Ten Commandments of God
Primary 4 · Social and Religious Studies
Ten Commandments of God
Lesson 3 of 5
14 min
A teacher of the law once tried to test Jesus with a hard question: "Of all God's commandments, which one is the greatest?" People held their breath. How could anyone choose just one?
In Rwanda, Christians and Muslims live, learn and play side by side. In this unit you will read what each faith teaches, in its own words. Learning about each other's faith helps us to respect one another.
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
(Matthew 22:36–40, World English Bible)
Jesus joined all ten commandments into two great commandments: love God with everything you are, and love other people as much as you love yourself. If you truly love God and your neighbour, you will keep all the others.
Jesus answered this question with a story, the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37). Robbers beat a traveller and left him by the road. Two religious leaders walked past without helping. Then a Samaritan, a man from a group the traveller's people did not get on with, stopped. He cleaned the man's wounds, took him to an inn and paid for his care. Jesus said: be like the Samaritan. Your neighbour is anyone who needs your help.
The Qur'an also joins love for Allah with kindness to people, and it names many kinds of neighbours:
"And serve Allah. Ascribe no thing as partner unto Him. (Show) kindness unto parents, and unto near kindred, and orphans, and the needy, and unto the neighbour who is of kin (unto you) and the neighbour who is not of kin, and the fellow-traveller and the wayfarer…"
(Qur'an 4:36, translated by Marmaduke Pickthall)
A wayfarer is a traveller on the road. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) also taught that nobody truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself. This saying (a hadith) is recorded in the collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim.
| Christianity | Islam | |
|---|---|---|
| Loving God | Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. | Serve Allah and ascribe no partner to Him. |
| Loving people | Love your neighbour as yourself. | Show kindness to parents, relatives, orphans, the needy, neighbours and travellers. |
| Who is my neighbour? | Anyone who needs help (the Good Samaritan). | The neighbour who is related to you and the one who is not. |
Loving God: pray, worship, thank God and obey His commandments.
Loving your neighbour: share your food, help a classmate with homework, visit the sick, forgive, tell the truth and welcome newcomers, whatever their religion or home area.
Tip
Two hands: lift one hand to God in prayer, and hold out the other hand to help your neighbour. That is the whole law in two hands!
Answer: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."
Answer: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Answer: Our neighbour is anyone who needs our help, even someone from a different group.
Answer: Any three of: parents, near kindred (relatives), orphans, the needy, the neighbour who is of kin, the neighbour who is not of kin, the fellow-traveller, the wayfarer.
Answer: Any kind act, such as sharing food, helping a classmate, visiting a sick friend or welcoming a new pupil.
What you learned today
Sources and credits
The explanations around the scripture passages are written by Ganzaa.
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