Friday, February 22, 2013
436. What does “Decalogue” mean?
(Comp 436) Decalogue means “ten words”
(Exodus 34:28). These words sum up the Law given by God to the people of Israel
in the context of the Covenant mediated by Moses. This Decalogue, in presenting
the commandments of the love of God (the first three) and of one's neighbor
(the other seven), traces for the chosen people and for every person in
particular the path to a life freed from the slavery of sin.
“In brief”
(CCC 2080) The Decalogue contains a privileged expression of
the natural law. It is made known to us by divine revelation and by human
reason.
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 2056) The word "Decalogue" means literally
"ten words" (Rom Ex 34:28; Deut 4:13; 10:4). God revealed these
"ten words" to his people on the holy mountain. They were written
"with the finger of God" (Ex 31:18; Deut 5:22), unlike the other
commandments written by Moses (Cf. Deut 31:9-24). They are pre-eminently the
words of God. They are handed on to us in the books of Exodus (Cf. Ex 20:1-17) and Deuteronomy
(Cf. Deut 5:6-22). Beginning with the Old Testament, the sacred books refer to
the "ten words" (Cf. for example Hos 4:2; Jer 7:9; Ezek 18:5-9), but
it is in the New Covenant in Jesus Christ that their full meaning will be
revealed.
Reflection
(CCC 2057) The Decalogue must first be understood in the
context of the Exodus, God's great liberating event at the center of the Old
Covenant. Whether formulated as negative commandments, prohibitions, or as
positive precepts such as: "Honor your father and mother," the
"ten words" point out the conditions of a life freed from the slavery
of sin. The Decalogue is a path of life: If you love the LORD your God, by
walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his
ordinances, then you shall live and multiply (Deut 30:16). This liberating power
of the Decalogue appears, for example, in the commandment about the sabbath
rest, directed also to foreigners and slaves: You shall remember that you were
a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out thence
with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm
(Deut 5:15).
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