Parallel between Ten Commandments & Our Father

[John Lamb]

I noticed yesterday that there is a parallel between the Ten Commandments and the Our Father. I can't find a similar comparison online, so I've done it myself:

1. I am the Lord your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me = "Our Father" [recognition of the Lord as God, adoration]

2. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain = "Hallowed by Thy name" [worship of the Holy Name]

3. Remember to keep holy the LORD'S Day = "Thy Kingdom come" [the public worship of God, manifestation of God's Kingdom]

4. Honour your father and your mother =" Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" [by honouring our parents we fulfil God's will on the earth, just as the angels fulfil God's will in heaven by honouring the Heavenly Father]

5. "You shall not kill" = "Give us this day our daily bread" [bread refers to the sustenance of life, we may justly ask God for our life's sustenance by not taking the lives of others]

6. You shall not commit adultery & 7. You shall not steal = "Forgive us our trespasses" [adultery and theft are the two most egregious ways of trespassing against our neighbour, without outright killing them]

8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour = "As we forgive those who trespass against us" [we forgive those who bear false witness against us, who think unjust thoughts against us]

9. You shall not covet your neighbour's wife = "And lead us not into temptation" [lust for another's spouse is the most obvious association we make with the word "temptation"]

10. You shall not covet your neighbour's goods = "But deliver us from evil" [deliver us from the evil of covetousness - "the love of money is the root of all evil"]

I do not think this is an imaginary comparison or a mere coincidence, I think it is intentional on Our Lord's part. The saints say that the Our Father is the most perfect and comprehensive prayer, that it contains everything. The Our Father was given by Our Lord in response to His disciples who asked Him how they should pray; therefore, the prayer ought to contain everything necessary for the fulfilment of the Law, which, as I've demonstrated above, is precisely what it contains. Just as Moses received the tablets of the Law on a mountain, so Christ taught His disciples the Our Father on a mountain. The difference is that the Law of Moses is written on a stone, whereas the prayer of Christ is written on our hearts; which indicates how the Old Law was external and material, whereas the New Law is internal and spiritual. Moses went alone up the mountain to speak with God, and then went down to the people; Christ took His disciples up the mountain with Him, so that they could be taught by God directly; the ascent of the disciples up the mountain symbolises that in the New Law, men are raised up to the Divinity.

[Lynne]

How interesting!

[Michael Wilson]

Very nice, thank you.