Yeshua Explored
3rd April 2023
The Ten Commandments
How did the Church deal with them (part 1)?
Why can’t we just leave things alone? We humans have added our particular spin on timeless truths since Adam delved and Eve span (to quote out of context!) Such was to be the journey of the “Ten Commandments”, once Christians got their hands on it. Nothing much was heard for the first three centuries until Augustine of Hippo appeared on the scene in the 4th Century, producing a series of sermons on the subject, rather than detailed expositions. It just wasn’t a subject that motivated Christian thinkers and writers, probably because it wasn’t a salvation issue. We have to wait until the 14th Century for the next significant development, the writings of the Greek Orthodox Gregory of Palamas, the Bishop of Thessalonica. As with other mystical thinkers of his tradition, he was looking to add a Christian slant to the “Commandments”, making them relevant for his generation. So, he took the “Ten Commandments” and …
First of all, he altered God’s “calling card”, from the Jewish, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out from Egypt …” to the Gentile Christian “The Lord God is one, known in Father and in Son and in Holy Spirit …”. Then, in the same vein, he asserted the prohibition against idolatry by referring to the Nicene Creed, but didn’t totally follow the spirit of the Second Commandment by not totally condemning the use of images and icons in the Church. He modifies the Third Commandment, merging it with the Ninth Commandment and declaring that it is to do with perjury and false witness, rather than blasphemy. Already the “Ten Commandments” are being redefined as the response of man, rather than reflecting the heart of God. This is reinforced by his take on the Fourth Commandment, where the Biblical Sabbath has already given way to the “Lord’s Day”, Saturday becomes Sunday. Honouring one’s parents now has conditions attached, only honour them if they draw you closer to God, otherwise flee from them. On the other hand, you are always exhorted to honour your spiritual father, the priest! He says little about adultery because holy men are surely above such things, even marriage is frowned upon here, the refuge of the weak (without whom, of course, the human race would have died out!). To murder is to swap ownership from Christ to Satan, he is quite black and white here, no grey areas. Stealing is shown as an alternative to the doing of charitable acts, which are to be encouraged. Bearing false witness is presented as a warning against slandering another and coveting is presented as the very root of sin.
All in all, Gregory’s list is primarily for the clergy, the rest perhaps were considered of little consequence. It is worth now looking at the writings of a layman, a Richard Rolle, an English hermit from the 14th Century. Here’s what he had to say: Regarding idolatry, although magic charms and sorcery are forbidden, crucifixes and statues of saints are to be revered. God’s name was still not allowed to be taken in vain and there are three ways one could sin through swearing in God’s name; swearing against what you actually believe in, swearing by Christ’s wounds or blood and not carrying out that which you have sworn to do. The Sabbath commandment is read as Sunday observance, when one must abandon all wicked behaviour. Honouring parents is maintained, both physically and spiritually. Murder is prohibited, but an addition is spiritual murder, those who refuse to feed the poor, who slander others and who mislead the innocent. He is also firm on adultery and theft, the latter including a whole plethora of laws protecting the property of the King and the ruling classes. False witness is frowned upon and the worst kind of lying – mortal sins – are when people are harmed spiritually or physically. Coveting is also dealt with, bound by the golden rule of not inflicting on someone that which you wouldn’t want inflicted on yourself.
So Gregory’s list was in the Catholic tradition of including elements of the Nicene creed and was particularly relevant to those in the clergy, whereas Rolle’s was more earthy and general, centred more on conduct between people, rather than God’s requirements. Now we stay in England, but travel back in time to the person who is most associated with creating a foundation of lawfulness, based on Christian principles (when he wasn’t burning cakes).
Alfred the Great lived in the 9th Century and attempted to build up a civil code of conduct based on the Ten Commandments. Winston Churchill, when considering Alfred’s life, stated that here “we are witnessing the birth of a Nation”. His law code began with an introduction containing a translation of the Ten Commandments into English. These were to be the basis of the law for a Christian nation if it wished to be blessed by God and Christian principles formed his concept of justice as he chose the laws which were to form the basis of the legal system. This was the beginning of our English legal system, the “Common Law” that was going to hold sway centuries later. Here’s his basic list (with the Second Commandment strangely relegated to the bottom of the list and the Sabbath not mentioned by name!):
1) “Do not love other strange gods before Me!”
2) “Do not call out My Name in idleness! For you are not guiltless with Me, if you call out My Name in idleness.”
3) “Mind that you hallow the rest-day! You must work six days; but on the seventh you must rest! For in six days Christ made Heavens and Earth, the seas, and all the shapen things in them; but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord hallowed it.”
4) “Honour your father and your mother whom the Lord gave you – so that you may live longer on Earth!”
5) “Do not slay!”
6) “Do not commit adultery!”
7) “Do not steal!”
8) “Do not witness falsely!”
9) “Do not unrighteously desire your neighbour’s goods!”
10) “Do not make gold or silver gods for yourself!”
His law code also contains some other verses from Exodus as well as Acts 15:23-29:
With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings. We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
These writings from Alfred were his musings on how best to introduce Mosaic law to his English nation, underpinning his thoughts with Scripture in order to place a Divine seal on it. Although he stressed Christ’s mercy to all, his emphasis was on the feudal hierarchy that existed in his day and re-interpreted “love your neighbour as yourself” (Matthew 22:39–40) to “love your secular lord as you would love the Lord Christ himself”. Everyone still had to understand their place in society, with Kings and Lords definitely at the top of the heap. His law code itself was a bit of a random mess, with little logic to tie it all together. Historians suggest that these should be viewed in a symbolic sense – as a manifesto of kingship – rather than as a practical set of laws that could be used.
This is an extract from the book, Sinner’s Charter: Are the ten commandments for today?, available for £10 at https://www.sppublishing.com/the-sinners-charter-260-p.asp
