Tenth Commandment
“You shall not covet what is your neighbor’s” (Ex. 20:17; Deut. 5:21).
Heidelberg Catechism
Heidelberg Catechism Question 113. What is required in the tenth commandment? That there should never enter our heart even the least inclination or thought contrary to any commandment of God, but that we should always hate sin with our whole heart and find satisfaction and joy in all righteousness.
Westminster Shorter Catechism
Shorter Catechism Question 80. What is required in the Tenth Commandment? The Tenth Commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbor and all that is his.
- Heb. 13:5 “Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’”
- Rom. 12:15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”
- Phil. 2:4 “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”
- 1 Cor. 13:4-6 “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.”
Shorter Catechism Question 81. What is forbidden in the Tenth Commandment? The Tenth Commandment forbiddeth all discontentment with our own estate, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbor, and all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his.
- 1 Cor. 10:10 “And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.”
- Gal. 5:26 “Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.”
- Col. 3:5 “Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry).”
Study Catechism
Study Catechism Question 117. What do you learn from this commandment? My whole heart should belong to God alone, not to money or the things of this world. “Coveting” means desiring something wrongfully. I should not resent the good fortune or success of my neighbor or allow envy to corrupt my heart.
- Heb. 13:5 “Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’”
- Gal. 5:26 “Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.”
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