10 Commandments / The Tenth Commandment
Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
(Lk.12:15)
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
(Eph.5:5)
…each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
(Jas.1:14-15)
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
(Ps.73:25)
One aspect of the Ten Commandments we haven’t really explored in this series is how our violation of them inevitably results from our failure to believe something about God. In the case of coveting, it is His wisdom and providence that underpins His provision – for ourselves, and for others. We think He is unjust and as such we are stirred to illegitimate desire. This might feel like a bit of anti-climax… a post-script to the Decalogue. But covetousness is the foundation on which so many other sins are built. As we finish the Decalogue, what has been implicit all along is brought out in to the open and made explicit. This one promises that God judges the heart. He isn’t simply concerned with what we do, but with what we want to do. It turns out that we don’t have to have stolen, or murdered, had an affair, or lied about someone – the fact that we wanted to has already constituted sin. In a final pass, we are reminded that Christianity is not simply about externals. And that makes this last Law the most damning of all. Christianity is not about behaviour modification! It is about being a New Creation, having a new heart.
The Tenth Commandment teaches us not to desire anything contrary to, or indeed outside of, God’s will. Sinful desire is itself sinful. It alerts us to the fact that all sin begins in the ‘evil desires’ of our heart (Jas.1:14). Our Catechism speaks of ‘disordered desire’ (see Qu.350 below). Not all desires are ‘disordered’; as we grow in godliness we find we are more consistently conceiving healthy and holy desires too. But when we desire the wrong thing in the wrong way at the wrong time and for the wrong reason, we can be confident we have transgressed the limits of this last command. We can perhaps recognise coveting more quickly than we can describe or analyse it. Watch a child take sudden interest in a toy simply because another child has begun to play with it. Adults are of course subtler and more sophisticated, but it is the same sin for all that. And we are particularly susceptible to it in the West. By default we are caught up in the ‘Cult of the Next Thing’, dangerously prone to following the empty promise that one more experience, one more purchase, one more indulgence will finally deliver the promises satisfaction. One of the most successful industries in our culture is dedicated to stirring up covetousness. As Christians we find ourselves standing against the cultural tide, every unlawful desire prohibited.
We are called rather to contentment: wanting God, and what He has for us, rather than what we want for us. It is not wealth (still less, more wealth) that leads to contentment, but a Spirit-given meekness that allows us to be satisfied in God and in His provision for us (Phil.4:11-13). If we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, then He will ensure that all else we need is provided (Matt.6:33). We will always desire. It is part of what it means to be human. The question left lingering at the end of this series is: What shall I desire? Or Who? ‘Desire is the combustible power that moves human life’ (Leithart). It was Augustine who captured this most brilliantly when he taught that we should love God and do as we please. In that sense, Christianity is the fulfilling of all we should truly desire. Imagine if our desires were rightly ordered… and fully fulfilled. Now we are getting closer to God’s vision for our life. Our vision of the New Creation is a liberation from the tyrannical idols and the slavery they impose. Our hearts set on ‘the Desire of Nations’, and our desire for Him and His ways satisfied. Only when our desire for Him eclipses all other desire shall we find ourselves finally in the way that leads to life. In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality (Prov.12:28).
Questions
What is the difference between temptation and sinful desire? Is all desire for sin itself sinful?
How would you diagnose covetousness in your own heart?
How can we fight against something that is a ‘sin of our nature’ (Thomas Watson)?
How has your view of the Law, and of its place in the Christian life changed over this last term?
Read I Tim.1:8-11. How do we use the Law ‘properly’? In the light of this passage, should Christians use the Law at all with reference to the themselves?
Read Deut.5:21 & Rom.7:7-13
Why would Paul (who was quite spiritually self-aware!) not have known what sin or coveting was if the Law had not said ‘Do not covet’ (v.7)? Do you think this is the case for all of us? If it is, how can we use the Law to teach us about our own sin?
If sin is dead apart from the Law, why does God give the Law at all? Wouldn’t it have been better to leave sin as ‘dead’ and Paul ‘alive’ (vv.8-9)? When does Paul think he was ‘alive’? What does ‘apart from the Law’ mean here?
How was the Law intended to bring life? And if it ‘holy, righteous and good’, then why did it actually bring death? What is the relationship between sin and the Law (v.10-12)?
If, when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and [Paul] died (v.9), then why does Paul later deny that the Law became death to him (v.13)?
Why does any of this matter to us? How would you respond to someone who said they really didn’t care what was going on in Rom.7:7-13, and that they were doing quite well as a Christian without having to think all this through?
Catechism
350. What does it mean to covet?
Coveting is the disordered desire for what belongs to another or what I am unable to have by law, by gift, or by right. (Josh.7:1, 10–26)
351. What does the tenth commandment forbid you to covet?
It forbids me to covet my neighbour’s property, possessions, relationships, or status, or anything else that is my neighbour’s. (Ex.20:17; Dt.5:21; Job 31:7–12, 24–28)
352. Why does God forbid coveting?
God forbids coveting because it breeds enmity with my neighbour, makes me captive to ungodly desire, and leads me into further sins. (Deut.7:25; Prov.12:12; Eph.5:5; James 4:2)
353. Why do you covet?
I covet because I do not trust God to provide what I need, and I do not remain content with what I have; rather, I persist in envy and desire. (Prov.14:30; 23:17–18; Luke 12:13–21; Gal.5:17–21)
354. How can covetousness lead to other sins?
Covetousness begins with discontent and, as it grows in the heart, can lead to sins such as idolatry, adultery, and theft. (2 Sam.11; 1 Kgs.21:1–19; Jas. 1:14–15)
355. What did Jesus teach about this commandment?
Jesus taught us not to seek anxiously after possessions, but to put our trust in God; and he showed us how to live by taking the form of a servant, and loving and trusting his Father in all things. (Matt.6:19–34; Acts 8:9–24; Phil.2:3–11)
356. How can you keep this commandment?
I can keep this commandment by learning contentment: seeking first the kingdom of God, meditating on God’s provision in creation and in my life, cultivating gratitude for what I have and simplicity in what I want, and practicing joyful generosity toward others. (Ex.35:20–29; 36:2–5; Ps.104; 145:15–21; Eccl.
5:10; 2 Cor.9:6–15; 1 Tim.6:6–10; Heb.13:5)
…
358. Since you cannot perfectly keep God’s Law, what has Jesus done on your behalf?
As the perfect human and unblemished Lamb of God, Jesus lived a wholly obedient and sinless life. He suffered death for my redemption upon the Cross, offering himself once for all as a “full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.” (Is.53:4–6; Mk.10:45; Jn.1:29; Rom.8:3–4; Col.2:13–15; Heb.10:10–14)
