SCHOOLYEAR: 2021- 2022 THIRD QUARTER: MODULE 3

SUBJECT: CHRISTIAN LIVING EDUCATION 9 “WE MATURE IN GOD’S LOVING LAW”

TERMINOLOGIES law- this is an ordinance of reason, promulgated by competent authority for the sake of the
common good.
law of Moses, law of the Covenant – this is the first stage of the revealed Law which its moral
instructions summed up in the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments
moral law – it is given to people as a rule of conduct that leads them to the beatitude or
happiness that God promises them

REFERENCES: Live Your Faith Everyday Series in Responsible Freedom in Christ

Phoenix Publishing House
Efren Jone J. Oleden

INTRODUCTION: Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land if
Egypt, out of the house of slavery. – Exodus 20:1-2

STANDARDS: At the end of this module, students will be able to:

Understand how God revealed His law to the people of Israelites;
Recall the Ten Commandments of God;
Give importance to God’s loving law; and
Live the law by abiding God’s commandment.

TRANSFER: In the end of this module, students will be able to appreciate and abide God’s loving law.

TARGET PVMGO/ RESPONSIBLE, MORAL GOAL and OBJECTIVE 2

CORE VALUE: To develop a sense of moral responsibility, to discern and choose what is right and true for
oneself, others and god’s creation.
To provide fundamental knowledge, skills and gospel – based values that will transform their
attitude and behavior towards a well-integrated personality imbued with a passion for love of God
and neighbor especially the poor.

ACTIVITY 1: Watch closely the video about one real threat of nuclear war that our world faces today.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8WOYUiawkg
1. If this threat turns into a reality, how would you feel about it?
2. Would you want to experience this in your lifetime? Why or why not?

DISCUSSION/SUMMARY

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS – (Exodus 20: 1 – 17)

Then God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of slavery.
You shall not have other gods beside me, You shall not make for yourself an idol, or a likeness of anything in the
heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or serve
them. For I, the Lord, your God, am jealous God inflicting punishment for their ancestors’ wickedness on the children of
those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those
who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not invoke the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. For the Lord will not leave unpunished anyone
invokes his name in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day – keep it holy. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a
Sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work, you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave,
your work animal, or the resident alien within your gates, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea
and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord has blessed the Sabbath day and made it
holy.
Honor your father and mother, that you have a long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his
ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

GOD’S SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE

CCC teaches us the meaning and value of God’s Commandments or law:
1. The moral law is given to people as a rule of conduct that leads them to the beatitude or happiness that God promises
the; at the same time, it shows the ways of evil by which they are turned away for God and His love; it is at once firm

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 in its command, and it is worthy of love in its promises; therefore, it is the work of divine Wisdom, and biblical
meaning defines it as fatherly instruction.
2. The law in general, is a rule of conduct decreed by trustworthy authority for the sake of the common good; its
presupposes the order of reason, established among God’s creatures for their good and to serve their ultimate purpose
through His power, wisdom, and goodness. It finds its entire truth in the eternal law, which means it is declared and
established by reason as participation in the providence of the living God, our creator and Redeemer of all.
3. God, our Creator and Redeemer, chose the Israelites to be His people and revealed His law to them as the preparation
for the coming of Christ; the Law of Moses expresses many truths that are naturally reasonable. They are stated and
confirmed within the saving covenant or agreement between God and His people.
4. The Old Law (of Moses) is the first page of the revealed Law, with its moral instructions summed up in the
Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments. They lay the foundation for a person’s call as God’s image and likeness,
advising what is essential to the love of God and neighbor, and prohibiting what is contrary to this. They are a light
offered to the conscience of every person to make God’s call and ways known, and lead him or her away from evil.
5. In the Christian view, the Old Law is holy, spiritual, and good, yet it is still imperfect; like a tutor (cf. Gal 3:24), it
shows what must be done, but it does not of itself give the strength, the grace of the Spirit, to fulfill it; it remains as
the law of bondage because of sin, which it cannot remove according to St. Paul (cf. Rom 7), its special function is to
denounce to expose sin, which constitutes a “law of concupiscence” in the human heart; however, it remains the first
stage on the way to God’s kingdom, which prepares and disposes each Israelites or Christian to conversion and faith
in the saving God. Like the Word of God, it provides a teaching or instruction that endures forever.
6. The Old Law is the preparation for the Gospel or Good News. It is an instruction and prophecy of the work of
liberation from sin which is fulfilled in Christ. It provides the New Testament with the necessary means for
expressing the life according to the Spirit. Finally, it is completed by the teachings of the books of wisdom and
prophets, which set its course toward the New Covenant and the Kingdom of God.

MORAL NORMS
CFC further sheds light on the nature of moral law and the meaning of the Old Law:
1. The standard definition of law which is according to St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica, I-II, 90,4), states that
it is an “ordinance of reason, promulgated by competent by competent authority for the sake of the common good.
“This can be divided into basic elements: (a) a reasonable decision, meaning, prudent and with purpose, not a
capricious whim; (b) promulgated or communicated with sufficient notice to people while respecting their rights and
dignity; (c) by competent authority, meaning, by those who have legitimate power to do so; and (d) for the common
good, or for the social betterment of the people.
2. These are the characteristics of law: (a) based on vision, and in the case of the Christian vision for the world, it is the
realization of the Kingdom of God, and its members living in the percepts of the Beatitudes; and (b) expresses basic
values, form behind every commandment the is a fundamental value being upheld, e.g., “You shall not kill,”
expresses the value of life, or “You shall not bear false witness,” conveys the value of truth.
3. But, does moral law contradict our human freedom? Only when one understands freedom as “doing whatever I
want”, on the contrary, moral laws have their functions: (a) they provide criteria for judging who we are and how we
should act; in other words, the moral values of the community offer us a broader basis for judging than our own
limited personal moral experience; (b) they help our moral development, especially in the formation of conscience,
by expressing typical patterns of moral behavior and human values; (c) they provide stability and consistency in our
lives by acting as a constant and reliable point of reference; (d) laws expressed in positive manner e.g., avoiding the
use of phrase “do not”) can also challenge us by stretching us in view of an ideal, or correcting us by shedding lights
on our faults.
4. But many Filipinos tend to confuse morality with legality: if something is legal, permissible by law, they think it
must be morally good, this misunderstanding ignores the difference between positive civil law which judges crimes
against the State or government, and authentic moral law which is the objective norm for judging sin; something is
legal when it does not contradict any law of the State, but it is morally good only if its nature, intention, and
circumstances are positively good for the person as person – in – community, that is according to moral standards.
5. The Law in the Old Testament, the so- called Law of Moses, was what God gave to Israel, His chosen people;
known also as the Law of the Covenant or Torah, it was called by various names such as instruction, witness,
precept, and word, which went far beyond the limits or merely human law; it governed the whole Covenant
relationship.
6. The Old Testament Law covered not only moral demands, and instructions for religious ritual, but even legal
stipulations for social behavior. All of which teach us these basic features:
a. The law flowed directly from the Covenant relationship of Yahweh’s loving call in creating His chosen
people, that is, the whole Law was based on the vision and values of God’s Covenant with His people;
b. Obedience, then, to His Law was the hallmark for the believing Israelites; so, all sin was viewed primarily as
an offence against the Law; and
c. The Law then was God’s great gift bringing great joy His people.
7. Unfortunately, the history of Old Testaments has shown us how law is dangerously open to the serious abuse of
legalism; the Israelites “without guile” saw that the actions of following the precepts of the Law are ways of
expressing love for God more than accomplishing a specific task; so a seemingly insignificant act (e.g., not working
on the Sabbath day) may have great devotional significance; however, the mistake was to put more emphasis on
external compliance rather than “obedience of the heart” (cf. Is 29:13; Mt 13:15; Acts 20:26); because of this,
certain abuses stand out:
a. By putting all the law’s ordinances – moral, religious, civil and ritual – on equal footing, an impossible
burden was placed on the people (cf. Lk 11:46), and the ones that mattered the most were lost (Mt 23:23); and

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 b. By encouraging obedient observance of the Law, it seemed that persons could save themselves simply by
perfectly keeping the law, without any need for God’s grace.

It is typical practice for lovers to set up ground rules as their relationship is just starting out. “Staying loyal” is
undeniably one of the important rules which could be followed by allotting and spending quality time with each other. As
this love is shared and enjoyed in freedom (granted that neither one of them, or both of them, are not forced into it for
whatever hidden agenda), their relationship grows and is molded within the boundaries of certain rules.

Otherwise, if anything is allowed in a relationship and no restraint is made, the sincerity of the people involved
may be put to question, as well as their intentions.

The ground rules set before us with regard to our relationship with God refer to the moral law. An example of this
is what we can find in Exodus 20:1- 17, the declaration of the Ten Commandments which can be understood as the
ground rules that spring from the relationship between God and His people. Surely, these were some of the things that we
tried to memorize when we were kids just before our catechists would check whether we had done our homework or not.
Growing up, we were pretty much familiar with the words in each of these ten items we need to follow or avoid. Yet, the
reason this kind of law has to exist and its nature is far more crucial to understand than simply memorizing it contents.
In the first place, what is a law? Both CCC 1951 and CFC 801 use St. Thomas Aquinas’ definition of law, which
says it is “an ordinance of reason, promulgated by competent authority for the sake of the common good.” Out of this, we
can draw basic elements of the nature of law:
1. It is reasonable, meaning, it is careful and with purpose, not a capricious whim.
2. Promulgated or communicated with sufficient notice to people, while respecting their rights and dignity.
3. By competent authority, meaning, by those who have legitimate power to do so.
4. For the common good, or for the social betterment of all people.

Something can only be considered as law when all of the four elements are satisfied. It is not law when it is not
based in reason. It fails to become a law when efforts of making it known to people are not met. It ceases to be a law when
the maker is not the rightful authority. It is never a law when it does not serve the common good of the people.
To answer the question why the law is made, CFC 802 explains that every law has basic characteristics. Firstly, a
law exists because of the vision behind it, the dream or goal it is directed toward. There can never be a law without this. In
the case of the Christian view, the law exists because of God’s vision or dream of making the Kingdom of God a reality in
this world, and the people living out the values of Beatitudes. Secondly, the law is made because of the fundamental
values being given importance in every commandment. For example, behind the commandment, “You shall not kill” is
the importance of human life. The Commandment “You shall not bear false witness” emphasizes the value of truth that
must be upheld all the time.
In other words, moral law does not exist only to diminish the brilliance of our human freedom. Instead, it
facilitates the responsible use of it and not its abuse.
Talking about the law also brings forth a confusion that many Filipinos usually face. CFC 804 mentions that they
tend to think that there is no difference between morality and legality. If something is legal and permissible by law, they
think it must be morally good. This misunderstanding fails to distinguish positive civil law, which judges crimes against
the State or government, and authentic moral law, which is the objective norm of judging what is sinful or not. Something
is legal when it does not contradict any law of the land; but it does not necessarily follow that it is automatically moral. It
only becomes morally good when its nature, intention, and circumstances are positively good according to moral
standards. For instance, abortion has been legalized in most countries around the world. Nowadays; yet in the view if
Catholic morality, it is not morally acceptable.
In the Old Testament, God, our creator and Redeemer, chose the Israelites to be His people and revealed His law
through Moses, which became known as the Law of Moses or Torah. According to CFC 807, it covered not only moral
demands and instructions for religious ritual but legal stipulations for social behavior as well.
For this reason, this law also became known as the Law of the Covenant. As supported by CCC 1962, with its
moral instructions summed up in the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments, they lay the foundation for a person’s call as
God’s image and likeness, advising what is essential to the love of God and
neighbor, and prohibiting what is contrary to this. They are a light offered “The moral law is given to people as a
him or her away from evil. rule of conduct that leads them to the
Unfortunately, as CFC 808 points out, the history of Old Testament beatitude or happiness that God
has shown us how the law is dangerously open to the serious abuse of promises them; at the same time, it
legalism. Many followers of the old Law of Moses put more emphasis on shows the ways of evil by which they
their practice, rather than on their inner conversion toward God. The values are turned away from God and His love.
of discipline and excellence in our response to His loving law are Therefore, it is the work of divine
indispensible when cooperating with His desire for us to obtain the kind of Wisdom, and biblical meaning defines it
happiness that He hopes for us. as fatherly instruction.”

EVALUATION:
A. Directions: Read and complete the following sentences. Write your answers on your paper.
1. In Exodus 20:1 – 17, there were ten ___________ that God declared for His people to obey and follow.
2. The moral law is given to people as a rule of conduct that leads them to the ____________ that God promises them.
3. In general, Law is a rule of conduct decreed by trustworthy authority for the sake of the _____________ good.
4. In the Old Testament, God our creator and Redeemer, chose the _______ to be His people and revealed His law to
them.

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5. The Old Law (of Moses) is the first stage of the revealed Law, with its moral instructions summed up in the
____________ or the Ten Commandments.
6. In the Christian view, the old law is holy, spiritual, and good, yet, it is still ___________.
7. The Old law is the preparation for the _______________, an instruction and prophecy of the work of liberation from
sin which is fulfilled in Christ.
8. The Old Law flowed directly from God’s loving call in creating His chosen people, based on the vision and values of
His _____________ with His people.
9. ___________ to God’s Law was the hallmark for the believing Israelite; so all sin was viewed primarily as an offense
against the Law.
10. The history of Old Testament has shown us how law is dangerously open to the serious abuse of __________.

B. Gospel Reflection:
Read the Sunday’s Gospel and reflect by following the pattern given below.
Gospel Scripture:
The gospel is all about (summarize the gospel in 2 – 3 sentences only).
I learned that (what you learn about the gospel, 1 to 2 sentences only)
I will live the gospel by (things that you want to do or practice after reading the gospel, 2 to 3
sentences only)

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