commandments
general term applied to orders understood as deriving from God. Obedience to them is required if order is to be achieved in a world which will otherwise be in chaos. This is the message which comes over from the early chapters of Genesis, as from what Old Testament prophets like Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Jeremiah have to say in their criticism of Israel. It is focused in the covenant of God with Moses on Mount Sinai, as described in Exodus 19 and 20. The substance of all divine commandments is summed up by Jesus as wholehearted love of God and love of neighbour as self (Matthew 22: 37-9, 5:43-4). From time to time in the Christian tradition, the authority to command in the name of God has been claimed by the institutional church and her leaders. Responding to God has aften involved individual men and women in obeying what the church has commanded; on other occasions, however, it has led to a distinction between what in is perceived as God's order, and what church has officially claimed it to be. Hearing and recognising the authentic commands of God, and responding accordingly, bears little resemblance to what happens on military parade and much more to operating with the insights derived from a relationship of trust.
See also:
decalogue, conscience