What are the 10 commandments. Ten Commandments of God in Orthodoxy
Orthodoxy: 10 commandments of God. This is the topic of this article. I ask all my readers to be tolerant of each other. I write articles in the “Faith and Religion” section, both for believers and doubters. It is important for you and me to respect each other’s views. Freedom is the main quality that our Creator has endowed us with in His image.
One of the great thinkers said that even if God had not given us his Commandments, we would still “know” them. Because the internal measure of how to act correctly - conscience - tells us at every moment how to act fairly. And in other words, how to act in accordance with the Laws of the Cosmos (the Laws of God).
Interesting fact: a rare icon in the ancient Kyiv St. Cyril Church depicts God the Father. And next to it is the inscription: “K O S M O S.” The word "cosmos" translated from Greek means "order".
So, why are the Commandments needed? By and large, the Commandments are not needed by God, but by us. The commandments can be compared to the rules of the road. What happens if you drive in the oncoming lane? It is clear that you will crash.
The same thing happens in life. We get into trouble and illness if we break the commandments. And not because God is bad. A because we violated the "traffic" rules.
Just as in the Cosmos the planets and stars obey certain Laws of gravity, so our life obeys certain Laws (Commandments). If you drive in your lane, everything is fine. As soon as I drove into oncoming traffic, I received a “blow of fate,” as they often say.
I like this video in which the famous singer and actor Pyotr Mamonov says that actually It pays to be a Christian. Because you know and keep the Commandments and thanks to this you don’t get sick, troubles don’t happen to you etc.
10 commandments of God in Russian multiples
- Believe in one God;
- Don't create idols for yourself(money, career or some other idols often become more important than God for us);
- Don't call on God in vain(we often, for example, stumble and say: “Oh, Lord!” - this cannot be done, we need to call on God only when we really need his help);
- Work 6 days, and the 7th day of the week (Sunday) - do not work, devoting it to God(firstly, with the help of this Commandment, God takes care of people so that they rest at least one day a week plus serve God (go to the Temple for services, pray, do good deeds);
- Honor and respect your parents - this is an important Commandment, you need to remember that the Law of Life is such that as you take care of your parents, so the children will take care of you;
- Dont kill— God forbids people to judge themselves and other people. Only God has the right to “take” life from a person (moreover, the Holy Fathers say that God takes the soul at the best time for it, so that the soul suffers the minimum possible punishment for all its sins);
- Don't commit adultery(husband and wife must remain faithful to each other throughout their lives);
- Do not steal;
- Do not lie;
- Don't envy, don't covet other people's things.
The 10 Commandments of God in Church Slavonic [and in Russian] in full
Where did the Commandments come to us from?
The commandments came to us from the Old Testament. The prophet Moses received them from God. You can watch this Old Testament story with your children in this wonderful cartoon.
How to keep the Commandments?
Is it difficult for us to brush our teeth every day? This is the Law adopted in society, and we do it every day, without even thinking about whether it is difficult or not difficult. Is it easy for us to go to work every day? What about raising children, treating them when they are sick, staying up all night? What about caring for the elderly? Everything is difficult. But in everything there is a “difficult” part and a joyful one!
I think this allegory can help you keep the Commandments. The servant listens to his King in everything and is very sad when he could not fulfill his order. Likewise, the son tries not to offend his father by disrespecting him if his rules are not followed. Imagine now how much greater God is than a king and a father! And He loves us disproportionately more, because we are His creation, His children.
I think most of you already keep the first Commandments of God (the main Commandments). The hardest thing to deal with is small temptations - don’t deceive, don’t gossip, don’t judge, don’t envy!
It’s a pity I don’t remember who said: Learning to faith is like learning to play the violin!
Yes, it is difficult to keep the Commandments. Here's some practical advice. To control yourself, you can put a red string on your wrist. She will remind you not to lie, not to mention the name of God unnecessarily (in vanity), not to slander anyone, not to gossip, not to appropriate someone else’s property (this never benefits you), not to envy others, but to appreciate what you have. Know that there are many people who do not have what you have and would feel happy if they had what you have.
And one more thing: don’t forget to call your parents, take care of them!
What happens if you start keeping the Commandments?
You will notice that keeping the Commandments will quickly bring benefits; you will receive fruits, a reward for your efforts and labors. Your life will change, everything will work out well as if by itself.
It’s not for nothing that they say that “fools are lucky.” Simple, naive people used to be called fools. They did everything like children, sincerely and honestly. And people often noticed that they were lucky.
I am grateful to God for revealing this secret to me. The secret of how easy it is to live if you keep the Commandments. I hope the article “Orthodoxy: 10 Commandments of God” will help you too.
May God help you in all your affairs!
Before we begin our discussion on the topic of Christ’s commandments, let us first determine that the law of God is like that guiding star that shows a person traveling his way, and a man of God the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. The law of God has always meant light, warming the heart, comforting the soul, consecrating the mind. Let's try to briefly understand what they are - the 10 commandments of Christ - and what they teach.
Commandments of Jesus Christ
The commandments provide the main moral basis for the human soul. What do the commandments of Jesus Christ say? It is noteworthy that a person always has the freedom to obey them or not - the great mercy of God. It gives a person the opportunity to grow and improve spiritually, but also imposes on him responsibility for his actions. Violation of even one commandment of Christ leads to suffering, slavery and degeneration, in general, to disaster.
Let us remember that when God created our earthly world, a tragedy occurred in the angelic world. The proud angel Dennitsa rebelled against God and wanted to create his own kingdom, which is now called Hell.
The next tragedy occurred when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and their lives experienced death, suffering, and poverty.
Another tragedy occurred during the Flood, when God punished people - Noah's contemporaries - for unbelief and violation of God's laws. This event is followed by the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, also for the sins of the inhabitants of these cities. Next comes the destruction of the Israeli kingdom, followed by the kingdom of Judah. Then Byzantium and the Russian Empire will fall, and behind them there will be other misfortunes and disasters that will be brought down by God’s wrath for sins. Moral laws are eternal and unchangeable, and whoever does not keep the commandments of Christ will be destroyed.
Story
The most important event in the Old Testament is people receiving the Ten Commandments from God. Moses brought them from Mount Sinai, where God taught him, and they were carved on two stone tablets, and not on perishable paper or other substance.
Until this moment, the Jewish people were powerless slaves working for the Egyptian kingdom. After the emergence of the Sinai legislation, a people is created that is called to serve God. From this people later came great holy people, and from them the Savior Jesus Christ himself was born.
Ten Commandments of Christ
Having familiarized yourself with the commandments, you can see a certain consistency in them. So, the commandments of Christ (the first four) speak of human responsibilities towards God. The following five define human relationships. And the latter calls people to purity of thoughts and desires.
The Ten Commandments of Christ are expressed very briefly and with minimal requirements. They define the boundaries that a person should not cross in public and personal life.
First commandment
The first sounds: “I am your Lord, may you have no other Gods besides me.” This means that God is the source of all goods and the director of all human actions. And therefore, a person must direct his entire life to the knowledge of God and glorify his name with his pious deeds. This commandment states that God is one in the whole world and it is unacceptable to have other gods.
Second Commandment
The second commandment says: “Do not make for yourself an idol...” God forbids a person to create imaginary or real idols for himself and bow before them. The idols for modern man have become earthly happiness, wealth, physical pleasure and fanatical admiration for their leaders and leaders.
Third Commandment
The third says: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” A person is forbidden to use the name of the Lord irreverently in the vanity of life, in jokes or empty conversations. Sins include blasphemy, sacrilege, perjury, breaking vows to the Lord, etc.
Fourth Commandment
The fourth says that we must remember the Sabbath day and spend it holy. You need to work for six days, and devote the seventh to your God. This means that a person works six days a week, and on the seventh day (Saturday) he must study the word of God, pray in church, and therefore devote the day to the Lord. These days you need to take care of the salvation of your soul, conduct pious conversations, enlighten your mind with religious knowledge, visit the sick and prisoners, help the poor, etc.
Fifth Commandment
The fifth says: “Honor your father and mother...” God commands to always care for, respect and love your parents, and not to offend them either in word or deed. A great sin is disrespect for father and mother. In the Old Testament, this sin was punished by death.
Sixth Commandment
The sixth says: “Thou shalt not kill.” This commandment prohibits taking the life of others and oneself. Life is a great gift from God, and only it sets man the limits of earthly life. Therefore, suicide is the most serious sin. In addition to murder itself, suicide also includes the sins of lack of faith, despair, murmuring against the Lord and rebellion against his providence. Anyone who harbors a feeling of hatred towards others, wishes death to others, starts quarrels and fights, sins against this commandment.
Seventh Commandment
In the seventh it is written: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” It states that a person must be, if he is not married, chaste, and if married, remain faithful to his husband or wife. In order not to sin, there is no need to engage in shameless songs and dances, watch seductive photographs and films, listen to piquant jokes, etc.
Eighth Commandment
The eighth says: “Don’t steal.” God forbids the taking of another's property. You cannot engage in theft, robbery, parasitism, bribery, extortion, as well as evade debts, defraud the buyer, conceal what you have found, deceive, withhold the salary of an employee, etc.
Ninth Commandment
The ninth says: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” The Lord forbids a person to give false testimony against another in court, to make denunciations, to slander, to gossip and to slander. This is a devilish thing, because the word “devil” means “slanderer.”
Tenth Commandment
In the tenth commandment, the Lord teaches: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not covet your neighbor’s house, nor his field, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox...” Here people are instructed to learn to refrain from envy and not have bad desires.
All of Christ’s previous commandments taught primarily correct behavior, but the last one addresses what can happen inside a person, his feelings, thoughts and desires. A person always needs to take care of the purity of his spiritual thoughts, because any sin begins with an unkind thought, on which he can dwell, and then a sinful desire will arise, which will push him to unfavorable actions. Therefore, you need to learn to stop your bad thoughts so as not to sin.
New Testament. Commandments of Christ
Jesus Christ briefly summarized the essence of one of the commandments as follows: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” The second is similar to it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is the most important commandment of Christ. It gives that deep awareness of all those ten, which clearly and clearly help to understand in what human love for the Lord is expressed and what contradicts this love.
In order for the new commandments of Jesus Christ to benefit a person, it is necessary to ensure that they guide our thoughts and actions. They must penetrate our worldview and subconscious and always be on the tablets of our soul and heart.
The 10 commandments of Christ are the basic moral guidance necessary for creation in life. Otherwise everything will be doomed to destruction.
The righteous King David wrote that blessed is the person who fulfills the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night. He will be like that tree planted by streams of water, which bears its fruit in its season and does not wither.
God gave the Ten Old Testament Commandments (Decalogue) on Mount Sinai through Moses to the Jewish people when he was returning from Egypt to the land of Canaan, on two stone tablets (or tablets). The first four commandments contain the duties of love for God, the last six contain the duties of love for one's neighbor (i.e., all people).
Book of Exodus, chapter 20, 10 commandments of Moses.
(see also: Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 5)
1 And God spoke all these words, saying:
1. 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
2.4 You shall not make for yourself any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 Do not worship them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, 6 and showing mercy to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
3. 7 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain.
4. 8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; 9 Six days thou shalt work and do all thy work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: on it thou shalt not do any work, neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger who is in your gates; 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.
5. 12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
6. 13 Do not kill.
7. 14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. 15 Thou shalt not steal.
9. 16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. 17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.
Gospel of Mark, chapter 12
28 One of the scribes... came and asked Him, “What is the first of all the commandments?” 29 Jesus answered him: The first of all commandments is: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength—this is the first commandment! 31 The second is like this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other greater commandment than these. 32 The scribe said to Him: Well done, Teacher! You have spoken the truth, that there is only God and there is no other besides Him; 33 And to love Him with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is greater than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. 34 Jesus, seeing that he answered wisely, said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE COMMANDMENTS
The commandments of God are an external law given by God in addition to the weakened, as a result of a sinful life, the internal guideline of a person - his conscience.
The first commandment given at Sinai reads: “I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt have no god other than Me” (I am the Lord thy God... thou shalt have no other gods before Me).
This first commandment is the basis of all ten commandments of Sinai. It says that there is only one God - living and true, Who must be worshiped and Who must be loved with all our heart and with all our soul.
Could we, Orthodox Christians, really have “other gods?” Yes, it can be. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself said: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). This means that any treasure can become our idol, which we will begin to worship and love. For every treasure to which our heart is attached comes between God and us and becomes an idol for us.
If the first commandment speaks about the one living God and worshiping only Him, then the second commandment speaks about how to worship God.
“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness, such as the tree in heaven, the tree below, or the tree in the waters under the earth; thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them.” , and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth. Do not worship them and do not serve them - Ex. 20, 4 - 5).
In order for us to correctly understand the words of the commandment, let us recall the words of St. ap. Paul, what he said in Athens: “We, therefore, being the race of God, should not think that the Godhead is like gold, or silver, or stone, which received its image from the art and imagination of man” (Acts 17:29).
The Second Commandment prohibits idolatry and calls all believers to worship God. in spirit and truth (see John 4:21 - 24).
Idolatry is when people, instead of worshiping God, worship nature or things made by man himself.
In addition to gross idolatry, there is also subtle idolatry, such as covetousness, gluttony, or delicacy, gluttony and drunkenness, pride, vanity, and hypocrisy.
The question involuntarily arises: is it not prohibited by the second commandment to have sacred images in general?
This is the answer we find in the Orthodox Catechism of Metropolitan Philaret:
“Not at all. This is clearly evident from the fact that the same Moses, through whom God gave the commandment prohibiting idols, at the same time received from God a command to place in the Tabernacle... golden sacred images of Cherubim, and, moreover, in that inner part of the temple in which the people turned to worship God" (see Exodus 25, 17-22).
The veneration of holy icons, the cross, and sacred images in general is not idolatry because the respect shown by them relates to the one whom they remind us of...
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” - Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who takes His name in vain (Ex. 20:7).
We can safely say about this commandment that it is violated more than all other commandments of God in our lives.
What does it mean to take the name of the Lord in vain? This means: to pronounce it at every trifle, in small, insignificant circumstances, to pronounce it at every step... Who among us is not guilty of this sin?...
Taking the name of God in vain is also the so-called deification. We know how common it is among people to deify, that is, calling God as a witness in necessary and unnecessary cases. And how often God is called as a witness in cases of obvious lies, in cases of obvious untruth... We know that even the apostle committed this sin. Peter (see Matthew 26:74)...
There should be no place for God among Christians, for this is a clear violation of God’s commandment!
Let us always remember that if we are guilty of violating one commandment, then we are guilty of violating the law of God, the will of God in general (see James 2, 10), for the will of God is indivisible.
The fourth commandment reads:
“Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy: do it six days, and do (in them) all your work; on the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord your God. - Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Work six days and do all your work; and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God” (see Exodus 20:8-11).
To understand the fourth commandment given by God at Sinai, we must know that the word “Saturday” is not a Russian word, but comes from the Hebrew word “Sabbath”, which means; peace. This means that in Hebrew the fourth commandment exactly says: “Remember the day of rest... six days you shall work and do all your work; and the seventh day is a day of rest for the Lord your God.”
Why did the Church of Christ in the New Testament begin to sanctify the first day of the week, that is, Sunday as a day of rest? Because the resurrection of the Lord took place on the first day of the week (see Luke 24: 1 - 3). And this day, Sunday, has become a day of rest for all the faithful children of God of the New Testament since the birth of the Church of Christ on earth (see John 20, 19-24; Acts 20, 7-12; 1 Cor. 16, 1-2; Rev. 1, 10).
Following the example of the holy apostles and ancient Christians, we honor and sanctify the first day of the week, that is, Sunday - in memory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which gave us justification and liberation from sinful slavery.
What does it mean to remember and sacred the day of rest? - On the day of rest we should not do things that can be done at another time. But this does not mean that we should not do things that are impossible or difficult to do without on the day of rest. What are the things that cannot be done without on the day of rest? This must be decided personally by everyone.
The New Testament does not list things that can and cannot be done on the day of rest, as we see, for example, in the Old Testament regarding the Sabbath. However, church tradition clearly tells us what can and should be done on the day of rest.
First of all, we must be “in the spirit” on the day of rest, as the apostle was in the spirit. John on Sunday on the island of Patmos.
Being in the spirit on the day of rest means focusing on your inner spirit man. This means giving our soul good spiritual food. This food is given in our St. churches, so attending services on the day of rest is the best way to show care for our inner man.
If we were unable to be in church on Sundays and holidays, then we will give our soul spiritual food at home - by reading the Word of God and spiritual literature.
But the Day of Rest does not mean a day of inactivity. To sanctify the day of rest means to fill it with holy deeds (see Luke 13:10-16; John 5:5-16)- deeds of love and mercy. Many bedridden patients await visits and consolation. Let us go to them with feelings of love and compassion and with words of consolation and encouragement. And this will be the best observance of our days of rest.
When we look at the first four commandments, we see what they say about our relationship to God. Starting with the fifth commandment, God tells us about our attitude towards people.
“Honor your father and your mother, may you be well, and may you live long on earth.” - Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you (Ex. 20:12).
He who does not honor his father or mother in the broadest sense of the word cannot be a good Christian or a good Christian woman.
We may be surprised by the promise of God associated with the fifth commandment... The longevity that God associates with the fulfillment of the fifth commandment will become understandable to us if we remember that the violation of this commandment was punishable by death among the people of Israel. In Exodus 21:17 we read: “Whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death.” Solomon speaks very clearly in his parables about the result of breaking the fifth commandment: “Whoever curses his father and his mother, his sanctuary will go out in the midst of deep darkness” (Proverbs 20:20).
In order for us to better understand the meaning of the fifth commandment about honoring parents, it is necessary to note that the concept of father and mother cannot be limited only to the father and mother from whom we were born... It must include every person who is older than us in physical or spiritual age, who above us in knowledge or experience, who occupies a commanding position in the church or people. Then only we will understand the greatest significance of the fifth commandment both for the believing people and for all humanity.
The sixth commandment says: “Thou shalt not kill!” - Do not kill (Ex. 20, 13).
The word “kill” is well understood by all of us. But we must penetrate even deeper into its meaning. Killing means; to deprive a living being of the most precious thing it possesses, that is, life. Between birth and death, life manifests itself in the most complex phenomena - in processes occurring in the body, and in humans, in the soul. Having created man, God breathed into him “breath of life”, after which only the man became “with a living soul” (Gen. 2:7). When creating plants and animals, God did not endow them with His “breath.” This suggests that man received from God many Divine properties that plants and animals do not possess. And the sixth commandment was given by God to protect life, as the highest good that a person possesses.
The Word of God says that murder is not only the taking of oneself or another person's life, but also the destruction of life, leading to premature death.
What destroys human life? Alcohol slowly but surely leads the alcoholic to an early grave. Smoking, slowly but surely, poisons a person with the strongest poison of nicotine. Both the alcoholic and the smoker are definitely breaking the sixth commandment, which is: “Thou shalt not kill!” Excesses in food and drink definitely destroy the digestive organs and disrupt cardiac activity, thereby shortening a person’s life. May the Lord preserve us from gluttony, which is slow suicide.
Neglect of medicine can also lead to premature death of human life... But vice versa: drug abuse can also lead to a shortening of life.
But what is especially surprising: the Word of God equates hatred with murder. Thus, in the first conciliar letter of St. ap. John the Theologian we read: “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer” (3:15).
Hatred is a feeling of intense enmity that is inextricably linked to wishing the worst for the person we hate. And if we analyze the feeling of hatred even more deeply, then we will see that hatred carries within itself the desire for the death of the one we hate. This desire for the death of the one we hate may be hidden deep in our hearts, but it accompanies every feeling of hatred, whether we like it or not. That is why everyone who hates his neighbor is a potential murderer, that is, a hidden murderer who has not shown himself in practice, but wants the destruction and disappearance of the person he hates.
The Word of God speaks of one weapon, which also carries death within itself and which is also capable of killing. This is the language of man. St. ap. Jacob writes:
“No one can tame the tongue: it is an uncontrollable evil; it is filled with deadly poison” (3, 8). What serious words about the lethality of our language! They say that a person can be killed with the tongue, that is, with the word... Such sins of our tongue as slander and slander can truly deeply and mortally wound the heart of our neighbor.
And slander is especially deadly. It really destroys the slandered person: it destroys his dignity, his authority. Slander can turn the purest angel into the dirtiest creature in the eyes of others... Let the words of the sixth commandment warn us with regard to our tongue: “Thou shalt not kill!”
The seventh commandment says: “You shall not commit adultery.” - You shall not commit adultery (Ex. 20:14).
This great commandment is quite clear to all humanity, and only one thing is necessary - that there be a burning desire in the heart to always fulfill it.
Our Lord Jesus Christ in His Sermon on the Mount expanded the seventh commandment of the Old Testament. He tells us that, in addition to physical adultery, there is also spiritual adultery, adultery in the heart, adultery in the thoughts... And in His eyes, our unclean thoughts are as sinful as our unclean deeds.
The seventh commandment - the commandment “thou shalt not commit adultery” - calls us to absolute chastity, to chastity not only of the flesh, but also of the spirit, to chastity of heart and thoughts. And such chastity will be our property if we constantly abide in Christ, and He in us.
The eighth commandment is short and clear: “Thou shalt not steal.” - Don't steal. (Ex. 20, 15).
Many thefts, many thefts, seemingly harmless, are committed on our earthly planet, and how necessary for humanity is the commandment of God: “Thou shalt not steal.” For most people, this commandment is forgotten or deliberately violated. We often don't care about the appropriation of any little thing. One mother severely punished her boy son for taking someone else's spool of thread. The neighbor tells her: “Well, is it really possible to punish a boy for a reel like he took gold?” The mother replied: “Today he took the reel, and tomorrow he will take the gold.” Of course, human law will not punish a spool of thread as severely as gold. But God's law is strict also in relation to so-called little things. for petty thefts are a sure path to big thefts, and most importantly, they are, like big thefts, a violation of the eighth commandment.
The ninth commandment is: “You shall not listen to false testimony against your friend.” - Do not bear false witness against your neighbor (Ex. 20:16).
Some interpreters of God's Word limit the ninth commandment to testimony in the courts. The institution of witnesses in courts exists in all countries of the world, and evasion of testimony is punishable by the laws of each country. Unfortunately, there are witnesses who testify in court with lies.
Since false testimony in courts is punishable by law, not all witnesses dare to give false testimony there. False witnesses bear their false testimony where they are not threatened with punishment. Thus, the ninth commandment is much broader in scope: it embraces a person’s entire life...
We all know that there are two sides to every person: good and bad. Every person has pros and cons, good, positive qualities, and bad, negative qualities. If we portray a person only from the bad side, if we emphasize only his bad qualities, then we are definitely giving false testimony to him, that is, we are portraying him untruthfully. We know the property of flies - to look for wounds and ulcers on the human body and sit on them. This is exactly what those who say only bad things about people do. They say that Tsar Peter the Great allegedly interrupted every person who told him only bad things about someone, with these words: “Don’t just tell me about the bad sides of this person - he also has good qualities, so tell me about them too.” "
But a false witness never talks about a person’s good qualities; he only carries black paints with him. False testimony against a person is the spreading of unverified and unkind rumors about him. The effect of this kind of false testimony is extremely powerful. It is like a ignited fire that spreads with lightning speed, grabbing more and more new objects.
Exaggerating the shortcomings of our neighbors is also false evidence... But exaggerating the shortcomings and mistakes of our neighbors can result in reproach. How many believers are guilty of this sin!
But the most terrible false testimony against one’s neighbor is slander.
Slander is the utterance of a deliberate lie with the aim of defaming a person. Slander is the attribution of some kind of impurity, some kind of fictitious sin to a pure and innocent person. Slander is throwing dirt at a person who does not deserve it.
The worst thing about the sin of bearing false witness against our neighbor is that the spoken word can never be taken back. Never! You can regret what you said, you can cry and sob... You can repent before God and ask for forgiveness from the person whom we denigrated with our false testimony, but what we said about him is said forever and irrevocably.
Counterfeit money in circulation can be gradually caught and destroyed. But how to catch slander and how to heal the souls poisoned by it? How great this sin is in the eyes of God can be seen from the Book of Revelation, where it is said that the fate “all liars... in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone” (21, 8).
The tenth commandment reads: “You shall not covet your true wife, you shall not covet your neighbor’s house, nor his village, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his livestock, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.” . - Do not covet your neighbor's house; You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s (Ex. 20:17).
The tenth commandment given by God at Sinai is directed against a very common vice - covetousness. Covetousness is greed, the desire to have more than is necessary: to have beyond what is necessary... The covetous person himself will never call covetousness a sin. He thinks, rather, that this is a virtue, that this is special wisdom, care and forethought regarding one’s future.
The sin of covetousness made Judas Iscariot first a thief, and subsequently a traitor to his Teacher Christ, because thirty pieces of silver turned out to be more valuable to him than the Savior of the world. What did these pieces of silver give to Judas? Nothing but terrifying remorse, to get rid of which he threw them at the feet of the enemies of Christ, and he himself went and hanged himself.
Let's listen to what the ap. writes. Paul to Timothy about covetousness and the love of money: “The root of all evil is the love of money, to which some have abandoned the faith and subjected themselves to many sorrows. But you, a man of God, flee from these things, and advance in righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness” (1 Tim. 6:10-11). Ap. Paul in these words contrasts earthly treasures with heavenly treasures.
Covetousness and love of money are truly the root of all evil. The most friendly families were broken up when dividing the inheritance left after the death of their parents, and disputes about the inheritance led and continue to lead to enmity between siblings. Covetousness has generated and continues to generate thousands of arranged marriages, which, apart from tears, give nothing to those entering into such a marriage.
It was covetousness and the love of money that were the cause of all thefts and thefts, that is, the violation of the eighth commandment “Thou shalt not steal.”
Covetousness has given rise to most of the bloodiest wars in human history. And this same sin was the reason for the enslavement of black blacks, the horrors of whose slavery the book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” tells so well.
St. ap. Paul calls covetousness “idolatry” (Col. 3:5). And indeed: mammon easily turns into an idol, into “another god” and chains the heart of the covetous to itself.
Modesty in everything - in clothing, in food, in our daily life - this is the way to overcome covetousness, thirst for profit, greed, in a word, to overcome the search for more than we need. Ap writes well about this. Pavel in 1 Tim. 6, 6-9: “It is a great gain to be pious and content. For we have brought nothing into the world; It’s obvious that we can’t take anything out of it. Having food and clothing, we will be content with that. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts that plunge people into disaster and destruction.”.
Let us remember the parable of Christ about one covetous man: “A certain rich man had a good harvest in his field; and he reasoned with himself: what should I do? I have nowhere to gather my fruits. And he said: “This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will gather all my grain and all my goods.” And I will say to my soul: “Soul! You have a lot of good things for many years: rest, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him: “You fool! This night your soul will be taken from you; who will get what you have prepared? This is what happens to those who store up treasures for themselves and are not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21).
We must always remember the words of Christ: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
May the Lord help us to always fulfill the tenth commandment and not to cleave our hearts to the idols of earthly treasures, so that we do not simultaneously become violators of the first commandment, which says: “I am the Lord your God... you shall have no other gods!”
We cited the ten commandments of God according to the text of the Bible and their accepted division in the Orthodox Catechism.
Reading the second division of God's commandments according to the tradition of some Christian churches, we seem to notice a difference, but this difference is only apparent, since the content of all ten commandments is fully explained, both in the first division and in the second.
The fact that for salvation it is absolutely necessary to fulfill the ten Old Testament commandments follows from the answer of our Lord Jesus Christ to the man who asked Him what he needs to do in order to inherit eternal life? The answer was: “If you want to enter into eternal life, keep the commandments”. Undoubtedly, the Lord had the Ten Commandments in mind, since He directly cited some of them. (Matthew 19:16-19).
These are the Commandments that the Lord God of hosts gave to the people through His chosen one and the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai (Ex. 20: 2-17)
1. I am the Lord your God... You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. Do not make for yourself an idol or any image of anything that is in the sky above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water below the earth.
3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who takes His name in vain.
4. Work six days and do all your work; and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.
5. Honor your father and your mother, so that your days on earth may be long.
6. Don't kill.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Don't steal.
9. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; You shall not covet your neighbor's wife; neither his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
Truly, this law is short, but these commandments say a lot to anyone who knows how to think and who seeks the salvation of his soul.
Anyone who does not understand this main law of God in his heart will not be able to accept either Christ or His teachings. Whoever does not learn to swim in shallow water will not be able to swim in deep water, for he will drown. And whoever does not first learn to walk will not be able to run, for he will fall and be broken. And whoever does not first learn to count to ten will never be able to count thousands. And whoever does not first learn to read syllables will never be able to read fluently and speak eloquently. And whoever does not first lay the foundation of the house will try in vain to build a roof.
I repeat: whoever does not keep the commandments of the Lord given to Moses will knock in vain on the doors of Christ’s Kingdom.
FIRST COMMANDMENT
I am the Lord your God... You shall have no other gods before Me.
This means:
God is One, and there are no other gods besides Him. All creation comes from Him, thanks to Him they live and return to Him. In God resides all power and might, and there is no power outside of God. And the power of light, and the power of water, and air, and stone is the power of God. If an ant crawls, a fish swims and a bird flies, then it is thanks to God. The ability of a seed to grow, of grass to breathe, of a person to live - the essence of the ability of God. All these abilities are the property of God, and every creation receives its ability to exist from God. The Lord gives to everyone as much as he sees fit, and takes back when he sees fit. Therefore, when you want to gain the ability to do anything, look only in God, for the Lord God is the source of life-giving and mighty power. There are no other sources besides Him. Pray to the Lord like this:
“Merciful God, inexhaustible, the only source of strength, strengthen me, weak, and give me greater strength so that I can better serve You. God, give me wisdom so that I do not use the power I have received from You for evil, but only for the good of myself and my neighbors for the magnification of Your glory. Amen".
SECOND COMMANDMENT
You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth.
It means:
Do not deify the creation instead of the Creator. If you climbed a high mountain, where you met the Lord God, why would you look back at the reflection in the puddle under the mountain? If a certain person longed to see the king and, after much effort, managed to appear before him, why would he then look left and right at the king’s servants? He can look around for two reasons: either because he does not dare to face the king alone, or because he thinks: the king alone cannot help him.
THIRD COMMANDMENT
Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who takes His name in vain.
What, are there really people who decide to commemorate, without reason or need, a name that awes - the name of the Lord God Almighty? When the name of God is pronounced in the sky, the heavens bow, the stars flash brighter, the Archangels and Angels sing: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts,” and the saints and saints of God fall on their faces. Then which mortal dares to remember the Most Holy Name of God without spiritual trembling and without deep sighing from longing for God?
FOURTH COMMANDMENT
Work six days and do all your work; and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.
This means:
The Creator created for six days, and on the seventh day He rested from His labors. Six days are temporary, vain and short-lived, but the seventh is eternal, peaceful and long-lasting. By creating the world, the Lord God entered time, but did not leave eternity. This mystery is great...(Eph. 5:32), and it is more fitting to think about it than to talk about it, for it is not accessible to everyone, but only to God’s chosen ones.
THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT
Honor your father and your mother, so that your days on earth may be long.
This means:
Before you knew the Lord God, your parents knew Him. This alone is enough for you to bow to them with respect and give praise. Bow down and give praise to everyone who knew the Highest Good in this world before you.
THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT
Dont kill.
This means:
God breathed life from His life into every created being. Life is the most precious wealth given by God. Therefore, the one who encroaches on any life on earth raises his hand against the most precious gift of God, moreover, against the life of God itself. All of us living today are only temporary carriers of the life of God within ourselves, guardians of the most precious gift that belongs to God. Therefore, we do not have the right and cannot take away the life borrowed from God, either from ourselves or from others.
SEVENTH COMMANDMENT
Don't commit adultery.
And this means:
Do not have an illicit relationship with a woman. Truly, in this, animals are more obedient to God than many people.
THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT
Don't steal.
And this means:
Do not upset your neighbor by disrespecting his property rights. Don't do what foxes and mice do if you think you are better than the fox and the mouse. The fox steals without knowing the law on theft; and the mouse gnaws at the barn, not realizing that it is harming anyone. Both the fox and the mouse understand only their own needs, but not the loss of others. They are not given to understand, but you are given. Therefore, you cannot be forgiven for what is forgiven for a fox and a mouse. Your benefit must always be legal, it must not be to the detriment of your neighbor.
THE NINTH COMMANDMENT
Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
A this means:
Do not be deceitful, either to yourself or to others. If you lie about yourself, you know you are lying. But if you slander someone else, that other person knows that you are slandering him.
THE TENTH COMMANDMENT
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; You shall not covet your neighbor's wife; neither his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
And this means:
As soon as you desire something that belongs to someone else, you have already fallen into sin. Now the question is, will you come to your senses, will you come to your senses, or will you continue to roll down the inclined plane, where the desire of someone else is taking you?
Desire is the seed of sin. A sinful act is already a harvest from the seed sown and grown.
“But whoever looks into the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continues in it, he, being not a forgetful listener, but a doer of the work, will be blessed in his action.”
(James 1:25)
God's law for man
Is it easy for you to imagine a world in which there is no crime? Probably not, especially if you have to read and listen to and see crimes of all kinds every day - thefts, armed attacks and robberies, murders, fraud. Experts talk about a new, if one might say, qualitative level of crime.
Crimes have always been committed in the world, but there has never been a time when crime was so cleverly hidden under the guise of legality and so skillfully avoided legal punishment as in our days.
When the moral level of a people drops so much that respect for laws is lost, the thought involuntarily arises that not everything is in order in the thinking of society. How can we explain such disrespect for the laws, and where did people learn this?
Education begins in the family; This is the child's first school. If you teach children that the law of God - His commandments - must be followed, that this law prohibits stealing, killing, deceiving, promiscuity, insulting elders - then the youth, entering life, will have moral support sufficient to understand civil laws and their implementation . And, on the contrary, if you teach the younger generation that God’s law is not needed, or that it is completely abolished and can be violated with impunity, then the youth will lose all respect not only for God’s law, but for all laws in general. One follows from the other. How can one, disregarding the law of God, at the same time demand respect for the laws created by people?
It is known that children need a role model. But who will be their ethical, moral and spiritual ideal? Parents often argue, quarrel and deceive each other. And the children see all this. Drunkenness, fights and divorces leave deep wounds in their hearts. Who will teach children to distinguish good from bad if parents cannot or do not want to do this? It is naive to believe that a school can do this. Today we are faced with the question: who determines what is good and what is bad? After all, sometimes even good people can be biased.
The criterion of good and evil
Without a criterion of good and evil outside of ourselves, we can justify almost anything. We may steal to get out of a difficult situation; commit treason if we like someone, and kill the person standing in our way. The Bible reminds us that, unfortunately, we do not always distinguish between what is good and what is bad.
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 16:25).
Long ago, God showed us the way to a crime-free society. If people always followed them, there would be no crime! People would feel completely safe in any corner of the Earth!
10 Commandments of Happiness
At Mount Sinai, the Lord gave all humanity 10 commandments of happiness. The people gathered at the foot of the mountain looked with alarm at its peak, hidden by a thick cloud, which, darkening, descended until the entire mountain was shrouded in mysterious darkness. Lightning flashed in the darkness, accompanied by peals of thunder. “Mount Sinai was all smoking because the Lord had descended on it in fire; and smoke rose from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain shook greatly. And the sound of the trumpet grew stronger and stronger" (Exodus 19:18-19).
God wanted to present His law in an unusual setting, so that the majestic solemnity would correspond to the sublime essence of this law. It was necessary to impress upon the minds of the people that everything connected with the service of God should be treated with the greatest reverence.
God's presence was so majestic that the entire people trembled. Finally, the thunder and the sound of trumpets died down, and a reverent silence reigned. Then the voice of God was heard, sounding from the thick darkness that hid Him from the eyes of people. Moved by deep love for His people, He proclaimed the Ten Commandments. The principles of the Decalogue apply to all humanity; they were given to everyone as instruction and guidance for life. Ten brief, comprehensive, and unquestionable principles express man's duties to God and to his fellowmen, and all of them are based on the great fundamental principle of love: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.” yours, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).
And God said;
1st commandment: “I am the Lord your God... You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:2-3).
God does not claim primacy among certain gods. He does not want to be given more attention than any other gods. He says that they should worship Him alone, because other gods simply do not exist.
2nd commandment:“You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth. Do not worship them or serve them” (Exodus 20:4-6).
The God of eternity cannot be limited to an image of wood or stone. An attempt to do this humiliates Him and distorts the truth. Idols cannot meet our needs. “For the rules of the nations are empty: they cut down a tree in the forest, shape it with the hands of a carpenter with an axe, cover it with silver and gold, fasten it with nails and a hammer, so that it does not shake. They are like a sharpened pillar and do not speak; They wear them because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do harm, but they cannot do good either” (Jeremiah 10:3-5). All our needs and wants can only be satisfied by a real Person.
3rd commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; For the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7).
This commandment not only prohibits false oaths and those common words with which people swear, but it also prevents the name of the Lord from being used carelessly or frivolously, without thinking about His holy meaning. We also dishonor God when we thoughtlessly mention His name in conversation or repeat it in vain. “Holy and awesome is His name!” (Psalm 111:9).
Contempt for the name of God can be demonstrated not only in words, but also in deeds. Anyone who calls himself a Christian and does not act as Jesus Christ taught dishonors the name of God.
4th commandment:“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days and do all your work; and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: on it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter... For in six days the Lord created heaven and earth, the sea and everything that is in them; and on the seventh day he rested. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11).
The Sabbath is presented here not as a new institution, but as a day established at creation. We must remember it and observe it in memory of the works of the Creator.
5th commandment: “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).
The fifth commandment requires from children not only respect, humility and obedience towards their parents, but also love, tenderness, care for their parents, and preservation of their reputation; requires that children be their help and consolation in their old age.
6th commandment: “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13).
God is the source of life. He alone can give life. She is a holy gift from God. A person has no right to take it away, i.e. kill. The Creator has a certain plan for each person, but to take the life of a neighbor means to interfere with God’s plan. To take the life of yourself or another is to try to stand in the place of God.
All actions that shorten life - the spirit of hatred, revenge, evil feelings - are also murder. Such a spirit, without a doubt, cannot bring a person happiness, freedom from evil, freedom to do good. Observance of this commandment implies reasonable respect for the laws of life and health. One who shortens his days by leading an unhealthy lifestyle, of course, does not commit direct suicide, but does it imperceptibly, gradually.
Life, which was given by the Creator, is a great blessing, and it cannot be thoughtlessly wasted and reduced. God wants people to live full, happy and long lives.
7th commandment: “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14).
The marriage union is the original establishment of the Creator of the Universe. By establishing it, He had a specific goal - to preserve the purity and happiness of the people, to enhance the physical, mental and moral strength of man. Happiness in a relationship can only be achieved when attention is focused on the person to whom you give all of yourself, your trust and devotion throughout your life.
By forbidding adultery, God hopes that we will not seek anything other than the fullness of love, reliably protected by marriage.
8th commandment:“Thou shalt not steal” (Exodus 20:15).
This prohibition includes both open and secret sins. The Eighth Commandment condemns kidnapping, the slave trade, and wars of conquest. She condemns theft and robbery. It requires strict honesty in the most insignificant everyday matters. It prohibits fraud in trade, and requires fair settlement of debts or the payment of wages. This commandment states that any attempt to profit from someone's ignorance, weakness, or misfortune is recorded in the books of heaven as deception.
9th commandment: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16).
Any deliberate exaggeration, innuendo or slander calculated to produce a false or imaginary impression, or even a misleading statement of facts, is a lie. This principle prohibits any attempt to discredit a person's reputation by unfounded suspicion, slander or gossip. Even deliberate suppression of the truth that may harm others is a violation of the ninth commandment.
10th commandment: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife... nothing that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17).
The desire to appropriate a neighbor's property means taking the first most terrible step towards crime. An envious person can never find satisfaction because someone will always have something that he does not have. A person turns into a slave of his desires. We use people and love things instead of loving people and using things.
The tenth commandment strikes at the root of all sin, warning against selfish desires, which are the source of lawless acts. “It is great gain to be godly and content” (1 Timothy 6:6).
The Israelites were excited by what they heard. “If this is the will of God, we will fulfill it,” they decided. But knowing how forgetful people are, and not wanting to trust these words to fragile human memory, God wrote them with His finger on two stone tablets.
“And when God had ceased speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, on which was written by the finger of God” (Exodus 31:18).
This time, for the first time, the Creator gave people His law in written form, but the law itself existed forever.
Law that reigned from Adam to Moses
Even before Sinai, even before Adam and Eve, the eternal and unchangeable standard of righteousness was the basis of God's heavenly government.
This law also governed the angels. They were free and could choose to obey God's law or ignore it and rebel against it. Satan and his angels decided to do things “their way,” according to their own laws. This rebellion led to their expulsion from heaven to earth.
But there were angels who decided to follow God and remained faithful to His law: “Bless the Lord, all His angels, mighty in power, who do His word, obeying the voice of His word” (Psalm 103:20).
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve knew about God's law because they felt guilt and shame after sinning. They realized that they had disobeyed God by taking what was not theirs and choosing to follow another “god.” When Cain was angry that God accepted Brother Abel’s sacrifice rather than his, the Lord asked, “Why are you upset? And why did your face droop? If you do good, don't you raise your face? But if you do not do good, sin lies at the door” (Genesis 4:6-7).
The law of God must have existed at that time, for it is said, “Where there is no law, there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15). A crime... is a violation of any law.
Long before Sinai, Abraham knew and kept the Law of God. God said He would bless Abraham and his descendants “because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My commandment, My commandments, My statutes, and My judgments” (Genesis 26:5).
There cannot be order and governance without law. There is no harmonious, happy, safe society without laws. But it is not enough to carve the commandments in stone or write on the wall, but it is important to fulfill them: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
The basis for keeping the commandments is love: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind”: this is the first and greatest commandment. The second is similar to it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).
The Law is a Reflection of God's Character
“The law of the Lord is perfect” (Psalm 18:8), just as His character is perfect. The law is a reflection of God's character, the unchangeable character! “For I am the Lord, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6).
Any change in the law would lead to imperfection. But the law is perfect, so it is unchangeable. This is the truth Christ had in mind when he said, “It is sooner for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to be lost” (Luke 16:17).
Believers are often asked: “How can you live freely and happily, being limited by the law of God, which deprives you of many of the joys of life?”
We build guardrails on bridges and mountain roads to prevent us from falling down. So God gave us His law to protect and preserve us on the path of life.
“Oh, if only they had such a heart that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it would go well with them and with their sons forever!” (Deuteronomy 5:29).
The Creator gave man His law for one more reason: “For by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).
The Apostle Paul confirms this thought: “...I knew sin in no other way than through the law, for I would not have understood coveting if the law had not said: “You shall not covet” (Romans 7:7).
One African princess was assured by her subjects that her beauty was unsurpassed. But one day a traveling merchant sold her a mirror. Looking at it, she was horrified by her own ugliness and broke the mirror into small pieces!
God's law is like a mirror, and we, like that African princess, look into it and may not be happy with what we see because the law points to sin in our lives. We cannot change our position if we try to destroy or ignore the law. Imperfection will remain so!
God's law points out our sins and helps us feel our need of a Savior. When we accept Christ as our Savior, He promises us forgiveness and power to keep His commandments, for He has promised, “I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts...” (Hebrews 8:10).
The greatest demonstration of love and obedience to the will of God took place one dark, cold night in the garden under an old olive tree. Bloody sweat flowed down the brow of the Son of God. So He suffered, turning in prayer to His Heavenly Father: “My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from Me; however, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39).
The fate of humanity hung in the balance at that moment. The guilty world had to either find salvation or perish. Will Jesus decide to give up the desire to live and ascend to Golgotha?!
He could wipe the bloody sweat from his brow and conclude: “Let the sinner bear the consequences of his sins.”
But He allowed Himself to be nailed to the cross so that man would receive forgiveness. At that moment, when the stakes were so great, Christ dipped the pen of His love into the purple ink of His blood and wrote “forgiven” against our names!
The cross of Calvary will be an eternal reminder of the price God paid to satisfy the demands of the broken law and save guilty humanity. If the law could be changed or abolished, Christ's Calvary death would not have been necessary.
God gave His Son to die on the cross, and Holy Scripture says that Christ “by His own blood... obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12).
