The 10 Commandments: Complete Catholic Guide
The Ten Commandments are the bedrock of Catholic moral life. But did you know that Catholics and most Protestants number them differently? Here is a complete guide to the Commandments as the Catholic Church teaches them — with full text, theological explanation, and practical application.
The Ten Commandments are God's moral law given to Moses — Catholics number them slightly differently from most Protestants but teach the same substance: worship God alone, honor parents, keep Sabbath holy, and avoid idolatry, blasphemy, murder, adultery, theft, false witness, and coveting.
The Ten Commandments — called the Decalogue (from the Greek deka logoi, "ten words") — were given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and are recorded in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. They form the foundational moral law of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and the Catholic Church treats them as the essential framework for understanding the moral life.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church dedicates an entire section (Part Three, Section Two) to the Ten Commandments, treating each one with rich theological depth. As the Catechism states: "The Ten Commandments take on their full meaning within the covenant. According to Scripture, man's moral life has all its meaning in and through the covenant." (CCC 2061)
Why Do Catholics Number the Commandments Differently?
One of the most common sources of confusion between Catholics and Protestants is the numbering of the Ten Commandments. Most Protestants (following Luther and Calvin) use a different numbering system than Catholics (following the tradition of St. Augustine and the Latin Church).
| Catholic / Lutheran # | Reformed / Anglican # | Content |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1st & 2nd | No other gods + no idols (Catholics combine) |
| 2nd | 3rd | Do not take the Lord's name in vain |
| 3rd | 4th | Keep holy the Sabbath day |
| 4th | 5th | Honor your father and mother |
| 5th | 6th | You shall not kill |
| 6th | 7th | You shall not commit adultery |
| 7th | 8th | You shall not steal |
| 8th | 9th | You shall not bear false witness |
| 9th | 10th (part) | You shall not covet your neighbor's wife |
| 10th | 10th (part) | You shall not covet your neighbor's goods |
Catholics (following Augustine and the Western tradition) combine what Protestants treat as the 1st and 2nd Commandments (no other gods + no graven images) into a single 1st Commandment, arguing that the prohibition of idols is implied in the prohibition of false gods. To reach ten, Catholics then divide the final Commandment against coveting into two: one about coveting a neighbor's spouse (9th) and one about coveting goods (10th).
Neither approach is doctrinally wrong — both reach ten commandments — but the difference can cause confusion when comparing Catholic and Protestant religious education materials.
The Ten Commandments: Full Catholic Text and Explanation
1st Commandment: I am the Lord your God — you shall have no other gods before me.
The first and greatest of all commandments establishes the fundamental orientation of all moral life: God alone is Lord, and nothing created may occupy His place in the human heart. This commandment requires the three theological virtues toward God: faith (believing in God and His revelation), hope (trusting in His promises), and charity (loving God above all things).
It forbids sins against faith (apostasy, heresy, schism), sins against hope (despair, presumption), and sins against charity (atheism, agnosticism, sacrilege, simony, and various forms of superstition including magic, divination, and consulting horoscopes).
Crucially, the CCC clarifies that the prohibition on "graven images" is not about religious art per se — the Church has always used sacred images in worship — but about the worship of created things as gods. The distinction is between veneration (honor given to holy persons and images) and latria (adoration belonging to God alone).
2nd Commandment: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
God's name is holy because it reveals His very nature and presence. This commandment requires that we speak of God, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints with reverence and love. It forbids blasphemy (speaking against God, Christ, or the Church with contempt), false oaths (swearing by God to confirm a lie), and cursing (calling down evil upon a person or thing in God's name).
The Catechism specifically addresses the abuse of God's name in common speech: "The second commandment forbids every improper use of God's name. Blasphemy is the use of the name of God, of Jesus Christ, of the Virgin Mary, and of the saints in an offensive way." (CCC 2162)
3rd Commandment: Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day.
The Sabbath was given to Israel as a participation in God's own rest after creation (Gen 2:2-3) and as a sign of the covenant. For Christians, Sunday — the first day of the week, the day of Christ's Resurrection — has replaced the Saturday Sabbath as the primary sacred day. The Sunday obligation requires attending Mass, refraining from unnecessary work, and devoting time to rest, family, and works of mercy.
Missing Sunday Mass without a serious reason (illness, care for a young child, unavoidable work) is a grave matter that may constitute a mortal sin. The CCC teaches that Sunday "is to be observed as the foremost holy day of obligation" (CCC 2177).
4th Commandment: Honor your father and your mother.
This is the first commandment that concerns human relationships, and it serves as the bridge between the "love of God" commandments (1–3) and the "love of neighbor" commandments (5–10). It requires children to obey, respect, and care for their parents — and extends to the proper respect owed to all legitimate authority: civil leaders, teachers, employers, and the Church.
It also specifies the corresponding duties of parents: to care for their children's physical, emotional, and spiritual needs; to educate them in the faith; to give them an example of virtue; and to respect their vocations. The CCC dedicates extensive treatment to the duties of civil authorities to govern justly in light of this commandment.
5th Commandment: You shall not kill.
Human life is sacred from conception to natural death because every person is made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26-27). This commandment forbids murder (direct and intentional killing of an innocent person), abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide, genocide, and suicide. It also forbids cooperation in any action that directly attacks human life.
The CCC addresses the permissibility of legitimate self-defense, just warfare, and (in limited circumstances) capital punishment, while affirming the absolute prohibition against directly taking innocent life. Recent magisterial development under Pope Francis has further restricted the permissibility of capital punishment to nearly zero given modern possibilities of incarceration.
Jesus extended this commandment in the Sermon on the Mount to forbid even interior hatred: "Everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment" (Mt 5:22).
6th Commandment: You shall not commit adultery.
This commandment concerns the sanctity of marriage and human sexuality. It forbidden adultery (sexual intercourse by a married person with someone other than their spouse) and all sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman: fornication, pornography, prostitution, rape, and homosexual acts. Jesus extended it to forbid even lustful interior intentions: "Anyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mt 5:28).
The corresponding positive virtue is chastity — the successful integration of sexuality within the person according to their state in life. Sexuality is a great gift from God, ordered toward marital love and procreation, and this commandment is ultimately about protecting the beauty of that gift.
7th Commandment: You shall not steal.
This commandment forbids all unjust taking or withholding of another's goods: theft, fraud, corruption, paying unjust wages, tax evasion, environmental destruction of the commons, and monopolistic appropriation of common goods. It also requires the positive duty of justice: restitution when possible, fair dealings in commerce, and care for the poor.
The CCC connects this commandment to the Church's extensive social doctrine, including the universal destination of goods (all created goods are ultimately meant for the benefit of all humanity), the right to private property, and the special obligation of social justice toward the poor and vulnerable. It is not enough to abstain from stealing — we are also called to actively promote economic justice.
8th Commandment: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
This commandment requires truthfulness and forbids all forms of lying and deception: perjury (lying under oath), rash judgment (assuming the worst of another without evidence), detraction (revealing true but private faults without necessity), calumny (lying about another's faults), and flattery (telling pleasing lies). It also governs the use of social media, journalism, and all forms of communication.
The positive virtue is truthfulness — a disposition to honor truth in speech and action. The Catechism emphasizes that "the right to the communication of the truth is not unconditional" — certain truths may be protected by legitimate professional confidentiality (doctor-patient, priest-penitent in the confessional seal), and one is not obligated to share every truth with every person at every time.
9th Commandment: You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
This commandment concerns the interior life of desire and imagination. Coveting one's neighbor's spouse means deliberately entertaining desires or fantasies about adultery. It requires interior purity — the purification not just of acts but of thoughts, desires, and the imagination.
The positive virtue is modesty — a way of living and seeing that refuses to reduce others to objects of fantasy. The CCC connects this to the theology of the heart: "The heart is the seat of moral personality: 'Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication...'" (CCC 2517, citing Mt 15:19). Purifying the heart requires prayer, the sacraments, and a vigilant custody of the eyes and imagination.
10th Commandment: You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.
The tenth commandment completes the Decalogue by addressing the interior disposition of greed and envy — the disordered desire for another's possessions. The CCC states: "The tenth commandment forbids greed and the desire to amass earthly goods without limit. It forbids avarice arising from a passion for riches and their attendant power." (CCC 2536)
The virtue corresponding to this commandment is poverty of spirit — the interior detachment from material goods that Jesus proclaimed as the entry to the Kingdom: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 5:3). This does not require the abandonment of all possessions, but a radical interior freedom from possessions as ultimate values.
The Two Great Commandments: Jesus's Summary
When a Pharisee asked Jesus which is the greatest commandment, He gave a response that the Church has always seen as the interpretive key to the entire Decalogue:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 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."
— Matthew 22:37-40
The Catechism organizes its entire treatment of the Ten Commandments around this dual love: Commandments 1–3 concern love of God; Commandments 4–10 concern love of neighbor. The Decalogue is not ultimately about prohibition — it is the map of human love: what it looks like to love God and neighbor completely.
Are Catholics Still Bound by the Old Testament Law?
This is one of the most common theological questions about the Commandments. The Church distinguishes three types of precepts in the Old Testament:
- Moral precepts (the Ten Commandments) — these express the natural moral law written on the human heart and remain permanently binding.
- Ceremonial precepts (temple rituals, dietary laws, circumcision, etc.) — these foreshadowed Christ and have been fulfilled and superseded by the New Covenant.
- Judicial precepts (civil laws of ancient Israel) — these governed a specific historical community and are not binding today.
The Ten Commandments, as moral precepts, are permanently binding on all people because they express the natural moral law accessible to human reason, and because Christ explicitly affirms them in the New Testament (Mt 5:17-20; 19:16-22). Grace does not abolish the moral law — it fulfills and perfects it.