Commandment 1. You shall have no other gods before me. We break this law whenever we give to something or someone other than God himself the very first place in our thoughts or our affections. Sin is basically the placing of self where God should be.

Commandment 2. You shall not make for yourself an image. We may not manufacture statues and bow down to worship them. But what about the distorted mental images of God we allow ourselves to hold? How often do we say, 'I don't like to think of God like this' and set to one side something different which is clearly revealed in the Bible?

Commandment 3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. This isn't just about swearing. Whenever our behaviour is inconsistent with our belief, when what we do contradicts what we say, we take God's name in vain. To call God 'Lord' but then to disobey him is to take his name in vain. To call God 'Father' but then be filled with anxiety and worry is to deny his name.

Commandment 4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Our bodies and minds need rest, and our spirits needs the opportunity for worship, which is why the sabbath is set aside as a day of rest and a day of worship. It's not only that the Sabbath is something for us to keep for our own good, but also that we should do all we can for the common good to ensure that others do not have to work unnecessarily on this day either.

Commandment 5. Honour your father and your mother. Our parents, at least while we are children, represent God's authority to us. That is why we are to honour them. Yet how easy it is to be ungrateful and negligent, and to fail to show our parents the respect and care due to them.

Commandment 6. You shall not murder. This is not just about the crime of murder. Jesus draws attention to what's going on inside and so points out that to be angry with someone without good reason, or to be insulting, are as serious as actually killing them.

Commandment 7. You shall not commit adultery. This commandment too has a far wider application than being unfaithful in marriage. It includes any sort of misuse of God's gift of sex. It's about what we think as well as what we do. Just as to think murderous thoughts is to commit murder, so to think adulterous thoughts is to commit adultery.

Commandment 8. You shall not steal. To steal is to rob a person of anything which belongs to him or is due to him. But this isn't limited to taking money or property. Tax evasion is robbery, as is dodging the customs and working short hours. What people call 'scrounging' God calls stealing. To overwork and underpay your staff is to break this commandment too.

These negative commandments also imply a positive counterpart. In order truly to avoid murder, we must do all we can to promote the health and support the life of others. It isn't enough to refrain from the act of adultery. The commandment requires us to have right, healthy and honourable attitudes towards one other. Similarly, not stealing is of no particular virtue if we are miserly or mean.

Commandment 9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour. This commandment doesn't only apply in a court of law. We can give false testimony by listening to unkind rumours as well as by passing them on, by creating false impressions, by failing to correct statements which we know to be untrue, and by what do not say as well as by what we do say.

Commandment 10. You shall not covet. The tenth commandment is in some ways the most revealing of all as the one which turns the Ten Commandments from an external legal code into an internal moral standard. Covetousness belongs to the inner life. It lurks in the heart and the mind. And so it underlines what sin is really all about - it's not just what we do but also who we are.