The Simple Way a Father Should Present Them to His Household 

The First Commandment You must not have other gods. 

Q. What does this mean? A. We must fear, love, and trust God 
more than anything else. 

The Second Commandment You must not misuse God's name. 

Q. What does this mean? A. We must fear and love God, so that 
we will not use His name to curse, swear, cast a spell, lie or 
deceive, but will use it to call upon Him, pray to Him, praise 
Him and thank Him in all times of trouble. 

The Third Commandment You must keep the Sabbath holy. 

Q. What does this mean? A. We must fear and love God, so that we 
will not look down on preaching or God's Word, but consider it 
holy, listen to it willingly, and learn it. 

The Fourth Commandment You must honor your father and mother. 
(So that things will go well for you and you will live long on earth). 

Q. What does this mean? A. We must fear and love God, so that we 
will neither look down on our parents or superiors nor irritate 
them, but will honor them, serve them, obey them, love them and 
value them. 

The Fifth Commandment You must not kill. 

Q. What does this mean? A. We must fear and love God, so that we 
will neither harm nor hurt our neighbor's body, but help him and 
care for him when he is ill. 

The Sixth Commandment 

You must not commit adultery. 

Q. What does this mean? A. We must fear and love God, so that our 
words and actions will be clean and decent and so that everyone 
will love and honor their spouses. 

The Seventh Commandment 

You must not steal. 

Q. What does this mean? A. We must fear and love God, so that we 
will neither take our neighbor's money or property, nor acquire 
it by fraud or by selling him poorly made products, but will help 
him improve and protect his property and career. 

The Eighth Commandment 

You must not tell lies about your neighbor. 

Q. What does this mean? A. We must fear and love God, so that we 
will not deceive by lying, betraying, slandering or ruining our 
neighbor's reputation, but will defend him, say good things about 
him, and see the best side of everything he does. 

The Ninth Commandment 

You must not desire your neighbor's house. 

Q. What does this mean? A. We must fear and love God, so that we 
will not attempt to trick our neighbor out of his inheritance or 
house, take it by pretending to have a right to it, etc. but help 
him to keep and improve it. 

The Tenth Commandment 

You must not desire your neighbor's wife, servant, maid, animals or 
anything that belongs to him. 

Q. What does this mean? A. We must fear and love God, so that we will 
not release his cattle, take his employees from him or seduce his wife, 
but urge them to stay and do what they ought to do. 


The Conclusion to the Commandments 

Q. What does God say to us about all these commandments? 

A. This is what He says: 

"I am the Lord Your God. I am a jealous God. I plague the grandchildren 
and great-grandchildren of those who hate me with their ancestor's sin. 
But I make whole those who love me for a thousand generations." 

Q. What does it mean? A. God threatens to punish everyone who breaks 
these commandments. We should be afraid of His anger because of this 
and not violate such commandments. But He promises grace and all good 
things to those who keep such commandments. Because of this, we, too, 
should love Him, trust Him, and willingly do what His commandments require. 

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Found in "THE MASTER CHRISTIAN LIBRARY" OF AGES SOFTWARE in the Theology 
Section, under Martin Luther http://www.ageslibrary.com