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RELIGION AND PIETY The First Four Commandments* A DIALOGUE BETWEEN GOD AND MAN
1. Why are the first four commandments of the decalogue brought under one title? The decalogue is not a collection of unrelated statements. It is of commandments which try to describe man's responsibilities to himself, and to his neighbor. The first four commandments can
together I
a group God, to be con-
sidered a dialogue between God and man. The first commandment has two parts: "I om the lord your God," and "you shall have no other gods before me." The first sentence is, as it were, an all-embracing statement which gives meaning and direction to all the subsequent commandments by stating the unique position of God as the origin and¡ goal of all that exists. In the light of this statement man must relate to God as well as to his fellowman. The second sentence points out that this unique honor which belongs to the creator cannot be given to any other being. It would be offensive to God and detrimental to man himself to do so. The second commandment which forbids the irrevererit use of the lord's name points essentially to the same thing. In the Old Testament, much more than in our time, the knowledge and the use of a person's nome was an indication that one was acquainted with the inner depth of this person. The Jews were not allowed to mention the name of Jahweh because His person could never be fully understood by man. He could only • There ore at least four different systems of numbering the Ten Commandments, or the Decalogue, widely used in the United States: that used by Western Roman Catholics and one used by Lutherans, differing only in the last two commandments; and the traditional Jewish numbering ~nd the Eastern Christian system, followed aho by most English-speaking Protestants, dividing what we call the first Commandment into two so that what are numbered Second to Eighth in this catechism are Third to Ninth for them. Cf. Catholic Biblical Encyclopedia, Old THtament, "Decalogue."
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