Lesson 29
ON THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD

310 Q. Is it enough to belong to God's Church in order to be saved?
A. It is not enough to belong to the Church in order to be saved, but we
must also keep the Commandments of God and of the Church.

We call some commandments the Commandments of God and others the
commandments of the Church. We do so only to distinguish the
Commandments that God gave to Moses from those that the Church made
afterwards. They are all the commandments of God, for whatever laws or
commandments the Church makes, it makes them under the inspiration of
the Holy Ghost, and by God's authority. It would be a mortal sin to
break the commandments of the Church, just as it would be to break the
Commandments of God. You must remember that the Ten Commandments always
existed from the time of Adam, but they were not written till God gave
them to Moses. You know that it was always a sin to worship false gods,
to blaspheme, to disobey parents, to kill, etc.; for you know Cain was
punished by God for the murder of his brother Abel (Gen. 5), and that
took place while Adam was still alive.

Before the coming of Our Lord the Israelites, or God's chosen people,
had three kinds of laws. They had the civil laws for the government of
their nation--just as we have our laws for the people of the United
States. They had their ceremonial laws for their services in the
temple--as we have our ceremonies for the Church. They had their moral
laws--such as the Commandments--teaching them what they must do to save
their souls. Their civil laws were done away with when they ceased to be
a nation having a government of their own. Their ceremonial laws were
done away with when Our Lord came and established His Church; because
their ceremonies were only the figures of ours. Their moral laws
remained, and Our Lord explained them and made them more perfect.
Therefore we keep the Commandments and moral laws as they were always
kept by man. Fifty days after the Israelites left Egypt they came to the
foot of Mount Sinai. (Ex. 19). Here God commanded Moses to come up into
the mountain, and in the midst of fire and smoke, thunder and lightning,
God spoke to him and delivered into his hands the Ten Commandments
written on two tablets of stone.

Every day while the Israelites were traveling in the desert God sent
them manna--a miraculous food that fell every morning. It was white, and
looked something like fine rice. It had any taste they wished it to
have. For instance, if they wished it to taste like fruit, it did taste
so to them; but its usual taste was like that of flour and honey. (Ex.
16).

I said there is no difference between the Ten Commandments of God and
the six commandments of the Church; and there is no difference as far as
the sin of violating them is concerned. But they differ in this: the
Church can change the commandments it made itself, while it cannot
change those that God Himself gave directly.

*311 Q. Which are the Commandments that contain the whole law of God?
A. The Commandments which contain the whole law of God are these two:
first, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, with thy
whole soul, with thy whole strength, and with thy whole mind; second,
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

"As thyself"--that is, as explained elsewhere, with the same kind,
though not necessarily with the same degree, of love. First we must love
ourselves and do what is essential for our own salvation, because
without our cooperation others cannot save us, though they may help us
by their prayers and good works. Next to ourselves nature demands that
we love those who are related to us in the order of parents, children,
husbands, wives, brothers, etc., and help them in proportion to their
needs, and before helping strangers who are in no greater distress.

*312 Q. Why do these two Commandments of the love of God and of our
neighbor contain the whole law of God?
A. These two Commandments of the love of God and of our neighbor contain
the whole law of God because all the other Commandments are given either
to help us to keep these two, or to direct us how to shun what is
opposed to them.

Of the Ten Commandments the first three refer to Almighty God and the
other seven to our neighbor. Thus all the Commandments may be reduced to
the two of the love of God and of the love of our neighbor. The First
Commandment says you shall worship only the true God; the Second says
you shall respect His holy name; and the Third says you shall worship
Him on a certain day. All these are contained therefore in this: Love
God all you possibly can, for if you do you will keep the first three of
the Commandments. The Fourth says: Honor your father--who in the sense
of the Commandment can also be called your neighbor--that is, respect
him, help him in his needs. The Fifth says do not kill him; namely, your
neighbor. The others say do not rob him of his goods; do not tell lies
about him; do not wish unjustly to possess his goods and do not covet
his wife. Thus it is clear that the last seven are all contained in
this: Love your neighbor, for if you do you will keep the last seven
Commandments that refer to him.

313 Q. Which are the Commandments of God?
A. The Commandments of God are these ten:

1. I am the Lord thy God, Who brought thee out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before
Me. Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness
of any thing that is in Heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor
of those things that are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt
not adore them, nor serve them.
2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
3. Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath Day.
4. Honor thy father and thy mother.
5. Thou shalt not kill.
6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
7. Thou shalt not steal.
8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.

*314 Q. Who gave the Ten Commandments?
A. God Himself gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai, and
Christ Our Lord confirmed them.