "be satisfied," and even "be intoxicated" in their sexual love. Putting on chastity includes prioritizing the intentional nurturing of mutual sexual pleasure in marriage.
[23] The Greek word translated "conjugal rights" (ὀφειλὴν, opheilen), sometimes translated "marital duty," refers to the mutual rights and responsibilities God gives to husbands and wives within the marriage covenant, especially in terms of their sexual relations.
[24] Paul presents marital sex as not only a right but also a mutual obligation for husbands and wives to help each other avoid sexual immorality by fostering sexual intimacy in the context of mutual respect and love. "Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control" (1 Cor. 7:5).
[25] "I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord" (1 Cor. 7:32–35).
[26] "To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion" (1 Cor. 7:8–9).
[27] The dramatic stories of Jesus' interaction with an immoral Samaritan woman he met at a well (John 4:7–42) and a woman who was caught in adultery and brought to him by the religious leaders to condemn (John 8:2–11), demonstrate God's radical love and grace toward those who break the seventh commandment. Jesus does not condemn these women for their sexual sin; instead, he forgives them and offers them a new life. The good news is that the sexually immoral can be washed clean, made new, and set forth on a new lifelong journey in which they flourish by honoring the sacredness of marriage.
Applying the Eighth Commandment (Love in Theology Pt 2 Series, 4 of 6)
Eighth Commandment: You shall not steal.
“You shall not steal." (Ex. 20:15, Deut. 5:19)
What is the Eighth Commandment?
The eighth commandment is, "You shall not steal."
In the eighth commandment God reveals another way that you are to love others as you love yourself—by not stealing from them. The Old Testament Hebrew word for steal (גָּנַב, ganav), similar to its New Testament Greek counterpart (κλέπτειν, kleptein), refers to the act of wrongfully taking something that belongs to someone else.
Love to your neighbor requires you to hold sacred not only your neighbor's life (sixth commandment) and marriage (seventh commandment), but also their possessions (eighth commandment). Just as in murder you are taking someone else's right to their life, and in adultery you are taking someone else's right to their spouse, in stealing, you are taking someone else's right to their possessions.
Like all the commandments, this command has a narrow and a broad meaning. Just as the sixth commandment includes the sin of anger that is at the root of murder (Matt. 5:21–22), and the seventh commandment includes the sin of sexual lust that is at the root of adultery (Matt. 5:27–28), so the eighth commandment includes the sins of envy and greed that are at the root of stealing.
And like all the commandments, the purpose of this command is not to rob you of pleasure and joy in life, but just the opposite. The Bible teaches that true happiness and joy cannot be found by taking things you want that others have, but by learning how to be content with everything that God gives you, and generously sharing these things with others.
In the beginning, after God revealed the sanctity of human life and marriage, he revealed the sanctity of work and personal possessions for the flourishing of humanity. After God united Adam and Eve in marriage, he commissioned them to begin fulfilling his mission on earth by blessing them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion" (Gen. 1:28).
God's commission to Adam and Eve involved two primary objectives: multiplying and ruling. His commission to multiply called for Adam and Eve's procreation in marriage, through which God would fill the earth with their descendants. And God's commission for them to rule called for their vocation of work, through which God would accomplish his mission for the world through them and their descendants.
God's purpose for filling the earth with his image bearers through their procreation was so that through their vocation (work) they would be his "sub-workers."[1] In Genesis 2:15 we read, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it."[2] Although the paradise of Eden's garden was perfect, it still required Adam and Eve's work to reach its full potential.[3]
Everything you earn and own through your work is a gift from God that he has temporarily entrusted to you as a steward, not only for your sake, but also for the sake of his purposes in the world.[4] Therefore, in God's creation order for the world, there is a God-given human right to own possessions that are earned through work.
God's command not to steal is a command to respect the personal possessions of others. Stealing is not only an offense against an individual, but also against God and his design for how humanity and societies are to flourish. Obeying the eighth commandment emphasizes the sacredness and dignity of work, underscores the respect of individual property rights, and creates a society where people enjoy the fruit of their labor and recognize their calling to steward all their possessions for God's purposes and honor.
Like all the commandments, this command has both a negative and positive dimension, both vices that God forbids and virtues that God requires.
What is forbidden by God in the Eighth Commandment?
In the same way that the sixth commandment forbids you to harm or destroy the sacredness of life by anger and murder, and the seventh commandment forbids you to harm or destroy the sacredness of marriage by lust and adultery, the eighth commandment forbids you to harm or violate the sacredness of work by sins like envy and greed that lead you to stealing what belongs to someone else.
Since God ordained the sanctity of your work as the means for you to accumulate and share possessions, he forbids you to desire or take anyone else's possessions.[5] The tenth commandment, "you shall not covet," even commands you not to envy any of the possessions of your neighbor.
Why is stealing such a serious offense to God? It's because stealing reveals your core discontentment and dissatisfaction with what God has given you in life, including not only your physical possessions but also your status, your accomplishments, and your relationships. To have "more" than what God has provided you, you steal from others and thereby reveal your lack of trust in him and your lack of love for him and others.
The biblical words for "steal" often refer to someone's literal theft of personal property (Ex. 22:1–4), but the Bible presents a multitude of other ways you can steal.[6] Stealing involves not just taking someone's tangible possessions, but also property, relationships, positions, rights, ideas, and reputations.[7]
Stealing can take a myriad of forms, including:
robbery (Mark 10:19)
extortion (Ps. 62:10)
kidnapping (Ex. 21:16)
bribery (Isa. 33:15)
human trafficking (1 Tim. 1:10)
using dishonest measures (Prov. 20:10)
bringing unjust lawsuits (1 Cor. 6:7)
fraudulent business dealings (1 Tim. 3:8)
injustice in contracts (Deut. 24:15)
borrowing without returning (Ex. 22:14)
unethical loans, usuary (Ps. 37:21)
receiving stolen goods (Prov. 29:24)
moving property boundaries (Deut. 19:14)
being lazy and slothful (Prov. 18:9)
withholding fair wages (Lev. 19:13)
not paying your debts (Ps. 37:21)
not paying your taxes (Matt. 22:21)
plagiarism (Jer. 23:30)
hoarding (Prov. 11:26)
fraud (1 Thess. 4:6)
love of money (1 Tim. 6:5)
envy of others (Jas. 5:9)
unnecessary extravagance (Prov. 21:20)
wasteful gambling (Prov. 13:11)[8]
Three major categories of stealing include seizure, deception, and defrauding.
Seizure includes not only dramatic acts of robbery or burglary but also everyday behaviors that you might not think of at first as stealing, such as taking small items from work or using your employer's resources for personal benefit. Similarly, "borrowing" items from people and failing to return them is another form of theft.
Deception is another form of stealing. The Bible strongly denounces the use of dishonest measures to gain profit, an ancient practice that's evolved into modern-day false advertising and overstated claims in sales tactics. Proverbs 20:23 says, "Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord, and false scales are not good." Deceptions like this are stealing through trickery, misleading people into spending under false pretenses.
Defrauding is unjustly withholding something that is due to another person. This includes not paying for products or services you have received, or not paying on time, which uses the provider's resources without compensation. Other examples include not reporting damage you've done, under-declaring your income, inflating your expenses, or not working the full hours for which you're paid.
What is required by God in the Eighth Commandment?
Like all the commandments, this command has both a negative and positive meaning. The Bible teaches that the way you grow is by "putting off" sin and "putting on" righteousness (Col. 3:1–17). God requires you to be content and do honest work so that you can share generously with others in need.
When Paul wrote to the Ephesian church, he explained both the negative and positive meanings of this command: "Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need" (Eph. 4:28).[9]
Obedience to this command requires you not only to stop stealing but also to start exercising integrity as God's steward in all your work and with all your possessions. This begins by seeing everything you earn and own as a sacred gift from God that he has temporarily entrusted to you as a steward for your sake and for the sake of others.[10]
Author Jerry Bridges teaches there are three basic attitudes you can take toward possessions. The first says, "What's yours is mine; I'll take it." This is the attitude of the thief. The second says, "What's mine is mine; I'll keep it." This is the attitude of the self-centered unbeliever. The third says, "What's mine is God's; I'll be a steward of it so I can share it generously with others." This is the attitude of the true follower of Jesus Christ.
The purpose of your work is not merely accumulating things for your personal pleasure and comfort, but so that you can provide for your needs and the needs of your family, and so that you can give generously to others in need.[11]
Instead of stealing to get, God calls you to be working so that you might generously give. However, the problem is that many are not generous with their possessions because they are not content with what God provides for them through their work. So, they steal by either wrongfully taking or wrongfully keeping what belongs to others.
The Bible teaches that one of the worst and most common forms of stealing—by keeping for yourself what rightly belongs to someone else—is stealing from God. How do people steal from God? In Malachi 3:8–10 God himself asks this question:
Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions... Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. (Mal. 3:8–10)
You rob God when you wrongfully keep for yourself what he has revealed is rightfully his. Part of being a good steward of all that God graciously gives you through your work is obeying his command to give back to him, cheerfully and regularly, a generous portion of your income as an offering to him for the sake of his mission in the world.[12]
Obedience to the eighth commandment not only forbids you to steal from God and others, but also requires you to honor and love God and others with all that you earn and own through your work. Paul taught Timothy that this included learning how to be content with what God provided for him through his work.
Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.[13]
In Jesus’ instruction to pray for "our daily bread," he is not just teaching you to ask your heavenly Father to give you all the provisions that are necessary to sustain your physical life each day.[14] His broader purpose is to teach you how to trust in your heavenly Father to give you what is necessary each day to carry out his mission through your life—with or without the daily provisions you may think are necessary.[15]
While Paul warns that thieves and the greedy will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10), he also celebrates the transforming power of the gospel that is beautifully displayed in all those who were once thieves, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor. 6:11).[16]
Catechism Questions
What is the Eighth Commandment?
The eighth commandment is, "You shall not steal."
What is forbidden by God in the Eighth Commandment?
God forbids me to harm or violate his design for work by coveting or stealing anything that rightly belongs to someone else.
What is required by God in the Eighth Commandment?
God requires me to be content and do honest work so that I can share generously with others in need.
Footnotes:
[1] God's work did not stop at creation. Rather, it began there as a majestic display of his providence. As soon as God rested on the seventh day from his original work of creation, he immediately began his sovereign work of providence. God's work today includes carrying out his purposes through his image bearers as his "sub-workers" as they align their work with his in the world.
[2] As we compare the imagery in Genesis 1 with Genesis 2, we go from a picture of God exercising sovereignty through humans over all creation (Genesis 1), to God exercising this same sovereign rule through individual humans in very specific places on the earth—such as the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2). Here we learn that God designs us in his image so that we will cultivate and protect the unique realms of his creation which he places under our influence, to accomplish his will on earth.
[3] God designed your work to be not only the means through which he provides you with the personal possessions you need in life, but also the means through which he carries out his mission in the world through your life. God put humans into paradise to work before sin entered the world. Therefore, work is not part of a curse from God and a necessary evil because of sin. Instead, it’s a blessing from God meant to give purpose to your life as you flourish according to his design. However, work is now cursed with toil and vanity (Gen. 3:17–19). All human work, no matter how menial it may seem, is not just a job but a calling from God at the center of God's purposes. Work is the instrument through which God works to accomplish his will, not only to provide things for you and your family, but also to provide for others. So, when we work, Luther writes, "We are the fingers of God." In one of Luther’ letters in 1520, he describes how God carries out his work through many kinds of work. "A cobbler, a smith, a farmer, each has the work and office of his trade, and yet they are all alike consecrated priests and bishops, and every one by means of his own work or office must benefit and serve every other, that in this way many kinds of work may be done for the bodily and spiritual welfare of the community, even as all the members of the body serve one another." In Works of Martin Luther, edited by Henry Eyster Jacobs and Adolph Spaeth, (Philadelphia: A.J. Holman Company, 1915) 69.
[4] When Paul reminded Timothy of the transient nature of all his personal possessions over which he was only a temporary steward, he wrote, "For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world" (1 Tim. 6:7).
[5] Princeton Seminary professor, Charles Hodge, taught that the foundation for the eighth commandment is the "divine right of property," that the Creator "so constituted man that he desires and needs [the] right of the exclusive possession and use of certain things.... [This] is the only security for the individual and society." Systematic Theology vol. 3. Edited by Anthony Uyl (Woodstock, Ontario: Devoted Publishing, 2016) 191. Original publishing date 1940 by William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan. All text of Hodge’s Systematic Theology is public domain by Congress (1872).
[6] As the Heidelberg Catechism puts it, the eighth commandment also prohibits us from taking our neighbor’s goods “by means that appear legitimate” (Q&A 110).
[7] It is theft to steal someone's reputation, destroying their good name by malicious gossip and slander. "Who steals my purse, steals trash," wrote Shakespeare, "but he that filches from me my good name...makes me poor indeed."
[8] After the Westminster Larger Catechism Q&A 142 lists many examples of stealing, like these above, it concludes with these statements to show that the list is much longer: "And all other unjust or sinful ways of taking, withholding, or enriching ourselves from what belongs to others...allowing ourselves to become distracted from trusting God in the way that we acquire, maintain, and use worldly goods...and all the other ways that needlessly jeopardize our money and possessions and defraud ourselves of the use and comfort of the things God has given us."
[9] The Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 74 tells us, "What is required in the eighth commandment?" Answer: "The eighth commandment requires the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others."
[10] The Heidelberg Catechism Question 111 answer reads, "That I promote the advantage of my neighbor in every instance I can or may; and deal with him as I desire to be dealt with by others: further also that I faithfully labor, so that I may be able to relieve the needy." The New Anglican Catechism 337 says, "As God’s steward, how are you commanded to use your possessions? As I am able, I should earn my own living, care for my dependents, and give to the poor. I should use all my possessions to the glory of God and the good of creation." In To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism, edited by J.I. Packer and Joel Scandrett (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2020) 102.
[11] Paul said, "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat" (2 Thess. 3:10). Paul also instructed Timothy, "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever" (1 Tim. 5:8). Your work should be done honestly, diligently, and cheerfully, realizing that you are ultimately serving the Lord in all that you do and with all that you earn and own through your work (Col. 3:23–24).
[12] The Bible teaches that your motivation for giving tithes and offerings to God should not be mere duty or obligation, but a response to God's astonishing grace and love he has poured out on you in Jesus Christ by giving you everything you have. When Paul asked the believers in Corinth to give a financial offering to help serve the churches in Jerusalem suffering from severe famine, he wrote: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich...Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work" (2 Cor. 8:9; 9:7–8).
[13] Paul writes, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:11–13).
[14] Jesus' instruction to pray for our daily bread echoes an ancient Jewish prayer: "Feed me with the food that is needful for me" (Prov. 30:8). Proverbs 30:9 instructs us to ask God for protection from the temptations of both poverty and riches: "Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God."
[15] J. I. Packer writes, "Now comes the real test of faith. You, the Christian, have (I assume) prayed for today’s bread. Will you now believe that what comes to you, much or little, is God’s answer, according to the promise of Matthew 6:33? And will you on that basis be content with it, and grateful for it?" Growing in Christ (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2007) 190.
[16] A beautiful demonstration of God's radical love and grace toward those who break the eighth commandment is found in the story recorded in Luke 19:1–10 of Jesus’ encounter with a wealthy Jewish businessman named Zacchaeus who was well known for being a thief. Jesus does not condemn him for his greed and stealing; instead, he forgives him and offers him a new life. In response, Zacchaeus says, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold." The good news is that the greedy and thieves can be washed clean, made new, and set forth on a new lifelong journey in which they flourish by honoring the sacredness of all they earn and own through their work.
Applying the Ninth Commandment (Love in Theology Pt 2 Series, 5 of 6)
Ninth Commandment: You shall not give false testimony.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16)
What is the Ninth Commandment?
The ninth commandment is, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
In the ninth commandment God reveals another way you are to love others as you love yourself—by not bearing false witness against them. The Old Testament Hebrew words for “false witness,” similar to their New Testament counterparts, refer to a deceptive act that involves communicating something that is not true which harms someone's reputation.[1]
In the historical context of the ancient Middle East, this commandment addressed the problem of giving deceitful, false testimony against osthers in a court of law, and thereby threatening the foundational principle that safeguarded the trust and justice that was essential to a flourishing community life in the nation of Israel.
However, like all the commandments, this command has not only a narrow meaning, but also a broad meaning. Just as the sixth through eighth commandments include the underlying sins of anger, lust, and envy, so the ninth commandment (do not bear false witness) includes the underlying sin of lying.
In its narrow sense, this command addresses the deceitful act of bearing false witness against others in a court of law. But in its broader sense, it addresses all forms of lying, and all wrong thoughts, desires, and behaviors that in any way compromise truth.
The Heidelberg Catechism Question 112 expounds the broader meaning of the ninth commandment: “That I never give false testimony against anyone, twist no one’s words, not gossip or slander, nor join in condemning anyone rashly or without a hearing. Rather, in court and everywhere else, I should avoid lying and deceit of every kind.”
Like all the commandments, there is a positive command implicit in this negative one. It's a command to seek your neighbors' good by always speaking truth about them and to them.
When Paul wrote to the Ephesian church, he explained both the negative and positive meanings of this command: “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body” (Eph. 4:25).
The Heidelberg Catechism Question 112 also expounds the positive meaning: “I should love the truth, speak it candidly, and openly acknowledge it. And I should do what I can to guard and advance my neighbor’s good name.”
Just as the sixth commandment is rooted in the sanctity of human life, the seventh commandment in the sanctity of marriage, and the eighth commandment in the sanctity of work and personal possessions, so the ninth commandment is rooted in the sanctity of truth and personal reputations.
God’s original design is for humanity and the world to flourish by reflecting his image as the God of truth, upholding the sanctity of truth in all things.[2] God designed you to flourish as you display your love for him and others by aligning your life with his truth.
So, what is a lie? And why is lying such a serious offense to God? A lie is anything that distorts or compromises the reality of truth in any way. When you lie, you dishonor God, violate his design for you to flourish, and deny your core identity in Jesus Christ—who is the truth.[3] This is why God hates lies, and why you should hate lies.[4]
However, the heart of the ninth commandment is much more than merely not saying something that is untrue or saying something that is true.[5] It is a command to align your whole life, including your thoughts, desires, words, and behaviors, with the reality and virtue of truth as it has been revealed by God.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 78 says, “The ninth commandment forbids whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own or our neighbor's good name.” Speaking lies is prejudicial to truth, but the Bible presents many other ways that truth can be prejudiced and compromised by not even speaking at all.
One of the most serious ways to prejudice truth is by denying the biblical concept of absolute truth. The prevailing belief in our day is that “truth is relative,” meaning that truth is not something that is fixed, objective, or absolute; truth varies depending on individual perspectives and subjective circumstances.
In the past, people were prone to believe that truth was found outside yourself. Today, most people seem to believe that truth is found inside yourself.[6]
Historic Christianity has always affirmed that God has spoken in the Scriptures, through the words of human authors, and revealed “absolute truth,” meaning the supreme and final ultimate authority in all matters of faith and life (1 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 3:15–17; Jn. 3:16). We are to believe all that this truth teaches, obey all that it requires, and trust in all that it promises.[7]
Like all the commandments, this command has both a negative and positive dimension, both vices that God forbids and virtues that God requires.
What is forbidden by God in the Ninth Commandment?
In this command, God forbids you to prejudice, distort, or compromise truth in all possible ways, especially when it will cause harm to someone’s reputation.[8]
Prejudicing truth involves influencing the perception of information in a biased way that results in people making wrong judgments without knowing all the facts.
Distorting truth involves twisting the truth by altering information to misrepresent the facts so that people are misled into believing something that is not entirely true.
Compromising truth involves weakening the integrity of information to accommodate specific interests so that people are deceived by incomplete or partial truth.
According to Scripture, prejudicing, distorting, and compromising truth can take a myriad of forms, including:
speaking untruth deceitfully (Col. 3:9)
false testimony in court (Lev. 19:15)
gossip and slander (Ps. 15:3; Rom. 3:8)
malicious falsehoods (Prov. 26:28)
boasting and bragging (Jas. 4:16)
baseless accusations (Prov. 3:30)
flattery and adulation (Prov. 29:5)
betraying confidence (Prov. 11:13)
receiving false reports (Prov. 29:12)
exaggerating information (Prov. 25:14)
forgery (1 Kings 21:8)
reviling (1 Cor. 6:10)
withholding truth (Acts 5:3)
private and public fraud (Prov. 11:1)
not keeping your commitments (Prov. 20:6)
not defending your neighbor's name (Prov. 31:8–9)
The Bible teaches that words have great power for good and for evil. James writes:
The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell…. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. (James 3:6–9)
Given how harmful words can be, it’s not surprising to find that Paul lists sins such as gossip and slander among the most serious sins.[9] In Romans 1:29–30, immediately after Paul mentions murder, strife, and deceit, he mentions gossips and slanderers.[10]
The ninth commandment forbids not only speaking untrue words, but also the underlying thoughts and desires of the heart that lead to untrue words and behaviors. The greater sin beneath the sins of untrue words, malicious desires, and deceitful behaviors is the sin of heart idolatry.
An idol is someone or something other than God from which you get your greatest sense of identity and worth. It's what gives you your deepest sense of security, significance, and meaning in life. It's something or someone you believe in, trust in, and hope in more than God for your ultimate happiness and satisfaction in life.
Consequently, the temptation to lie and deceive arises when the things you look to for ultimate happiness more than God are threatened, such as your most meaningful relationships, your possessions, your pleasures, and your reputation. For example, you may lie about your accomplishments because you value the approval of others more than God. And you may lie on a financial report or on your tax return because you trust in your money more than God.
You may lie to impress others by exaggerating your influence. Or you may tell lies to gain favor, agreeing with opinions just to please others, even if it means compromising your own beliefs.[11]
You may lie for revenge by exaggerating truth and fabricating stories to harm someone who has caused you harm. Similarly, spreading unverified damaging information often serves the purpose of retaliation and putting people down in others' eyes whom you see above you.
What is Required in the Ninth Commandment?
Instead of speaking lies, Paul instructs you to be always “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15).[12] In this command, God requires you to “speak the truth in love” by upholding, affirming, and defending truth in all possible ways, especially by protecting and defending someone's reputation.
Upholding truth involves presenting information honestly and without bias, preserving the truth and upholding impartiality.
Affirming truth involves communicating facts accurately and correctly, sharing the whole truth faithfully without distortion.
Defending truth involves taking a stand to ensure that truth is not compromised or misrepresented, protecting integrity and transparency.
The Westminster Larger Catechism Q. 144 tells us the duties required in the ninth commandment include:
The preserving and promoting of truth between man and man, and the good name of our neighbor, as well as our own; appearing and standing for the truth; and from the heart, sincerely, freely, clearly, and fully, speaking the truth, and only the truth, in matters of judgment and justice, and in all other things whatsoever.
The catechism answer continues by listing several practical examples, including:
a charitable esteem of our neighbors (1 Cor. 13:7)
loving, desiring, and rejoicing in their good name (Rom. 1:8; 3 John 3–4)
sorrowing for and covering their infirmities (Prov. 17:9; 1 Pet. 4:8)
freely acknowledging their gifts and graces (1 Cor. 1:4–5; 2 Tim. 1:4–5)
defending their innocence as truth permits (1 Sam. 22:14)
readily receiving a good report about them (1 Cor. 13:6–7)
an unwillingness to receive an evil report concerning them (Ps. 15:3)
discouraging gossipers, flatterers, and slanderers (Prov. 25:23; 26:24–25)
love and care of our own good name (Prov. 22:1)
defending our own good name when need requires (John 8:49)
keeping our lawful promises (Ps. 15:4)
practicing whatever is true, honest, lovely, and commendable (Phil. 4:8–9)
Give the Judgment of Charity
To obey the ninth commandment requires giving people “the judgment of charity” by not rushing to premature judgment when you hear bad reports about them (Lev. 19:15; Prov. 17:15). Instead, you show them love that “believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:6–7) by allowing them to defend themselves and correct misconceptions so the whole truth is learned before you make a judgment.[13]
Do Not Receive Bad Reports
Not only is spreading gossip wrong, but so is the act of listening to it. The Bible says, “An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue” (Prov. 17:4).[14] By listening to gossip you are complicit in harming someone's reputation and allowing slander about them to flourish.[15]
Defend Other's Reputations
The ninth commandment also requires you to defend and promote the good name of others.[16] The Bible says, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold” (Prov. 22:1).[17] Defending someone's reputation involves opposing gossip, challenging unproven narratives, and courageously standing up for the names of others as far as the truth allows.”[18]
Speak Truth in Love
You can disobey the ninth commandment by sharing true information in an unloving way. Even if all the facts are correct, they can be presented with harmful intent, or by omitting other truths, which can result in bearing false witness against someone and maliciously harming their reputation.[19]
Conversely, there are extreme circumstances, like war or persecution, when you can obey the ninth commandment by not sharing the whole truth or even by conveying something that is not true to protect someone.[20] Obeying the ninth commandment by speaking the truth in love is a nuanced aspect of Christian ethics that can sometimes lead to difficult situations and decisions.[21]
Catechism Questions
What is the Ninth Commandment?
The ninth commandment is, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
What is forbidden by God in the Ninth Commandment?
God forbids you to prejudice, distort, or compromise truth in all possible ways, especially when it will cause harm to someone’s reputation.
What is required by God in the Ninth Commandment?
God requires you to uphold, affirm, and defend truth in all possible ways, especially by protecting and upholding someone's reputation.
Footnotes:
[1] The Old Testament Hebrew words in Exodus 20:16 for “false witness” are עֵד שָׁוְא (ed shav), where עֵד (ed) means 'witness' and שָׁוְא (shav) means 'falsehood' denoting a false declaration. In the parallel passage in Deuteronomy 5:20, another Hebrew word that conveys the concept of deceitfulness (שׁוֹא shoa) is used in the place of “false” שָׁוְא (shav) pointing to the deceitful purpose that underlies falsehood. In the New Testament, the Greek equivalent is ψευδομαρτυρέω (pseudomartyreo), which also means to bear false witness deceitfully and is composed of ψεῦδος (pseudos), “falsehood” or “lie,” and μαρτυρέω (martyreo), “to bear witness.”
[2] Jeremiah tells us “the LORD is the true God” (Jer. 10:10). The Psalmist says, “You have redeemed me, LORD, God of truth” (Ps. 31:5). God's attribute of truth is revealed in Jesus Christ, who is “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14), and who declared himself to be “the truth” (John 14:6). Jesus also described the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of truth,” who “will guide you into all the truth” (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13).
[3] Lying strikes at the core of trust, which is the bedrock of all meaningful relationships and healthy societies. And without trust the very fabric of relationships and societies unravels and disintegrates. Israel was tasked by God to uphold his truth for their sake and for the sake of his name as a witness to the nations. Therefore, bearing false witness in Israel often resulted in serious consequences, including death. (Deut. 19:16–21). Similarly, in the New Testament we see the serious offense of lying in the account of Ananias and Sapphira who were immediately struck dead by God when they lied to the church leaders, instilling a deep fear and respect for always upholding truth in the early church (Acts 5:11).
[4] “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers” (Prov. 6:16–19). Through the prophet Zechariah God said to Israel, “These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace; do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord” (Zech. 8:16–17). Therefore, you should love truth and hate lies.
[5] We will learn later that it is possible to disobey the ninth commandment by saying something that is true, and it's possible to obey the ninth commandment by saying something that is not true.
[6] In the Western world the historical roots of the view that truth is relative can be traced back to the Enlightenment era, sometimes called the Age of Reason, which spanned from the late seventeenth to the late eighteenth century in Europe. Enlightenment Modernism (sometimes called Rationalism, Scientific Naturalism, or Secularism) embraced the belief that we can escape the superstition of God, the myth of religion, and the existence of moral absolutes by finding truth though scientific investigation and reason. Two world wars and the Jewish holocaust made people realize that science and reason could not answer life's greatest questions. This opened the door to postmodern views, and “post-postmodern” views that embrace new forms of spirituality, but all retain the belief that all truth is relative.
[7] Author Francis Schaeffer often responded to the relativism in his day with the good news that, “He [God] is there and he is not silent.” In other words, we do not live in a world that is a “closed system,” where God has not revealed himself and what is true. Instead, we live in an “open system,” where God has spoken in history, and ultimately in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word, as well as in the Bible, his written word. Truth is not merely an abstract concept or a set of propositions, although it is that. Truth is also relational and ultimately found in God and his Son, Jesus Christ, who said, “I am the truth,” not “I have truth” (John 14:6). The Bible underscores the sanctity of truth because of God's truthful nature, and because humans, made in God's image, are designed by him to flourish only when they reflect his truthfulness in all areas of life.
[8] The Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 78 tells us, “The ninth commandment forbids whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own, or our neighbor's, good name.”
[9] Deceitful words which are communicated by speech are called gossip and slander and often contain misinformation, rumor, innuendo, and hearsay. Deceitful words which are communicated by writing are called libel. Either way the victims are not able to defend themselves, to explain all the facts, their motives, and correct misconceptions. Instead, people are charged, tried, and convicted without the whole truth.
[10] Paul also lists the dangerous sins of quarreling, hostility, slander, gossip, and disorder alongside sexual immorality and sensuality (2 Cor. 12:20–21). He told the Galatian Christians that “dissensions and divisions” were from their sinful nature (Gal. 5:19–20), and he strongly admonished the Ephesian Christians to “put away all slander and malice” (Eph. 4:31).
[11] Self-preservation and profit are also common motives, where truths are twisted to avoid consequences or enhance personal gain. Additionally, lies of convenience are commonplace, from excuses for absence to insincere commitments. People say they are sick when they're not, or make commitments they know they won't keep, or say that someone is out when they are in. Sometimes people say, “Sure I'll try to be there!” when they know they won't, or say, “I'd love to join you, but I have another commitment,” when they don't.
[12] Similarly, Jesus teaches us, “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No;’ anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matt. 5:37).
[13] The problem is that most people like to hear gossip. The Bible says, “The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body” (Prov. 18:8). It’s commonplace for people not to give others the judgment of charity.
[14] The Bible teaches you should not even associate with someone who gossips and slanders others: “Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore, do not associate with a simple babbler” (Prov. 20:19), and “A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much” (Prov. 20:19).
[15] There is an old rabbinic saying that "gossip and slander kills three: the one who speaks it, the one who listens to it, and the one about whom it is spoken. Thomas Watson wrote, “He that raises a slander, carries the devil in his tongue; and he that receives it, carries the devil in his ear.” The Ten Commandments, 1692, (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1965) 169–170.
[16] The Heidelberg Catechism Q. 112 expounds the positive meaning of the ninth commandment by stating, “I should do what I can to guard and advance my neighbor’s good name.” Martin Luther taught in his Large Catechism that your “reputation is something quickly stolen, but not quickly returned.” The Ten Commandments of The Large Catechism, translated by F. Bente and W.H.T. Dau in Triglot Concordia: The Symbolic Books of the Ev. Lutheran Church (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921) uploaded in full at https://www.ccel.org/l/luther/large_cat/large_catechism.html (access date 07.03.24).
[17] Early Christians commended individuals like Demetrius for being “well-spoken of by everyone” (3 John 1:12) and required all church elders to be “well-regarded by outsiders” (1 Tim. 3:7).
[18] In Paul's last letter from prison to Timothy, before Paul's execution, he sadly told Timothy that no one came to defend him. “At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!” (2 Tim. 4:16).
[19] You can use truth deceitfully to be untruthful. Satan used the truths of Scripture to tempt Jesus (Matt. 4:1–11).
[20] In the Bible we see several examples of people who intentionally deceived others and seem to be commended by God. These include the Hebrew midwives who deceived Pharaoh to protect infant boys (Exod. 1:15–21), Rahab who deceived the Canaanite soldiers to protect Israelite spies (Josh. 2:1–6), Jael who deceived the enemy general Sisera to help deliver Israel (Judg. 4:17–22), and David who repeatedly deceived people to escape from Saul, Achish, and others (1 Sam. 19:12–17; 21:10–15, 27). James writes, “And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?” (James 2:25).
[21] The Bible does not teach that Christians must always speak the whole truth in every situation. For example, if you were hiding Jews in your basement in World War II and the Nazis knocked on your door and asked if you were hiding Jews, you would not disobey the ninth commandment if you intentionally misled them by conveying to them things that were not true. In such a case, conveying to the Nazis “things that were not true” would be lying in a technical sense, but would not be the same as the lying forbidden in the ninth commandment because of the unique circumstances and motives. Instead, there are several examples in the Bible (see footnote above) that would seem to encourage you to “technically lie” to the Nazis to protect the Jews.