Ten Commandments

Definition and Meaning

The term "Ten Commandments" (Korean sipgyemyeong, 十誡命) means "ten commands." The Hebrew Bible calls them the "Ten Words," and in English they are also known as the "Decalogue," a term derived from Greek. Their content falls into two broad parts. The first part concerns duties toward God: to have no other gods, to make no idols, not to take the name of God in vain, and to keep the Sabbath. The second part concerns duties toward one's neighbor: to honor one's parents and to refrain from murder, adultery, theft, false witness, and covetousness.

Biblical and Historical Background

The text appears in two places: Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. The Old Testament records that Moses received the commandments at Mount Sinai, engraved on two tablets of stone (Exodus 31:18). Jesus summarized the whole law as love for God and love for neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40), and the church has explained this summary in connection with the two parts of the Ten Commandments.

The way the commandments are numbered differs among traditions. Most Protestants, including Presbyterians and Methodists, follow the Reformed tradition: they treat the prohibition of other gods and the prohibition of idols as the separate First and Second Commandments, and they count the prohibition of covetousness as a single commandment. The Catholic Church and Lutherans combine the first two into one commandment and divide the prohibition of covetousness into two, thereby arriving at ten. Martin Luther began his Small Catechism with an exposition of the Ten Commandments. John Calvin emphasized that the law serves as a guide for the life of the believer.

Practice in Korean Churches

Korean churches frequently print the Ten Commandments in their hymnals alongside the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer. The commandments are also taught as basic material in new-member instruction and in Sunday school. Presbyterian churches expound the Ten Commandments through the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Standards and through the Heidelberg Catechism. The Heidelberg Catechism places the Ten Commandments in the section dealing with "the life of gratitude." The Lutheran Church in Korea follows Luther's Small Catechism and the Lutheran numbering of the commandments.

The practice of reciting the Ten Commandments together in worship varies from church to church. Some churches recite them regularly, while others do so only during particular seasons such as Lent or in services preceding Holy Communion.

Understandings of the "Sabbath" in the Fourth Commandment also differ. Most Protestants take this commandment as the basis for observing the Lord's Day, the day of the resurrection. The Seventh-day Adventist Church, by contrast, insists on keeping the Sabbath on Saturday (→ Sabbath and the Lord's Day). In Korean churches, the First and Second Commandments have also been discussed in connection with the question of ancestral rites. This discussion helps explain why many churches hold memorial services in place of ancestral rites.