The 10 Commandments

[denver_faithful]

I was just wondering if anyone knows why different forms of the 10 commandments are used and why the Catholic Church uses the arrangement it uses?

 

[runandsew]

The True Ten Commandments
A Catholic Apologia for their Content and Arrangement

Protestant

• I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other gods before me.
• Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
• Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
• Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.
• Honor thy father and thy mother.
• Thou shalt not kill.
• Thou shalt not commit adultery.
• Thou shalt not steal.
• Thou shalt not bear false witness.
• Thou shalt not covet.

Catholic

• I am the Lord your God: You shall not have strange Gods before me.
• You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
• Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.
• Honor your father and mother.
• 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 wife.
• You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods

They are different because of the way they are divided.
If you were to count the commandments in Deuteronomy 5 and in Exodus 20, you would find that there are more then 10 commandments.

Catholics divide they way they do because the commandments about having no other God’s before me and carving graven images are talking about the same sin.

While the Protestants combine coveting a man’s property and his wife, but these are two different sins, as shown in the earlier commandments (You shall not commit adultery [wife]. You shall not steal [property])

I think that the Protestants changed the ordering of the commandment at the time of the reformation because they wanted to highlight the commandment about carving graven images commandment to show their contempt for Catholics having statues in their churches.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

I am always surprised that there is no protest at the protestant lumping of the wife in with the husband’s chattels.

 

[SyCarl]

Which ever way they are numbered they still contain the same commands.

The splitting of coveting between wife and property is difficult to justify if you look at the Commandments as set out in Exodus 20, since not coveting house comes before the wife and the rest of the verse.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house; neither shalt thou desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ***, nor any thing that is his.
(Exodus 20:17 DRB)

 

[John_Hiner]

Which ever way they are numbered they still contain the same commands.

The splitting of coveting between wife and property is difficult to justify if you look at the Commandments as set out in Exodus 20, since not coveting house comes before the wife and the rest of the verse.

Laudatur Iesus Christus.

Dear SyCarl:

You might consider whether “house” as used in this commandment is more like “the house of David” than the building in which a family lives. When “house” is understood as a group of living things, persons and animals, then the list of members of the group makes more sense. This makes the dignity due to life clear.

Pax Christi nobiscum.

John Hiner

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Which ever way they are numbered they still contain the same commands.

The splitting of coveting between wife and property is difficult to justify if you look at the Commandments as set out in Exodus 20, since not coveting house comes before the wife and the rest of the verse.

However they split easily if one uses the Commandments as set forth in Deuteronomy:[5:21]

1Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ***, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

 

[porthos11]

%between%
I think that the Protestants changed the ordering of the commandment at the time of the reformation because they wanted to highlight the commandment about carving graven images commandment to show their contempt for Catholics having statues in their churches.

There is no agenda whatsoever with regards to the arrangements of the Commandments, on either the Catholic or Protestant sides. Both sides should stop attaching malice to the other where none exists.

As noted, there are more than ten commands in the Ten Commandments, but the Bible does mention that there are Ten Commandments.in Deut. 4:13, and is silent about what those ten words are. Therefore there had to be some way of combining them. There are three.

The Jewish reckoning considers “I am the Lord your God” as the first word, with “You have no gods before me” and “You shall not make a graven image” combined.

St. Augustine also came up with an arrangement combining the “You shall have no gods before me” and “You shall make no graven image” as one, and the prohibitions against covetousness as two (9 and 10). This is used by the Catholics and, surprise, Lutherans.

The third arrangement omits the “I am the Lord your God” and divides the prohibitions against polytheism and idolatry into two and combines the prohibitions against covetousness. This originated in the Eastern churches and is used by the other Protestant/Reformed traditions. This arrangement is also an ancient one and did not originate with Protestants.