Why is there a tenth commandment? Aren't its contents already covered somewhere in the previous nine (especially seven and eight)? The WLC spends very few words on this one, and I get the impression that the divines thought they had everything pretty well covered already.

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Scott Roper
Member, Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA): "A bunch of hippie Calvinists"
Winston-Salem, NC

I suppose that many of us get the impression as to why there is a tenth commandment from God Who identifies them as ten, Exodus 34:28, Deuteronomy 4:13 & 10:4. Sometimes we do overlook the obvious.

I'm not so sure it's helpful to speculate on this question from any perceived brevity on the part of the Westminster divines concerning the 10th commandment. But I submit this humbly as my thoughts, without desire to hinder what other, more wiser brethren have to offer.

Blessings,
DTK

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Sola Scriptura est norma normans non normata
David T. King, pastor
Christ Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Elkton, Maryland
Augustine (354-430): Therefore what He [i.e., Christ] has deigned to speak to us, we ought to believe that He meant us to understand. But if we do not understand He, being asked, gives understanding, who gave His Word unasked. NPNF1: Vol. VII, Tractates on John, Tractate XXII, §1.

Also, being brief, it was the 10th commandment in particular that convicted the Apostle Paul, Rom 7:7.

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Rev. Bruce G. Buchanan
ChainOLakes Presbyterian Church, CentralLake, MI


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Great answers so far...
1) The 10th is entirely mental. God not only cares about our actions, He is also concerned with our thought life!
2) It is a "gateway" sin!
Of course all the commandments are to show us we are undone and in desperate need of a savior from God's just wrath.

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Denton Elliott
Husband of one wife, father of three
A striving bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ
Monroe, GA

After what Pastor King wrote I want to make a disclaimer that I am not wiser than either of the preceding Pastors.

I would point out a few things:
1. Why ten Commandments at all? Christ could sum up the entire Law in two positive commandments but the end of the Law is summed up in two positive commandments.

2. Law was added for transgression. It underlines and defines our sin. Our sinful hearts produce the very disobedience the Law forbids.

3. There is hardly a more fundamental human sin than covetousness. In fact, it's the "American way" in terms of political movements. It's the wellspring of murder, theft, and adultery. It flows from a sinful dis-satisfaction with the station that God has given us and sinfully desires what He has given others.

I think the Commandment serves to underline and define it that we would be specifically condemned for it and not left with more excuse because God didn't spell it out just as He spelled out other things that are quite obvious that we would never do if we were loving God and loving neighbor.

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Rich
Okinawa, Japan

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Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 113:

Q. What does the tenth Commandment require?
A. That not even the least inclination or thought against any commandment of God ever enter our heart, but that with our whole heart we continually hate all sin and take pleasure in all righteousness.

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Rev. Daniel Kok
Pastor of Grace Reformed Church (URCNA)
Leduc, Alberta CANADA
Church Blog

"there is no creature, either in heaven or on earth, who loves us more than Jesus Christ"
Belgic Confession, Article 26

I agree with Denton about it being completely mental. It can be known from the tenth commandment that God does not only look at actions but looks at even the thoughts of man.

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Bryan Riddle
1689 London Baptist Confession
Bethel Baptist Church Owasso, Oklahoma

Without the 10th Commandment, legalists and formalists could have argued with better color that their external obedience was real obedience. The 10th Commandment, as shown in the case of Paul in Romans 7 (which Bruce mentioned above) declared with ineluctable clarity that God's law is spiritual, that true obedience must come from the heart, that thoughts and feelings are as sinful as actions.

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Ruben

Spanish Blog -Teologia en Mexico
English Blog -The Howling Wilderness

Luther notes in his larger catechism that "This last commandment therefore is given not for rogues in the eyes of the world, but just for the most pious, who wish to be praised and be called honest and upright people, since they have not offended against the former commandments...”

This is one of those threads I start and then lose track of.

Thanks for all those great answers! That Luther quote is great!