The Tenth Commandment of the Law of God

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; you shall not covet your neighbor’s house, nor his field, nor his male servant, nor his female servant… nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

By this commandment, the Lord teaches us to refrain from envy and from impure desires. While the previous commandments spoke primarily about a person’s outward behavior, this last commandment directs our attention to what happens within us: to our thoughts, feelings, and desires. It calls us to strive for purity of heart. Every sin begins with an evil thought. If a person lingers on that thought, a sinful desire arises. The desire then pushes the person toward the act itself. Therefore, to successfully fight temptations, one must learn to cut them off at the very beginning — in the thoughts.

Envy is poison for the soul. No matter how rich a person may be, if he is envious, he will always feel that he has too little and will always be dissatisfied. “The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord” and “through the devil’s envy death entered the world” (Prov. 15:26; Wis. 2:24). To avoid giving in to the feeling of envy, one must thank God for His mercies toward us, who are unworthy and sinful. We should have been destroyed for our transgressions, yet the Lord endures us and even sends us His mercies. For our sake the Son of God shed His most pure blood. The Apostle instructs: “And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” (1 Tim. 6:8–10).

The task of our life is to acquire a pure heart. The Lord dwells in pure hearts. Therefore: “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Cor. 7:1). The Lord Jesus Christ promises a great reward to a person for purity of heart: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Mt. 5:8).