Which commandments did Jesus list for the rich young man?
Hard question · The life of Jesus · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
Asked which commandments, Jesus names murder, adultery, theft, false witness, honouring parents, and adds, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Jesus lists adultery, killing, stealing, false witness, “Defraud not”, and honouring father and mother.
Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
Jesus lists adultery, killing, stealing, false witness and honouring father and mother.
Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
The objection
Asked what the rich young man must do, Jesus told him to keep the commandments. In Matthew his list ends with “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”, in Mark it includes “Defraud not”, and in Luke it has only five commandments. Critics ask which list Jesus actually gave.
The answer
None of the Gospels presents its list as complete or in a fixed order. Jesus was not reciting the Ten Commandments; he was pointing the man to the commandments about our neighbour, the second half of the law, to test his claim to have kept them. Each Gospel gives a selection, and the order itself varies: Matthew begins with murder and Luke with adultery, and Mark and Luke put honouring parents last. As Gill notes, Jewish teachers themselves said that the law has ‘no first nor last’, meaning that its commands may be cited in any order.
The extra items in Matthew and Mark sum up or apply the same commandments. Matthew adds “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18), which Paul calls the summary of these very commands (Romans 13:9). Mark’s “Defraud not” recalls Leviticus 19:13, “Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour”. It probably stands for the tenth commandment, against coveting, put into action, which suited a rich man; Barnes takes it as the substance of the ninth and tenth together. That is exactly where the young man failed, for when told to sell what he had and give to the poor, he went away sorrowful (Matthew 19:21–22). The three Gospels agree on the point of the conversation and on its outcome.
From the classic commentators
It is thus a violation of the ninth and tenth commandments; and our Saviour very properly, therefore, "condensed the two," and expressed their substance in this - not to defraud. It is, besides, expressly forbidden in Leviticus 19:13 ; "Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor."Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible, on Mark 10:19 (1832)