“There is no other commandment greater than these”
It is recommended that you have read “The Decalogue” lesson within this packet before reading this one.
After reading the previous lesson, we have begun to see that the Commandments are not abolished because of Jesus, but are rather brought to their true purpose understanding through Him. “Today’s Liturgy shows the continuity between the Old Testament and the New, and at the same time, the timeliness of the later.” [1]
What does Jesus do to the Commandments? “Jesus reiterated the ancient commandment but gave it a fresh touch, first of all isolating it from a context of secondary prescription, and then putting it decisively above every other commandment; thus he linked it to the commandment of love for neighbor and declared with authority: ‘ There is no other commandment greater than these’”. [2]
How are we supposed to interpret the Commandments? We are to read them with understanding of both Old and New Testaments. Jesus did not redefine their meanings; He just reiterated them in a different way. “Christians therefore read the Old Testament in the light of Christ crucified and risen. Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord himself. Besides, the New Testament has to be read in the light of the Old Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament. As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.” [3]
Do we have to follow the Ten Commandments? Why or why not? Yes, we are obligated to follow the Ten Commandments. “The Council of Trent teaches that the Ten Commandments are obligatory for Christians and that the justified man is till bound to keep them; the Second Vatican Council confirms: ‘The bishops, successors of the apostles, receive from the Lord…the mission of teaching all peoples, and of preaching the Gospel to every creature, so that all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the observance of the Commandments.’” [4]
What is the role of the Church in regards to the Commandments? The Church and the Commandments are both timeless because they are linked to God. “Thus from generation to generation…the ‘deposit’ of Christian moral teaching has been handed on, a deposit composed of a characteristic body of rules, commandments, and virtues proceeding from faith in Christ and animated by charity. Alongside the Creed and the Our Father, the basis for this catechesis has traditionally been the Decalogue which sets out the principles of moral life valid for all men. [5]
Why are the Commandments timeless? They are timeless because they are from God is timeless Himself. He stands outside of time. If they were not timeless then they would not matter or have importance to one’s soul at a point in time. This is of course not true. The Commandments are a gift from God. They are what draw us closer to God. With Jesus coming into this world and giving us His Church any little separation man felt from God even with the Law is now vanished.
How were the commandments strengthened by Jesus’ presence on earth? God has come in the flesh to only strengthen His bond between Him and Man. “This commandment of the Old Law, ratified by Jesus, shows, above all, God’s great desire to engage in intimate conversation with man: ‘Would it not have sufficed to publish a permission giving us leave to love him? …; he makes a stronger declaration of his passionate love of us, and commands us to love him with all our power, lest the consideration of his majesty and our misery, which make so great a distance and inequality between us, or some other pretext, divert us from his love. In this he well shows that he did not leave in us for nothing the natural inclination to love him, for to the end it may not be idle, he urges us by his general commandment to employ it, and that this commandment may be effected, he leaves no living man without furnishing him abundantly with all means requisite thereto”. [6]
[1] Divine Intimacy pg. 177
[2] Divine Intimacy pg. 177
[3] CCC 129
[4] CCC 2068
[5] CCC 2033
[6] St. Francis de Sales, Treatise on the love of God, book 2, chap. 8