The Ten Commandments appear in Exodus 20:1–17 and again in Deuteronomy 5. They begin with the God who freed his people from slavery, not with an abstract prohibition. These are words of covenant governing relationships with God and neighbour. The short formulations below are explanatory summaries, not a quotation of a particular English Bible edition; read Exodus for the full wording.
The First Three: Worship and Fidelity
1. Have no other gods before God. God is not one among several interchangeable means of obtaining prosperity. The question is one of loyalty: what becomes the final basis of my decisions, and for what am I prepared to sacrifice truth or another person?
2. Do not make an idol for worship. The command includes bowing to and serving idols. Orthodox veneration of an icon is not worship of its material as a deity; honour is directed toward the person represented. Yet an icon must not be treated as an object that automatically produces a desired result.
3. Do not misuse God's name. His name must not cover a lie, threat, or arbitrary personal decision. This concerns more than habitual exclamations. We should also be careful about saying “God wants” when promoting our own preference.
The Fourth and Fifth: Time and Generations
4. Keep the Sabbath holy. The full commandment provides rest for dependent people as well as the household's head. It limits the power of work and profit over life. Christian Sunday worship is associated with Christ's Resurrection; it does not make rest, thanksgiving, or care for those required to work unnecessary.
5. Honour your father and mother. Honour includes gratitude and practicable care. It does not require approving every parental action, concealing abuse, or abandoning personal safety. Difficult relationships call for discernment about assistance and boundaries, not a slogan demanding unconditional submission.
The Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth: Life and Fidelity
6. Do not kill. Human life is not expendable for convenience or revenge. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ also addresses anger and degrading speech. Merely refraining from homicide does not fulfil the calling to love.
7. Do not commit adultery. This safeguards marital fidelity rather than licensing humiliation of people over their past. Repentance includes honesty and ending ongoing harm. 8. Do not steal. The command concerns quiet appropriation of another's work, money, or entrusted resources as well as obvious theft.
The Ninth and Tenth: Truth and Desire
9. Do not bear false witness against your neighbour. A person's reputation must not depend on our willingness to circulate an unverified accusation. 10. Do not covet what belongs to your neighbour. The biblical list includes the household and spouse: the desire to possess another's life concerns the heart before it becomes an outward action.
Christ does not reduce the commandments to a technical minimum beyond which love is optional. He reveals their depth. Nor are they a universal ready-made questionnaire for confession; personal circumstances need honest conversation. Read them to ask how truth and love can be restored, not to find an accusation against someone else.
When an explanation seems doubtful, return to the full biblical paragraph: short poster formulations inevitably omit context. Compare it with Christ's teaching on love for God and neighbour. This helps prevent a familiar slogan from replacing Scripture. A commandment calls us to responsibility for our own lives; it does not grant final authority over another person's conscience.
From prohibition to repairing relationships
A commandment can identify both a boundary crossed and a responsible next step. If someone has circulated an unverified accusation, privately agreeing that false witness is wrong is not enough. They can stop forwarding it, tell the same recipients that the information is unconfirmed, and correct their own message. Repeating every damaging detail to an even wider audience in the name of correction may only increase the harm. Repair should reduce the injury, not give it a new circulation.
If you have taken credit for another person's work, the practical question includes acknowledging authorship and returning what is owed, not merely feeling uncomfortable. If you envy a neighbour's home or position, distinguish a genuine need from the desire to possess that particular person's life. You may seek decent work, rest or housing without wishing the neighbour failure. The commandment need not turn every effort to improve your circumstances into wrongdoing; it brings your relationship with another person into view.
Discussing the commandments with children
Begin with a recognizable situation instead of asking a child to judge other families or complicated adult decisions. What can you do after taking something without permission or joining an untrue story about a classmate? Leave room for acknowledgement and repair. If an honest answer receives only humiliation, a child learns concealment rather than responsibility. Adults can model a different response by admitting their own harsh words and apologizing without using their authority as an excuse.
Honouring parents does not mean that a child must keep a dangerous secret at an adult's request. Make that distinction calmly and clearly, without frightening detail. In family conversation, the commandments should help protect life and trust, not make the powerful immune to questions. Where serious harm is involved, the first concern is protecting the person affected. A general moral lesson cannot replace the specific assistance that is needed, and religious language should never be used to silence a request for help.