Did The Catholic Church change the 10 Commandments?

[BoomerangToo]

This article from Wikipedia may be useful:

Traditions for numbering
Different religious traditions divide the seventeen verses of Exodus 20:1–17 and their parallels at Deuteronomy 5:4–21 into ten “commandments” or “sayings” in different ways, shown in the table below. Some suggest that the number ten is a choice to aid memorization rather than a matter of theology.

Traditions:

• LXX: Septuagint, generally followed by Orthodox Christians.
• P: Philo, same as the Septuagint, but with the prohibitions on killing
  and adultery reversed.
• S: Samaritan Pentateuch, with an additional commandment about
  Mount Gerizim as 10th.
• T: Jewish Talmud, makes the “prologue” the first “saying” or “matter”
  and combines the prohibition on worshiping deities other than
  Yahweh with the prohibition on idolatry.
• A: Augustine follows the Talmud in combining verses 3–6, but omits
  the prologue as a commandment and divides the prohibition on
  coveting in two and following the word order of Deuteronomy 5:21
  rather than Exodus 20:17.
• C: Catechism of the Catholic Church, largely follows Augustine.
• L: Lutherans follow Luther’s Large Catechism, which follows
  Augustine but omits the prohibition of images and uses the word
  order of Exodus 20:17 rather than Deuteronomy 5:21 for the ninth
  and tenth commandments.
• R: Reformed Christians follow John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, which follows the Septuagint; this system is also used in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.

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[DaveBj]

In my own private contemplation of the commandments, I use the order that I learned decades ago as a Protestant child. There never is a situation where I have to recite them in public (as with the Credo at every Mass), so that doesn’t pose a problem.

I don’t have much of a problem with tacking “no images” onto the tail of “no other gods”, altho those two do sound like separate commandments to me. However, I do have a problem with pulling a single clause out of the middle of the “do no covet” verse and making a separate commandment out of it, especially since the closely related topic (adultery) had already been covered in the 7th (Catholic 6th) commandment.

D

 

[BoomerangToo]

However, I do have a problem with pulling a single clause out of the middle of the “do no covet” verse and making a separate commandment out of it,

It’s just to round out the number to “Ten” commandments. It doesn’t matter how they are numbered.

 

[Addoe_96]

Thank you, BoomerangToo!

 

[Addoe_96]

Boomerang, please just look at the 3rd commandment along column C (Catechism of the Catholic Church), it is written ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy’; I think this article from Wikipedia is wrong because the word ‘Sabbath’ does not appear in the Catechism. The Same applies to column A (Augustine), the 3rd Commandment.

 

[BartholomewB]

the word ‘Sabbath’ does not appear in the Catechism.

That may be a question of translation. The editors of the Catechism of the Catholic Church have to make sure that they are giving the same information in every language. It is a quirk of the English language that the word “Sabbath” has come to be used for Sunday. In most other languages (or possibly in all other languages) the only “Sabbath” is Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. Sunday will be referred to, in a Christian context, as “the Lord’s day.”

 

[MonteRCMS]

The “Bible” was not written in English!

Jesus did not speak English!

 

[Genesis315]

Your first set is not the Biblical Ten Commandments. It is a catechetical formula based on them just like the common catechetical formula the Church uses. Both help with memorization. The Catechism of the Catholic Church shows the actual Biblical Commandments (both sets) next to the most common formula we use:

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/command.htm

The commandment against adoring idols is just an extrapolation of the commandment to only adore God. It’s not a prohibition against statues in worship spaces, since shortly thereafter in Exodus, God commanded the statues of seraphim be put in the Temple. That’s why the first two in the formula you call “Biblical” are considered one in the traditional Catholic formula–they are the same in substance.

We separate out coveting another’s wife from coveting another’s stuff because there is a difference in substance between the two (a wife is not the same as property in the Christian tradition–also, Christ at one point gave a special emphasis on the teaching against coveting another man’s wife).

The 10 Commandments can generally be divided into two sets reflecting the two commandments given by Christ. The first set relates to love of God and the second to love of neighbor. The Catholic numbering also conveniently gives the important Biblical numbers of 3 to the first set related to love of God (3 signifies the Trinity) and 7 to the second set related to love of neighbor (7 signifies perfection) rather than the less significant 4 and 6.

 

[Wesrock]

I think one need only look to the beautiful iconography of the eastern Churches, where Augustine had little influence, to the beautiful pictures in the catacombs predating Augustine, and the defense put forward by John Damascus and the Patristic quotes he provides in his treatises on the defense of the use of images, to see that the claim that Augustine had anything to do with making the Church use iconography and statues is bull.

 

[Vico]

…especially since the closely related topic (adultery) had already been covered in the 7th (Catholic 6th) commandment. …

The thought sin is listed separately from the external sin so we see adultery and theft earlier and then these Deut 5:

• 21 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife:
• nor his house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.

Baltimore Catechism:

Q. 1324. In what does the sixth commandment differ from the ninth, and the seventh differ from the tenth?
A. The sixth commandment differs from the ninth in this, that the sixth refers chiefly to external acts of impurity, while the ninth refers more to sins of thought against purity. The seventh commandment refers chiefly to external acts of dishonesty, while the tenth refers more to thoughts against honesty.

Note that shall not is used twice Deut 5:

• 21a ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife;
• 21b and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’

 

[Nathaniel]

Exodus 20: 2-6 is the first commandment. It all pertains to having other gods before the lord. It stands to reason that each commandment could be broken independently from another, however to worship an idol is to put it above God which would be a violation of the first commandment. Therefore, it is unnecessary to separate the two. We worship many idols in our lives that are not art. Veneration of art is not idolatry, due to the fact that God our father is the focus of worship, even the crucifix is a testament to God the Father’s love and mercy. It’s the focus of worship that dictates idolatry.

 

[Addoe_96]

Thanks Genesis315

 

[Gorgias]

It is said that Bishop Augustine of Hippo in order to allow use of images & statues in worship services, he deleted the Second Commandment, divided the Tenth into two Commandments and then re-numbered his revised list of 10.

LOL!

I’ve heard it exactly the opposite way! Rather than the Catholic Church changing the numbering to allow statues, I’ve heard that Calvin and the Reformed tradition changed them to separate out the “no graven images” into its own commandment, specifically to distinguish themselves from Catholics.

Changing Scripture to fit one’s personal theological position… what’s that called, again?

 

[DaveBj]

Changing Scripture to fit one’s personal theological position… what’s that called, again?

Not saying that the Calvinists did or did not change the numbering, but if they did, they did not change Scripture; they just changed the numbering, which is not part of Scripture. The words remained the same.

D

 

[Thom18]

Biblical 10 Commandments

1. You shall have no gods before me.
2. You shall not make for your self an idol.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.

Catholic 10 Commandments:
1.You shall not have strange gods before me.
2.You shall not take the name of the LORD in vain.
3.Remember to keep holy the LORD’s Day.
4.Honor your father and your mother.
5.You shall not kill.
6.You shall not commit adultery.
7.You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bare false witness against your neighbor.
9.You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
10.You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.

You see a difference between idolatry and having strange gods before the living God, but not between coveting someone’s goods and coveting their wife?

 

[dochawk]

The “Bible” was not written in English!

Jesus did not speak English!

That’s right, he spoke latin.



This was actually a pet peeve of our former priest: “traditionalists” who thought he spoke latin. “What would he have done with Latin? Cussed out the Roman soldiers???”

Realistically, he (and the rest fo the folks in the region) would have spoke enough tidbits of latin to obey the soldiers, and an even smaller smattering of greek.

And then there’s the folks that think the only “Divinely Inspired” version of the Bible is the King James . . . (although I do think a Catholic translation based on the King James, but with the theological errors corrected, would be interesting)

hawk

p.s. Wasn’t it 15 commandments before the mishap? I saw that documentary . . .

 

[meltzerboy2]

Good explanation. The whole issue is a tempest in a teapot, but has been used by SOME Protestant leaders to demean the Catholic Church, whom they consider idolatrous.

 

[BartholomewB]

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Nos. 1 to 5 are on the right, of course.

 

[Usagi]

Right, the Jewish numbering gives “I am the LORD thy God” its own place as the First Commandment, and therefore makes both “contractions” (strange gods and idols, and coveting people and goods) to arrive at ten. I hope no one is accusing the Jewish people of idol worship!

Everyone’s full list of the ten includes all clauses of all commandments. It’s only the shortened form of the Catholic list that doesn’t spell out the image-worship prohibition, just as the common Protestant list for display and memorization abbreviates the Tenth to “Thou shalt not covet,” without all the examples from the Biblical text.