Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments are the ten laws that, according to the Bible, God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, recorded twice in the Old Testament, at Exodus 20 and again at Deuteronomy 5. Also called the Decalogue, from a Greek word meaning "ten words", they have occupied a central place in Jewish and Christian moral teaching, and in the Anglican tradition they are rehearsed in the office of Holy Communion, expounded in the Church Catechism, and affirmed as still binding in the Thirty-nine Articles.

In Scripture

In the book of Exodus the commandments are spoken by God to Israel after the deliverance from Egypt and written on two tables of stone. Deuteronomy presents them a second time, as Moses addresses the people before their entry into the promised land. The two accounts are not word-for-word identical: most notably, Exodus grounds the sabbath commandment in God's rest after the creation, while Deuteronomy grounds it in Israel's deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Neither account numbers the commandments, and the division of the "ten words" into ten has differed among Christian traditions.

The numbering of the commandments

The Anglican tradition follows the division also used in the Reformed churches: the prohibition of images is counted as the second commandment, and the prohibitions against coveting are gathered together as the tenth. The division followed by Roman Catholics and Lutherans, traditionally traced to Augustine, treats the prohibition of images as part of the first commandment and divides the prohibition of coveting into two commandments, making the prohibitions against coveting a neighbour's wife and a neighbour's goods the ninth and tenth.

The division matters for how the commandments are printed and taught. In the Prayer Book's Communion office, "Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image" stands as the second commandment, and the whole of the coveting prohibition stands as the tenth.

In the Book of Common Prayer

The public rehearsal of the commandments in the Communion service is one of the most distinctive features of Anglican worship, introduced with the Prayer Book of 1552. In the 1662 Book of Common Prayer the Decalogue stands near the head of the Communion office, after the Lord's Prayer and the Collect for Purity. The minister, turning to the people, rehearses each commandment in turn; after each, the people respond, "Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law." After the tenth commandment the response changes to a final petition: "Lord, have mercy upon us, and write all these thy laws in our hearts, we beseech thee."

In the Catechism and the Articles

The Church Catechism teaches the commandments under two heads, "What is thy duty towards God?" and "What is thy duty towards thy Neighbour?" The first answer summarises the duties of the first table of the law — belief in God, the fear and love of him, true worship, thanksgiving, trust, prayer, and the honouring of his name and word through a life of service. The second summarises the duties of the second table — love of neighbour, honour to parents and those in authority, honesty, purity, and contentment with one's own lot, without coveting the goods of others.

Article VII of the Thirty-nine Articles declares that although the ceremonial and civil precepts of the Law given by Moses do not bind Christians, "no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the Commandments which are called Moral." The commandments therefore remain part of the moral law binding on believers. E. Harold Browne's Article VII exposition discusses how this article relates the law of Moses to the Christian life.

References

• The Book of Common Prayer, 1662.
• Francis Procter and W. H. Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, Macmillan, 1901.