The Ten Commandments
10 Commandments

THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT

You shall not commit adultery.[112] You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.[113]

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THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT

You shall not steal.[185]

2401 The seventh commandment forbids unjustly taking or keeping the goods of one's neighbor and wronging him in any way with respect to his goods. It commands justice and charity in the care of earthly goods and the fruits of men's labor. For the sake of the common good, it requires respect for the universal destination of goods and respect for the right to private property. Christian life strives to order this world's goods to God and to fraternal charity.

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THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.[252]

It was said to the men of old, "You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn."[253]

2464 The eighth commandment forbids misrepresenting the truth in our relations with others. This moral prescription flows from the vocation of the holy people to bear witness to their God who is the truth and wills the truth. Offenses against the truth express by word or deed a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness: they are fundamental infidelities to God and, in this sense, they undermine the foundations of the covenant.

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The ten Commandments

THE NINTH COMMANDMENT

You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.[298]

Every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.[299]

2514 St. John distinguishes three kinds of covetousness or concupiscence: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life.[300] In the Catholic catechetical tradition, the ninth commandment forbids carnal concupiscence; the tenth forbids coveting another's goods.

2515 Etymologically, "concupiscence" can refer to any intense form of human desire. Christian theology has given it a particular meaning: the movement of the sensitive appetite contrary to the operation of the human reason. The apostle St. Paul identifies it with the rebellion of the "flesh" against the "spirit."[301] Concupiscence stems from the disobedience of the first sin. It unsettles man's moral faculties and, without being in itself an offense, inclines man to commit sins.[302]

2516 Because man is a composite being, spirit and body, there already exists a certain tension in him; a certain struggle of tendencies between "spirit" and "flesh" develops. But in fact this struggle belongs to the heritage of sin. It is a consequence of sin and at the same time a confirmation of it. It is part of the daily experience of the spiritual battle: For the Apostle it is not a matter of despising and condemning the body which with the spiritual soul constitutes man's nature and personal subjectivity. Rather, he is concerned with the morally good or bad works, or better, the permanent dispositions - virtues and vices - which are the fruit of submission (in the first case) or of resistance (in the second case) to the saving action of the Holy Spirit. For this reason the Apostle writes: "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit."[303]

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The ten Commandments - 10 commandments

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT

You shall not covet ... anything that is your neighbor's....
You shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant,
or his maidservant,, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.[316]
 

2534 The tenth commandment unfolds and completes the ninth, which is concerned with concupiscence of the flesh. It forbids coveting the goods of another, as the root of theft, robbery, and fraud, which the seventh commandment forbids. "Lust of the eyes" leads to the violence and injustice forbidden by the fifth commandment.[318] Avarice, like fornication, originates in the idolatry prohibited by the first three prescriptions of the Law.[319] The tenth commandment concerns the intentions of the heart; with the ninth, it summarizes all the precepts of the Law.

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The ten Commandments - 10 commandments

The ten Commandments - 10 commandments

112 EX 20:14; Deut 5:18.
113 Mt 5:27-28.

185 EX 20:15; Deut 5:19; Mt 19:18.
252 EX 20:16; Cf. Deut 5:20.
253 Mt 5:33.
298 Ex 20:17.
299 Mt 5:28.
300 Cf. 1 Jn 2:16.
301 Cf. Gal 5:16, 17, 24; Eph 2:3.
302 Cf. Gen 3:11; Council of Trent: DS 1515.
303 John Paul II, DeV 55; cf. Gal 5:25

316 EX 20:17; Deut 5:21.
318 Cf. 1 Jn 2:16; Mic 2:2.
319 Cf. Wis 14:12.

The ten Commandments - 10 commandments

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