“Which is the first of all the commandments?”

“When someone asks him, ‘Which commandment in the Law is the greatest?’ Jesus replies: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets.’ The Decalogue must be interpreted in light of this twofold yet single commandment of love, the fullness of the Law…” [1] In order to understand these two commandments in the Gospel we must first understand the Decalogue.
 
What is the Decalogue? The Decalogue consists of the “Ten Commandments, given to Moses by God at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20). They were inscribed on two tablets of stone (Deuteronomy 4:13). In the New Testament Jesus accepted them as the basis of his teaching and promised to carry them to completion. ‘Not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved’.” [2]
 
What does “Decalogue” mean? “Decalogue means ‘ten words’. 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.”[3]
 
Why does God give us the Decalogue? Imagine going to work with a boss that does not tell a person what to do. Imagine a person with their parents and his/her parents do not set any rules or guidelines. Imagine if a person is about to play a game without any rules. In any of these scenarios, will the outcome be good? No. The employee will not know what to work on and will be unable to do their best; the child will not know right from wrong or good from bad; and the player will not know if they are winning, losing, or even playing the game correctly. God gives us the commandments because He loves us and wants us to clearly know what He expects from us. If we did not know the commandments, we would be clueless and fall into anarchy. “The gift of the Commandments is the gift of God himself and his holy will. In making his will known, God reveals himself to his people.” [4]
 
Activity – Games with No Rules
If you have a group of people ask for a few volunteers. Have two at a time either roll a dice or draw a card out of the deck. At random tell one person they won and the other person they lost. Do not tell them why. At the end ask them how they felt about the game. Many will probably say they did not understand what was going on. Ask them: if there were rules to the game would it have been easier?
 
Can someone follow the Decalogue without knowing God? God gave us His Law on Mount Sinai before arrival in the Promised Land, but “From the beginning, God had implanted in the heart of man the precepts of the natural law. Then he was content to remind him of them. This was the Decalogue.” [5]
 
If we already have them implanted in our hearts, why does God have to reveal the commandments? “To attain a complete and certain understanding of the requirements of the natural law, sinful humanity needed this revelation” [6] As St. Bonaventure puts it, “A full explanation of the commandments of the Decalogue became necessary in the state of sin because the light of reason was obscured and the will had gone astray.” [7] In other words, yes, the law is written on our hearts, but unfortunately our predisposition towards sinfulness muddied the waters and God had to remind and clarify the law for us.
 
What is the bond between the Decalogue and the Covenant (before Christ)? “The Decalogue must be understood in the light of the Covenant in which God revealed himself and made known his will. In observing the commandments, the people manifested their belonging to God and they answered his initiative of love with thanksgiving.” [8]
 
What importance does the Church give to the Decalogue? “The Church, in fidelity to Scripture and to the example of Christ, acknowledges the primordial importance and significance of the Decalogue. Christians are obliged to keep it.” [9]
 
Are we bound to follow the Decalogue? As mentioned above,  we have a grave obligation to the Decalogue. [10] “…they oblige always and everywhere. No one can dispense from them…To transgress one commandment is to infringe all the others. One cannot honor another person without blessing God his Creator. One cannot adore God without loving all men, his creatures. The Decalogue brings man’s religious and social life into unity.” [11]
 
Are we even capable of following the Decalogue? “Yes, because Christ without whom we can do nothing enables us to keep it with the gift of his Spirit and his grace.” [12]

[1] CCC 2055
[2] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, pgs. 147-148
[3] Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church pgs. 129-130
[4] CCC 2059
[5] St. Irenaeus, Adv. Haeres. 4, 15, 1: PG 7/1, 1012
[6] CCC 2071
[7] St. Bonaventure, Comm. Sent. 4, 37, 1, 3.
[8] Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church pg. 130
[9] Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church pg. 130
[10] cf. CCC2072
[11] CCC 2072, CCC 2069
[12] Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church pg. 130