So far in our series on the Ten Commandments we have completed the first four commandments--those dealing primarily with our relationship to God. This is the vertical dimension.

Today we begin the section which deals with our relationships to family and the enlarged family which include our neighbors and the world. This is the horizontal dimension. These next commandments reveal God''s plan for our relationships with other people. The first four commandments deeply impact and influence this dimension as well. When we love the living God, we pass this gift on.

The fifth commandment which we study today and the seventh commandment which we will study later deal primarily with our relationship to the family unit. They instruct us to "honor" our parents and to be faithful in marriage.

The J…