Rev. Reed Lee Pedersen's
This is a continuation of Adult Education held at Augustana Lutheran Church on Wednesday mornings at 9:30 a.m. The Fourth Commandment: Honor your father and mother. Luther’s Explanation: We are to fear and love God, so that we neither despise nor anger our parents and others in authority, but instead honor serve, obey, love, and respect them. What was discussed: This commandment is for more than children. It is not just about respecting parents, but also all in authority. We are to follow the laws of our world on top of obeying our parents. What if your mom, dad, or anyone in authority asks you to do something that is wrong? (e.g. Dad tells you to go steal from the grocery store.) Interestingly enough, the call to honor parents and authority assumes the parents and civil authority are worth honoring. Our first loyalty is to God. Therefore, if we are being asked to do something that goes against the love of God then we are not breaking this commandment. The Fifth Commandment: You shall not murder/kill. Luther’s Explanation: We are to fear and love God, so that we neither endanger nor harm the lives of our neighbors, but instead help and support them in all of life’s needs. What we discussed: Is it kill or murder? The two are very different. Killing is the broad term for ending another’s life, but murder has a more nefarious tone to it. You can kill someone in war or in self-defense. Is this breaking the commandment? The Hebrew translation, rather than Martin Luther’s German translation, leads us to believe it is murder instead of kill. The interesting thing about Luther’s explanation is that he adds in that we must also build up and protect the lives of those around us on top of not harming them ourselves. The Sixth Commandment: You shall not commit adultery. Luther’s Explanation: We are to fear and love God, so that we lead pure and decent lives in word and deed, and each of us loves and honors his or her spouse. What we discussed: Marriage is a pathway we take with our spouse. It is a commitment to walk that pathway and not wander off to another person. When we wander off to another and break our vows we break the promises we have made before God. What about divorce? What if I was the one who wanted to try to save the marriage, but my ex-spouse wanted to end it? Am I still a sinner? Divorce is a sin because it is the sign of broken vows before God, but the severity of one’s part in the sin differs. The Seventh Commandment: You shall not steal. Luther’s explanation: We are to fear and love God, so that we neither take our neighbors’ money or property nor acquire them by using shoddy merchandise or crooked deals, but instead help them to improve and protect their property. What we discussed: Following this commandment is similar to the fifth commandment. We are not only commanded to not steal. We are also commanded to protect and build up our neighbor’s belongings. The Eight Commandment: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Luther’s Explanation: We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations. Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light. What we discussed: This commandment is not only anti-gossip. It goes so far as to promote optimism and positive conclusions when one doesn’t have all the facts about another person. What would it look like to speak well of someone you can’t stand? Do you think if you spoke well of them long enough you might actually feel that way to? The Ninth and Tenth Commandments: You shall not covet your neighbor’s property or stuff.[i] What we discussed: What does it mean to covet? To explain, the group talked about how it differentiates from envy. For example, your neighbor lives in a very nice house. To envy your neighbor’s house is to want a house similar to your neighbor’s house someday. To covet your neighbor’s house is to want to be living in the exact house they are living in instead of them. If one gives into coveting they are heading down a path to possibly break commandments 5, 7, and/or 8. Conclusion: Commandments 4-10 teach us how to live out our lives with our fellow human beings. By living them out to the best of our ability we ensure to bring harmony and peace to our lives and our world. The commandments get to the crux of how we are to believe in one God and live out our lives. We are to fear and love God so that we follow them, but who is God? The next part of Luther’s Small Catechism covers the Apostle’s Creed. Martin Luther felt this was a good transition in order to answer the question about who God is. Next Week: The Apostle’s Creed, Luther’s Explanation, and Report of What We Discussed [i] This is my summary of the final two commandments,
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AuthorPastor Reed is a first call pastor at Augustana Lutheran Church in Andover, Illinois. Archives
July 2019
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