A real good Christian life can only be with someone who has the faith of Christ in himself and tries to live by this faith, that is, by good deeds he fulfills the will of God.
So that people knew how to live and what to do, God gave them His commandments - the Law of God. The prophet Moses received the Ten Commandments from God approximately 1500 years before the birth of Christ. This happened when the Jews came out of Egyptian slavery and approached Mount Sinai in the desert.
God Himself wrote the Ten Commandments on two stone tablets (slabs). The first four commandments set out the duties of man in relation to God. The other six commandments set out the duties of a person in relation to his neighbors. People at that time were not yet accustomed to living according to the will of God and easily committed grave crimes. Therefore, for violation of many commandments, such as: for idolatry, bad words against God, for bad words against parents, for murder and for violation of marital fidelity - the death penalty was imposed. The Old Testament was dominated by a spirit of severity and punishment. But this strictness was useful for people, as it restrained their bad habits, and people gradually began to correct themselves.
There are also known other Nine Commandments (Beatitudes), which were given to people by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself at the very beginning of His sermon. The Lord ascended a low mountain near Lake Galilee. The apostles and many people gathered around Him. Love and humility reign in the Beatitudes. They set out how a person can gradually achieve perfection. At the core of virtue is humility (spiritual poverty). Repentance purifies the soul, then meekness and love for God's righteousness appear in the soul. After this, a person becomes compassionate and merciful and his heart is so purified that he becomes able to see God (to feel His presence in his soul).
But the Lord saw that most people choose evil and that evil people will hate and persecute true Christians. Therefore, in the last two Beatitudes, the Lord teaches us to patiently endure all injustices and persecution from bad people.
We must focus our attention not on the fleeting trials that are inevitable in this temporary life, but on the eternal bliss that God has prepared for people who love Him.
Most of the commandments of the Old Testament tell us what we should not do, and the commandments of the New Testament teach us how to act and what to strive for.
The content of all the commandments of both the Old and New Testaments can be stated in the two commandments of love given by Christ: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. The second is like her - love your neighbor as yourself. " And the Lord also gave us faithful guidance on how to act: "As you want people to do to you, so do you to them."
Ten Commandments of the Old Testament.
Explaining the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament.
The first commandment of the Old Testament.
"I am the Lord your God, let there be no other Gods for you besides Me."
With the first commandment, the Lord God points to man to Himself and inspires us to revere Him, the only true God, and, apart from Him, we should not give Divine veneration to anyone. With the first commandment, God teaches us the correct knowledge of God and the correct worship of God.
Knowledge of God means to know God correctly. Knowledge of God is the most important of all knowledge. It constitutes our first and most important duty.
To acquire the Knowledge of God, we must:
1. Read and study the Holy Scriptures (and children: the book of the Law of God).
2. Regularly attend God's temple, delve into the content of church services and listen to the priest's sermon.
3. Think about God and about the purpose of our earthly life.
Worshiping God means that by all our actions we must express our faith in God, hope for His help and love for Him as our Creator and Savior.
When we go to church, pray at home, observe fasts and honor church holidays, obey our parents, help them in any way we can, study diligently and do our homework, when we are quiet, we do not quarrel, when we help our neighbors, when we constantly think about God and realize His presence with us - then we truly honor God, that is, we express our reverence for God.
Thus, the first commandment to a certain extent contains the rest of the commandments. Or the rest of the commandments explain how to keep the first commandment.
The sins against the first commandment are:
Godlessness (atheism) - when a person denies the existence of God (for example: communists).
Polytheism: veneration of many gods or idols (wild tribes of Africa, South America, etc.).
Unbelief: Doubting Divine Help.
Heresy: distortion of the faith that God has given us. There are many sects in the world whose teachings were invented by people.
Apostasy: renouncing faith in God or Christianity out of fear or expectation to receive a reward.
Despair is when people, forgetting that God makes everything for the better, begin to grumble with displeasure or even attempt to commit suicide.
Superstition: belief in different signs, stars, fortune-telling.
The second commandment of the Old Testament.
"Do not make yourself an idol or any semblance of what is in heaven above, what is on the earth below, what is in the waters below the earth. Do not bow down and do not serve them."
The Jews revere the golden calf they made themselves.
This commandment was written when people were very inclined to worship various idols and deified the forces of nature: the sun, stars, fire, etc. Idolaters built idols for themselves to represent their false gods and worshiped these idols.
Today, such crude idolatry is almost non-existent in the developed world.
However, if people give all their time and energy, all their worries to something earthly, forgetting their family and even God, such behavior is also a kind of idolatry, which is prohibited by this commandment.
Idolatry is excessive attachment to money and wealth. Idolatry is constant gluttony, i.e. when a person only thinks about that, he does only that in order to eat a lot and tasty. Drug addiction and drunkenness are also part of this sin of idolatry. The second commandment is also violated by proud people who want to always be the center of attention, want everyone to respect them and obey them implicitly.
At the same time, the second commandment does not prohibit the correct veneration of the Holy Cross and holy icons. It does not prohibit because, when honoring a cross or an icon, where the true God is depicted, a person gives honor not to the tree or paint from which these objects are made, but to Jesus Christ or the saints who are depicted on them.
Icons remind us of God, icons help us to pray, because our soul is so arranged that what we look at is what we think about.
Honoring the saints depicted on the icons, we do not give them the same reverence as equal to God, but we pray to them as our patrons and prayer books before God. The saints are our elder brothers. They see our difficulties, see our weakness and inexperience, and help us.
God Himself shows us that He does not prohibit the correct veneration of holy icons, on the contrary, God reveals help to people through holy icons. There are many miraculous icons, for example: the Kursk Mother of God, weeping icons in different parts of the world, many renewed icons in Russia, China and other countries.
In the Old Testament, God Himself commanded Moses to make golden images of cherubim (Angels) and place these images on the lid of the Ark, where the tablets with the commandments written on them were kept.
The images of the Savior have been venerated in the Christian Church since ancient times. One of these images is the image of the Savior called "Not Made by Hands." Jesus Christ put a towel to his face, and the image of the Savior's face miraculously remained on this towel. The sick king Abgar, as soon as he touched this towel, was healed of leprosy.
The third commandment of the Old Testament.
"Do not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."
The third commandment is forbidden to pronounce the name of God in vain, without due reverence. The name of God is pronounced in vain when it is used in empty conversations, jokes, games.
This commandment generally prohibits a frivolous and disingenuous attitude towards the name of God.
Sins against this commandment are:
Bozhba: the frivolous use of an oath with the mention of the name of God in ordinary conversations.
Blasphemy: audacious words against God.
Blasphemy: Desecration of sacred objects.
It is also forbidden here to break vows - promises made to God.
The name of God should be pronounced with fear and reverence only in prayer or when studying the Holy Scriptures.
Absent-mindedness in prayer must be avoided in every possible way. To do this, it is necessary to understand the meaning of the prayers that we say at home or in the temple. Before saying a prayer, we must even calm down a little, think that we are going to talk with the eternal and omnipotent Lord God, before whom even angels stand in awe; and, finally, say prayers slowly, trying to make our prayer sincere - come directly from our minds and hearts. Such reverent prayer is pleasing to God, and the Lord, according to our faith, will give us the blessings that we ask for.
The fourth commandment of the Old Testament.
"Remember the Sabbath day, so that you can keep it holy. Work six days and do all your deeds in them, and the seventh day - the day of rest - may it be dedicated to the Lord your God."
The word "sabbath" in Hebrew means rest. So this day of the week was called, because on this day it was forbidden to work or engage in everyday affairs.
The fourth commandment, the Lord God commands six days to work and do your duties, and to devote the seventh day to God, i.e. on the seventh day to do holy and pleasing deeds.
Deeds that are holy and pleasing to God are: caring for the salvation of your soul, prayer in the temple of God and at home, studying the Holy Scriptures and the Law of God, thinking about God and the purpose of your life, pious conversations about the subjects of the Christian faith, helping the poor, visiting the sick and others. good deeds.
In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was celebrated in remembrance of the end of God's creation of the world. In the New Testament from the time of St. the apostles began to be celebrated on the first day after Saturday, Sunday - in remembrance of the Resurrection of Christ.
On Sunday, Christians gathered for prayer. We read the Holy Scriptures, sang psalms and received communion at the liturgy. Unfortunately, now many Christians are not as zealous as in the early centuries of Christianity, and many have become less likely to receive communion. Nevertheless, we must never forget that Sunday must belong to God.
Those who are lazy and do not work or do not fulfill their duties break the fourth commandment. This commandment is violated by those who continue to work on Sundays and do not go to church. This commandment is also violated by those who, although they do not work, spend Sunday in only fun and games, not thinking about God, about good deeds and about the salvation of their souls.
In addition to Sundays, Christians dedicate some other days of the year to God, on which the Church celebrates great events. These are the so-called church holidays.
Our greatest holiday is Easter - the day of the Resurrection of Christ. This is "the feast of the holidays and the celebration of the celebrations."
There are 12 great holidays called twelve. Some of them are dedicated to God and are called Lord's feasts, others of them are dedicated to the Mother of God and are called Theotokos feasts.
Lord's holidays: (1) Nativity of Christ, (2) Baptism of the Lord, (3) Meeting of the Lord, (4) Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, (5) Resurrection of Christ, (6) Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles (Trinity), (7) Transfiguration of the Lord and (8) Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord. Feast of the Theotokos: (1) Nativity of the Mother of God, (2) Introduction to the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, (3) Annunciation and (4) Dormition of the Mother of God.
The fifth commandment of the Old Testament.
"Honor your father and your mother, so that you feel good and that you live a long time on earth."
The fifth commandment, the Lord God commands us to honor our parents and for this promises a prosperous and long life.
To honor parents means: to love them, to be respectful to them, not to offend them either by words or actions, to obey them, to help them in their daily work, to take care of them when they are in need, and especially during their illness and old age, also to pray to God for them both during their life and after death.
The sin of disrespecting parents is a great sin. In the Old Testament, anyone who spoke bad words to a father or mother was punished with death.
Along with our parents, we must honor those who in some way substitute for our parents. These persons include: bishops and priests who care about our salvation; civil authorities: the president of the country, the governor of the state, the police, and all in general of those who have the duty to maintain order and normal life in the country. It is also necessary, therefore, to honor teachers and all people older than us, who have experience in life and can give us good advice.
Sinning against this commandment are those who do not respect the elders, especially the elderly, who are suspicious of their remarks and admonitions, considering them people "backward," and their concepts "obsolete." God said: "Rise up before the face of the gray-haired man and honor the face of the old man" (Lev. 19:32).
When the younger meets the older, the younger should be the first to say hello. When the teacher enters the classroom, students must stand up. If an elderly person or a woman with a child enters a bus or train, the young person must get up and give up his seat. When a blind person wants to cross the street, you need to help him.
Only when elders or superiors require us to do something against our faith and law, we should not obey them. The law of God and obedience to God are the supreme law for all people.
In totalitarian countries, bosses sometimes issue laws and give orders that are contrary to the Law of God. Sometimes they require a Christian to renounce his faith or do something against his faith. A Christian in this case must be ready to suffer for his faith and for the name of Christ. God promises eternal bliss in the Kingdom of Heaven as a reward for this suffering. "He who endures to the end will be saved ... Whoever gives his life for the sake of Me and the Gospel, he will acquire it again" (Matt. 10th chapter).
The sixth commandment of the Old Testament.
"Don't kill."
The sixth commandment, the Lord God forbids murder, i.e. the taking of life from other people, as well as from oneself (suicide) in any way.
Life is the greatest gift of God, therefore no one has the right to take this gift away.
Suicide is the most terrible sin because this sin contains despair and murmur against God. And besides, after death there is no way to repent and atone for your sin. The suicide condemns his soul to eternal torment in hell. In order not to despair, we must always remember that God loves us. He is our Father, He sees our difficulties and is strong enough to help us even in the most difficult situation. God, according to His wise plans, sometimes allows us to suffer from illness or some kind of trouble. But we must firmly know that God arranges everything for the better, and He turns the sorrows that have befallen us to our benefit and salvation.
Unjust judges violate the sixth commandment if they condemn a defendant whose innocence is known to them. Anyone who helps others to commit murder or helps a murderer escape punishment is also violating this commandment. This commandment is also violated by the one who did nothing to save his neighbor from death, when he could have done it. Also, one who exhausts his workers with hard work and cruel punishments and thereby hastens their death.
He sins against the sixth commandment, and he who wishes death to another person hates his neighbors and causes them grief with his malice and words.
Besides bodily murder, there is another terrible murder: it is spiritual murder. When a person tempts another to sin, he spiritually kills his neighbor, because sin is death for the eternal soul. Therefore, the sixth commandment is violated by all those who distribute drugs, seductive magazines and films, who teach others how to do evil, or set a bad example. This commandment is also violated by those who spread atheism, unbelief, witchcraft and superstition among people; those who preach various exotic beliefs that contradict the Christian faith are sinning.
Unfortunately, it is necessary in some exceptional cases to allow murder to end the inevitable evil. For example, if an enemy attacked a peaceful country, warriors must defend their homeland and their families. In this case, the warrior not only kills out of necessity in order to save his loved ones, but he himself puts his life in danger and sacrifices himself for the sake of saving his neighbors.
Also, judges sometimes have to condemn incorrigible criminals to death in order to save society from their further crimes against people.
The seventh commandment of the Old Testament.
"Do not commit adultery."
By the seventh commandment, the Lord God forbids adultery and all illegal and unclean relationships.
The married husband and wife made a promise to live together all their lives and share both joys and sorrows together. Therefore, by this commandment, God forbids divorce. If a husband and wife have different personalities and tastes, they should make every effort to smooth out what they have different, and put family unity above personal benefits. Divorce is not only a violation of the seventh commandment, but also a crime against children who are left without a family and after a divorce are often forced to live in conditions alien to them.
God commands unmarried people to keep their thoughts and desires pure. It is necessary to avoid everything that can arouse unclean feelings in the heart: bad words, immodest jokes, shameless anecdotes and songs, violent and exciting music and dances. One should avoid seductive magazines and films, as well as reading immoral books.
The Word of God commands us to keep our bodies clean, because our bodies "are the members of Christ and the temples of the Holy Spirit."
The worst sin against this commandment is an unnatural relationship to persons of the same sex. Nowadays they even register a kind of "family" between men or between women. Such people often die from incurable and terrible diseases. For this terrible sin, God completely destroyed the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, as the Bible tells us about (Ch. 19).
Eighth commandment of the Old Testament.
"Don't steal."
With the eighth commandment, God forbids theft, that is, the appropriation in any way of what belongs to others.
Sins against this commandment can be:
Deception (that is, the appropriation of someone else's thing by cunning), for example: when they evade payment of a debt, they hide what was found, without looking for the owner of the found thing; when weighed on the sale or give the wrong change; when they do not give the due wages to the worker.
Theft is the theft of someone else's property.
Robbery is the taking of someone else's thing by violence or with the help of a weapon.
This commandment is also violated by those who take bribes, that is, take money for what they should have done as part of their duty. This commandment is violated by those who pretend to be sick in order to receive money without working. Also, those who work dishonestly do something for show in front of their superiors, and when they are not there, they sit back.
With this commandment, God teaches us to work honestly, to be content with what we have, and not to strive for great wealth.
A Christian should be merciful: donate part of his money to churches and poor people. Everything that a person has in this life does not belong to him forever, but is given to a person by God for temporary use. Therefore, we must share with others what we have.
The ninth commandment of the Old Testament.
"Speak no other false evidence."
With the ninth commandment, the Lord God forbids telling a lie about another person and forbids any lie in general.
The ninth commandment is violated by those who:
Gossip - retells to others the shortcomings of his acquaintances.
Slander - deliberately tells lies about other people in order to harm them.
Condemns - makes a strict assessment of a person, classifying him as a bad person. The gospel does not prohibit us from judging actions themselves in terms of how good or bad they are. We must distinguish between good and evil, we must move away from all sin and injustice. But one should not assume the role of a judge and say that such and such a friend of ours is a drunkard, or a thief, or a dissolute person, and so on. By this we condemn not so much evil as man himself. This right to condemn belongs only to God. Very often we see only external actions, but do not know about a person's mood. Often sinners themselves are then weighed down by their own shortcomings, ask God for the forgiveness of their sins, and with God's help they overcome their shortcomings.
The ninth commandment teaches us to curb our tongue, to watch what we say. Most of our sins come from unnecessary words, from idle talk. The Savior said that a person will have to give an answer to God for every word he says.
The tenth commandment of the Old Testament.
"Do not covet your neighbor's wife, do not covet your neighbor's house, nor his field ... nor all that belongs to your neighbor."
The Tenth Commandment, the Lord God forbids not only doing something bad to others, our neighbors, but also forbids bad desires and even bad thoughts towards them.
The sin against this commandment is called envy.
He who envies, who desires someone else in his thoughts, from bad thoughts and desires can easily go to bad deeds.
But envy itself defiles the soul, making it unclean before God. Scripture says: "An abomination before God is evil thoughts" (Proverbs 15:26).
One of the main tasks of a true Christian is to cleanse his soul from all internal impurity.
To avoid sinning against the tenth commandment, it is necessary to keep the purity of the heart from any excessive attachment to earthly objects. We must be content with what we have and thank God.
Students in school should not be jealous of other students when others are doing very well and doing well. Everyone should try to learn as best as possible and attribute his success not only to himself, but to the Lord, who gave us reason, the opportunity to learn and everything necessary for the development of abilities. A true Christian rejoices when he sees success in others.
If we sincerely ask God, He will help us to become true Christians.
Orthodoxy: 10 commandments of God. This is the topic of this article. I ask all my readers to be tolerant towards each other. I write articles under the heading "Faith and Religion" for both believers and doubters. It is important for you and me to respect each other's views. Freedom is the main property that our Creator has awarded us in his likeness.
Some of the great thinkers said that even if God had not given us his Commandments, we would still “know” them. Because the inner measure of how to do the right thing - conscience - tells us at every moment how to act justly. In other words, how to act in accordance with the Laws of the Cosmos (the Laws of God).
Interesting fact: on a rare icon in the old Kiev Kirillov Church, God the Father is depicted. And next to it there is an inscription: "K O S M O S". The word "space" in translation from Greek means "order".
So why are the Commandments needed? By and large, the Commandments are needed not 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 sickness if we break the commandments. And not because God is bad. A because we violated the traffic rules.
As in the Cosmos, planets and stars obey certain Laws of gravity, so our life obeys certain Laws (Commandments). You go on your lane - everything is fine with you. I just went to the oncoming lane - I got 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 is profitable to be a Christian. Because you know and keep the Commandments and thanks to this you do not get sick, you do not get into trouble etc.
10 commandments of God in Russian in multiples
- Believe in one God;
- Do not create idols for yourself(often money, career or some other idols become more important for us than God);
- Do not call on God in vain(Often we, for example, stumbling over and say: "Oh, Lord!" - this cannot be done, we need to call God only when we really need his help);
- Work 6 days, and the 7th day of the week (Sunday) - do not work, dedicating 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" a person's life (moreover, the Holy Fathers say that God takes a soul at the best time for it, so that the soul would incur the minimum possible punishment for all its sins);
- Do not commit adultery(husband and wife must be faithful to each other all their lives);
- Do not steal;
- Do not lie;
- Do not envy, do not covet someone else's.
10 Commandments of God in Church Slavonic [and in Russian] in full
Where did the Commandments come 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 day after day, without even thinking whether it is difficult or not difficult. Is it easy for us to go to work every day? How about raising children, treating them when they are sick, staying up all night long? How about caring for the elderly? Everything is difficult. But in everything there is a "difficult" part, and a joyful one!
I think that such an allegory can help you to 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 with disrespect if his rules are not followed. Imagine now how much God is greater than the king and father! And He loves us immeasurably more, because we are His creation, His children.
I think most of you already keep the first Commandments of God (the main Commandments). The most difficult thing is to deal with petty temptations - not to deceive, not to gossip, not to condemn, not to 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 thread on your wrist. It will remind you not to lie, not to mention the name of God unnecessarily (in sui), not to slander anyone, not to gossip, not to appropriate someone else's (this never goes for the future), not to envy others, but to appreciate what you have. Know, there are many people who do not have what you have and would feel happy with what you have.
And one more thing: do not forget to call your parents, take care of them!
What happens if you start to keep the Commandments?
You will find that keeping the Commandments will quickly bring benefits, and you will receive fruits, rewards for your efforts and labors. Your life will change, everything will turn out well, as if by itself.
No wonder they say that "fools are lucky." They used to call simple-hearted, naive people just fools. They did everything like children, sincerely and honestly. And people often noticed that they were lucky.
I am grateful to God that he revealed this secret to me. The secret about 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!
The "Decalogue" or "Ten Commandments", which were written on Mount Sinai on two stone tablets, have come down to us unchanged. According to their content, they consist of two parts, of which the first part (commandments 1-4) concerns the relationship of people to God, the second part (5-10) - the relationship of people with each other.
Both parts reflect the moral essence and love of God.
And so, the relationship of man to God 1-4 commandment.
(1st commandment)- I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
from the house of slavery; may you have no other gods before me.
The 1st Commandment affirms faith in God. God brought Israel out with the greatest miracles: He divided the Red Sea (Red Sea) and brought them out by performing signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.
King Solomon erected pillars near the shores of the Red Sea in honor of the passage of the Jews across the sea, one pillar is in the museum and the other still stands at the Shores of the Red Sea.
God does not claim to be the first among some gods. He does not want to be given more attention than any other gods. He says to worship Him Alone, because other gods simply do not exist.
The Israelites were God's chosen people, but God specifies that people who accepted Jesus Christ become children of God.
For you are all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus;
all of you who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is no longer Jew or Gentile; there is no slave, no free; there is no male or female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
(Gal. 3: 11-29)
Let not the son of a foreigner say (* foreigner - a person belonging to another tribe, to a foreign nation *) joining the Lord: "The Lord completely separated me from His people", Isaiah, chapter 56; 1-8
The 2nd Commandment forbids belief in other gods.
(2nd commandment)- Do not make yourself an idol and no image of what is in the sky above, 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, for I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, punishing children for the guilt of fathers up to the third and fourth [generation] who hate Me,
and showing mercy to thousands of generations to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
The God of eternity cannot be limited to an image of wood, stone, or drawn on paper. Trying to do this humiliates Him.
When God said "Do not make any image for yourself," he underneath it heaped one danger, unfortunately Satan can safely use any images and no matter what is painted on it.
I personally studied such cases and I can say with caution, do not have any saints in their images, they really can settle unclean forces. An example is a story from the United States that shocked me. I am also familiar with numerous stories from Russia and Europe.
The 3rd Commandment forbids pronouncing the name of God in vain.
(3rd commandment)- Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who utters His name in vain.
This commandment not only prohibits false oaths and those ordinary words that people swear by, but it also prevents casually or frivolously from pronouncing the name of the Lord, without thinking about His holy meaning. We dishonor God also when we thoughtlessly mention His name in conversation, or in vain repeat it. "Holy and terrible is His name!" (Psalm 110: 9).
Disregard for God's name can be demonstrated not only in words, but also in deeds. Anyone who calls himself a Christian and does not act as taught by Jesus Christ, dishonor the name of God.
The 4th Commandment affirms obedience to God.
(4th commandment)- Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy;
work six days and do all thy works, and the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord thy God:
We must remember it and observe it in memory of the deeds of the Creator.
The problem also arose - to be very careful not to mention the fact that the First Church naturally kept the Sabbath. Usually the church explains that it was Jesus who canceled the Fourth Commandment (only in the First Church they did not know about this yet), and they immediately become guilty of violating another Commandment. This is the reason for the abolition of the Commandment - the most common unwillingness to have anything to do with either Jews or Jewish customs. But Jesus, His mother, all the Apostles were Jews.
(5 - 10) - relationships of people with each other
5th commandment:“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you” (Exodus 20:12).
The fifth commandment requires from children not only respect, obedience and obedience to their parents, but also love, tenderness, care for their parents, preservation of their reputation; demands that children be help and comfort to them in old age.
6th commandment: “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13).
God is the source of life. Only 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 definite plan for each person, but to take away the life of a neighbor means to interfere with the plan of God. To take the life of oneself or another is to try to take the place of God.
All life-shortening actions - the spirit of hatred, revenge, malicious feelings - are also murder. Such a spirit, no doubt, cannot bring happiness to a person, freedom from evil, freedom to good. Keeping this commandment implies reasonable respect for the laws of life and health. The one who shortens his days, leading an unhealthy lifestyle, of course, does not commit direct suicide, but does it imperceptibly, gradually.
The life that was bestowed by the Creator is a great blessing, and it cannot be thoughtlessly squandered and shortened. God wants people to live full, happy, and long lives.
7th commandment: “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14).
Marriage is the original establishment of the Creator of the Universe. Establishing it, He had a specific goal - to preserve the purity and happiness of the people, to raise the physical, mental and moral strength of man. Happiness in relationships can only be achieved when attention is focused on cash, to which you give all of yourself, your trust and devotion throughout your life.
By prohibiting adultery, God hopes that we will not seek anything other than the fulness of love, reliably protected by marriage.
8th commandment: “Thou shalt not steal” (Exodus 20:15).
This prohibition includes both overt and covert sins. The eighth commandment condemns kidnapping, the slave trade and wars of conquest. She condemns theft and robbery. It demands unwavering honesty in the most insignificant matters of life. It prohibits trade fraud, and requires fair settlement of debts or wages. This commandment says that any attempt to profit from someone's ignorance, weakness, or misfortune is recorded in the books of heaven as deception.
9th commandment: “Do not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16).
Any deliberate exaggeration, allusion or slander calculated to produce a false or imaginary impression, or even a description of misleading facts is a lie. This principle prohibits any attempt to defame a person's reputation with unfounded suspicion, backbiting or gossip. Even deliberately suppressing the truth that could harm others is a violation of the ninth commandment.
10th commandment: “Do not covet your neighbor's house; do not covet your neighbor's wife ... nothing that is your neighbor's ”(Exodus 20:17).
The desire to appropriate the property of a neighbor is to take the first and most terrible step towards a crime. An envious person can never find satisfaction, because someone will always have something that he does not have. Man turns into a slave to his desires. We use people and love things instead of loving people and use things.
God's commandments and mortal sins are the basic laws of Christianity, these laws must be adhered to by every believer. The Lord gave them to Moses at the very beginning of the development of Christianity. To save the people from the fall, to warn them against danger.
The first:
I am the Lord your God, and let there be no other gods besides me.
The second:
Do not create an idol for yourself, nor any image; do not worship or serve them.
The third:
Well, they took the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
The fourth commandment:
Remember the Sabbath day: six days do your earthly affairs or work, and on the seventh day, a day of rest, dedicate to the Lord your God.
The fifth:
Honor your mother and your father, so that you feel good and that you live a long time on earth.
The sixth commandment:
Seventh Commandment:
Do not commit adultery.
Eighth Commandment:
Don't steal.
Ninth:
Do not speak your false testimony against your neighbor. Do not bear witness.
Tenth:
Do not desire anything that belongs to another: not your neighbor's wife, do not desire his house, nothing else that belongs to your neighbor.
Interpretation of the ten laws of God:
The Ten Commandments of Jesus Christ, translated into everyday language, read that it is necessary:
- Believe in only one Lord, one God.
- Do not create idols for yourself.
- Not to mention, not to pronounce the name of the Lord God just like that.
- Always remember about Saturday - the main day of rest.
- Respect and honor your parents.
- Don't kill anyone.
- Do not commit adultery, do not change.
- Don't steal anything.
- Don't lie to anyone, don't lie to people.
- Do not envy your comrades, friends, or just acquaintances.
The first four commandments of God directly relate to the relationship of man with God, the rest - the relationship of people with each other.
Commandment one and two:
Means the oneness of the Lord. He is revered, respected, considered Almighty and wise. He is also the kindest of all, therefore, if a person wants to grow into virtue, it is necessary to look for it in God. "You cannot have other gods besides Me." (Ex 20: 3)
Quote: “- what are other gods for you, since your God is the Lord Almighty? Is there anyone wiser than the Lord? He directs righteous thoughts through people's everyday thoughts. Satan, on the other hand, rules through the traps of temptation. If you worship two gods, keep in mind that one of them is the Devil. "
Religion says that all power is contained in God and in him only one, from this first commandment follows the next.
People blindly pray to pictures with other idols depicted on them, bow their heads, kiss the priest's hands, etc. The second God's law speaks of the prohibition of the deification of creatures and their veneration on a par with the Creator.
“Do not create for yourself a carved or any other image of what is above in heaven, below in the earth, or in the waters below the bottom of the earth. Do not worship and do not serve them, for remember that I am your Jehovah God, who requires exceptional devotion! ”
(Exodus 20: 4-5)
The Christian religion believes that after meeting with the Lord it is impossible to honor someone more than Him, that everything that is on earth was created by Him. Nothing is compared with him and is not compared, for the Lord does not want the human heart and soul to be occupied with someone else.
Third commandment:
God's third law is formulated in Deuteronomy (5:11) and in Exodus (20: 7).
From Exodus 20: 7 "Do not take the name of the Lord in vain, believe that the Lord will not leave without punishment a person who takes His name in vain."
This commandment uses a word from the Old Testament, it is translated as:
- swearing falsely by God's name;
- to pronounce It in vain, just like that.
According to ancient teachings, there is great power in the name. If you pronounce with reason and without the name of God, which contains a special power, then there will be no benefit from it. It is believed that the Lord hears all prayers offered to him and responds to each of them, but this becomes unlikely if a person calls to him every minute as a saying or at dinner. The Lord ceases to hear such a person, and in the event that this person needs real help, God will be deaf to him, as well as to his requests.
The second part of the commandment contains the following words: "... for God will not leave unpunished those who pronounce His name just like that." This means that God will certainly punish those who have broken this law. At first glance, the use of His name may seem harmless, because what is so terrible if you mention Him in small talk or in a quarrel?
But it is important to understand that such an oversight can offend the Lord. In the New Testament he explained to his disciples that all ten commandments are reduced to only two: "Love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul and your mind" and "Love your neighbor as yourself." The third law is a reflection of a person's love for God. One who loves the Lord with all his heart will not take his name in vain. This is tantamount to how a young man in love does not allow anyone to speak incorrectly about his beloved. Mentioning the Lord in vain is baseness and an insult to the Lord.
Also, violation of the third commandment can ruin the reputation of the Lord in the eyes of people: Romans 2:24 "For for you, as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed by the Gentiles." The Lord ordered to keep His name holy: Leviticus 22:32 "Do not dishonor (do not defile) My holy name, that I might be holy among the children of Israel."
An example of how God punishes people for breaking the third commandment of God's Law is the episode from 2 Samuel 21: 1-2 “There was a famine on the earth for the days of David in three years, one year after another. And he asked God. The Lord spoke: it was for the sake of Saul and his bloodthirsty house that he killed the Gibeonites. Then the king called to the Gibeonites and communicated with them. These were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnants of the Amorites; The Israelites swore, but Saul wanted to destroy them because of his zeal for Israel's descendants and Judah. " In general, God punished the people of Israel for breaking their oath of truce, which they had given to the Gibeonites.
The fourth commandment:
According to legend, the creator created our world and the Universe itself in six days; he devoted the seventh day to rest. This rule as a whole defines human life, where he is obliged to give most of his life to work, and leave the rest of the time to the Lord.
According to the Old Testament version, the Sabbath was given to the celebration. The Sabbath rest was established for the benefit of man, both physical and spiritual, and not for the sake of enslavement and deprivation. To gather your thoughts into one whole, to refresh your mental and physical strength, it is required to step aside from everyday activities once a week. This allows you to comprehend the purpose of everything earthly in general and your works in particular. In religion, work is a necessary part of human life, but the salvation of his soul will always remain the main one.
The fourth commandment is violated by people who, in addition to work on Sunday, are also too lazy to do work on weekdays, shy away from responsibilities, because the commandment says "to work six days." Violate also those who, not working on Sunday, do not devote this day to the Lord, but spend it in continuous fun, indulge in various excesses and revelry.
The fifth commandment:
Jesus Christ, being God's Son, honored His parents, was obedient to them, helped Joseph with his work. The Lord, for refusing to parents the required content under the pretext of dedicating everything they had to God, reproached the Pharisees, because by this they violated the requirement of the fifth law.
With the fifth commandment, God calls us to respect our parents, and for this he promises a person a prosperous, good life. Respect for parents is respect for them, love for them, under no circumstances should you offend them with words or deeds, be obedient, help them and take care of them when necessary, especially in old age or illness. It is necessary to pray to God for their souls both during life and after death. Disrespect for parents is a great sin.
In relation to other people, the Christian religion speaks of the need to honor everyone, in accordance with their position, age.
The Church has always considered and still considers the family to be its foundation and society.
Commandment six:
With the help of this law, the Lord prohibits killing, both himself and others. After all, life is a great gift from God, and only the Lord himself can deprive someone of life on earth. Suicide is also a grave sin: it also contains the sin of despair, lack of faith, rebellion against God's meaning. A person who forcibly cut off his life will not be able to repent, because after death it is not valid. In moments of despair, it must be remembered that earthly suffering is sent for the salvation of the soul.
A person becomes guilty of murder if in some way contributes to murder, allows someone's murder, helps to commit it with advice or consent, covers up the sinner, pushes people to new crimes.
It should be remembered that it is possible to bring a person to sin not only by deed, but also by word, therefore it is necessary to follow the language and think about what you are saying.
Seventh commandment:
The Lord commands spouses to remain faithful, unmarried to be chaste, both in deeds and words, thoughts, desires. In order not to sin, a person needs to avoid everything that arouses impure feelings. Such thoughts are required to suppress them in the bud, not allowing them to take possession of your will and feelings. The Lord understands how hard it is for a person to control himself, therefore He teaches people to be merciless and decisive towards themselves.
Commandment Eight:
In this law, God forbids usurping what belongs to another. Theft can be different: from simple theft, to sacrilege (theft of sacred things) and extortion (taking money from those in need, taking advantage of the situation). And any misappropriation of someone else's property through deception. Evasion of payments, debts, withholding of what was found, deception in sales, withholding workers' wages - all this is also included in the list of sins of the seventh commandment. A person's addiction to material values and pleasures pushes such a sin. Religion teaches people to be selfless, hardworking. The highest Christian virtue is the renunciation of any property. This is for those who strive for excellence.
The ninth commandment:
By this law, the Lord prohibits any lie, for example: knowingly false testimony at the trial, denunciation, gossip, slander and slander. "Devil" means "slanderer." Lying is unworthy of a Christian; it does not agree with either love or respect. A comrade understands something not with the help of ridicule and condemnation, but with the help of love and a good deed, advice. Anyway, it is worth watching the speech, since religion is of the opinion that the word is the greatest gift.
Tenth commandment:
This law encourages people to refrain from unworthy desires and envy. While the nine commandments talk about human behavior, the tenth pays attention to what is happening inside him: desires, feelings and thoughts. Encourages people to think about spiritual purity and mental nobility. Any sin begins with a thought, a sinful desire appears, which pushes a person to act. Therefore, in order to combat temptations, one should suppress the thought of him in the mind.
Envy is a mental poison. No matter how rich a person is, when he is envious he will be insatiable. The task of a person's life, according to religion, is a pure heart, for only in a pure heart the Lord will dwell.
The seven deadly sins
Pride
Contempt is the beginning of pride. The closest to this sin is the one who despises other people - poor, low. As a result, a person considers only himself to be wise and noble. It is not difficult to recognize a proud sinner: such a person is always looking for preference. In smug ecstasy, a person can often forget and appropriate imaginary dignity. The sinner moves away at first from the unfamiliar, and later - from companions, friends, family and, finally, the Lord himself. Such a person does not need anyone, he sees happiness in himself. But in essence, pride does not bring true joy. Under the rough shell of complacency and pride, the soul becomes deadened, loses its ability to love and make friends.
This sin is one of the most widespread in the modern world. It paralyzes the soul. Petty desires and material passions can destroy noble motives in the soul. This sin can suffer both a rich man and a person of average income, and a poor man. This passion is not simply a matter of possession of material things or wealth, it is a passionate desire to possess them.
Often a person in sin cannot think of anything else. He is in the grip of passion. Looks at every woman as if she were a female. Dirty thoughts creep into consciousness and cloud it and the heart, the latter desires only one thing - the satisfaction of its lust. This state is akin to an animal and even worse, because a person reaches such vices that an animal does not always think of.
This sin is a desecration of nature, it spoils life, a person in this sin is at enmity with everyone. The soul of man has not yet cognized a more pernicious passion. Envy is one of the ways of enmity, moreover, it is almost insurmountable. This sin begins with pride. It is difficult for such a person to see his equals side by side, especially those who are taller, better, etc.
Gluttony causes people to consume food and drink for enjoyment. Because of this passion, a person ceases to be a reasonable person, becomes like an animal that lives without reason. Through this sin, different passions are born.
Anger
Anger separates God and the human soul, since such a person lives in confusion, anxiety. Anger is a very dangerous advisor, everything that is done under his influence cannot be called prudent. In anger, a person commits evil, worse than it is difficult to do.
Despondency and laziness
Despondency is the relaxation of the forces of the body and soul, which at the same time is combined with desperate pessimism. Constant anxiety and despondency overwhelm the mental strength, bring him to exhaustion. From this sin is born indolence and anxiety.
The most terrible of sins is pride, which the Lord does not forgive. God's commandments allow you to live in harmony. It is difficult to comply with them, but throughout life a person needs to strive for the best.
The Ten Commandments of God in Orthodoxy play an extremely important role - they are the basis of the entire Christian faith and represent the whole essence of Christian law. They were received on Mount Sinai by the prophet Moses after, by the will of the Lord, he brought all the people of Israel out of Egypt, where they were in slavery.
The basics of Orthodoxy: why you should obey the commandments
10 biblical commandments or Decalogue God passed on to the Jewish people, during their journey from slavery to the land given by the Lord, Canaan.
Initially, the Lord Himself inscribed them on two tablets, but after that they were rewritten by the hand of Moses.
The law can be roughly divided into two parts:
- the first 4 commandments - about the relationship of a person to the Lord;
- the last 5 are about the relationship between a person and neighbors.
The law of God is difficult for people with a sinful nature. However, this is what one must strive for immensely. What is it for?
In the same way as the force of attraction, gravity, and so on, there are and are spiritual laws. Violation of them leads to the threat of carnal and spiritual death.
People do not resent the existence of gravity, and they know that if you jump from a height, you can crash. It is the same with prolonged immersion in water or getting into fire. Why is keeping the law of the Lord so disturbing?
Atheists live as if the spiritual world does not exist, but this does not free them from the operation of spiritual rules. If a person does not believe in the power of attraction, this does not mean that it does not exist and its violation will lead to death. The same applies to the Decalogue - violation will lead first to spiritual death, and then to carnal death.
Many people view the Decalogue as a set of rules for going to heaven after death. But this is erroneous, since the goal is to prove to a person that he cannot cope on his own and needs God's help and Jesus Christ. No one can thoroughly do this on their own, but only with God's help. We all need the death of Jesus Christ and divine forgiveness with redemption. You should ask the Lord for help in keeping the law and pray in repentance if it has been broken.
Important! The 10 biblical commandments should be known to those who consider themselves a true Christian, because according to them he can check his life path and compare it with the one prepared by the Lord.
Moses with the commandments given to him
God's commandments and their interpretation
The Creator wrote 10 rules on 2 stone tablets and passed them on to Moses. He remained on the mountain for another 40 days, and then went down to the people, but what he saw there was terrible - the Jews cast themselves a calf of gold and made him their god. Moses in anger threw the tablets to the ground and broke them.
After the people were punished, Moses climbed the mountain again and wrote them down again. All of them should be considered in detail for better understanding.
The first
“I am the Lord your God. May you have no other gods before Me. "
What does this mean? Our Lord is the true and living God, who is one in the entire universe and beyond. It is He who is the Creator of the whole world and all creations that live and exist by Him alone. The Christian religion is a religion of monotheism. There is no place in it for the host of gods, as was the case in Greek, Roman and Persian culture.
There is only one God. All power is concentrated in the Creator, but outside of Him it simply does not exist. He is the beginning of time and its end, He is the beginning of time and the end. The movement of the sun across the sky, the movement of a drop on a leaf, the movement of an ant and the run of a leopard - in all this there is God's hand and all this is possible only thanks to Him.
Despite the many names, the Lord is one. In the Scriptures He calls himself Yahweh (I am who I am), Jehovah (I will become), God Almighty, Elohim (God), Adonai (Lord), Sabaoth (Lord of armies). But these are only characteristics, character traits. He is the source of strength, both spiritual and material, therefore only one should come to Him.
According to this sin:
- polytheism;
- magic;
The second
"Do not make yourself an idol and no image of what is in the sky above, and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth."
For murder, a person will suffer a terrible punishment. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that you can kill in simple words. You should follow not only your hands, but also your tongue.
Seventh
"Do not commit adultery."
The Heavenly Father created the family at the beginning of existence. His idea is a man and a woman belonging to each other. There is no place for the third.
Despite the heretical legends about the second wife of Adam Lilith, God created only Adam and Eve. Therefore, husband and wife should take care of each other, love and not look / think about others.
Family is not always easy, but a person must follow the law.
Read about the family in Orthodoxy:
Eighth
"Don't steal."
The most important law in the field of human relations is that you should not take something that belongs to another. This applies to both small things and some big things.
The Heavenly Father bestows upon everyone according to his own will, so if a person steals, he shows disrespect not only to the work of his neighbor, but also to God. If he thinks that someone has something more and this is unfair, then this also expresses disrespect and disobedience to God's will.
Ninth
"Do not bear false testimony against your neighbor."
Lies spoil everything and sooner or later will be revealed. You should not be deceitful about others or yourself. Deception does not bring anything good, and the motives for it are almost always sinful.
The Almighty knows the truth always, and sooner or later it will be revealed to people. This law allows you to maintain the spiritual health of a person.
Tenth
"Do not covet your neighbor's house and nothing that is your neighbor's."
This rule has something in common with the 8th, but it is more detailed. In the original, God speaks about a wife, about cattle, about property.
Even one desire to have something of someone else is considered a sin. Desire is the seed of sin, and. if not uprooted in time, it will grow into a huge tree.
Christ's commandments
It should be understood that the listed 10 laws and 9 gospel commandments are different from each other, although it is necessary to fulfill all of them.
The former were received by Moses from the Lord as the basis of the law for the Jews, who became God's people. It was they who were created to separate the Jews from all other peoples who lived according to their own laws. Thanks to them, the Jews became an isolated, God's people at the dawn of the formation of religion. They were called not only to create a society and a state, but also to protect people from sin.
The commandments of Christ, given to them in the Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5-7 of the Gospel of Matthew, are somewhat different.
Sermon on the Mount
They talk about the spiritual world, and hardly touch the flesh. Christ in them gives a definition of what a Christian soul should be, how a believing person should develop in God.
Important! Christ's commandments in no way deny the basic law (Decalogue), but, on the contrary, continue it. If the Lord forms society and relations between people by law, then Christ speaks about the inner world of a person and its formation.
Watch a video on the commandments of Jesus