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So.. About the canons.. Are there any canons to support as to choosing of which 10 to go with? If so who were authors?

So.. About the canons.. Are there any canons to support as to choosing of which 10 to go with? If so who were authors?

As the article I linked states, for the Catholic Church it is not a matter of dogma how the Decalogue should be divided. So, I think any of the ways the Decalogue is divided, as presented, is acceptable and I don't believe there is a canon the Church has issued on how they must be divided, but I am open to correction by those better informed if I'm mistaken.

I don't have the resources handy, but the Council of Trent stated that we are required to keep the commandments of God but I don't think the Council specified a requirement on how they are divided, but again, I am open to correction on this.

So.. About the canons.. Are there any canons to support as to choosing of which 10 to go with? If so who were authors?

So how do you determine the divisions of the Decalogue? Scripture doesn't come right out and say this is the First Commandment, etc., so I'd be interested in knowing how you came about your tradition.

"So.. About the canons.. Are there any canons to support as to choosing of which 10 to go with? If so who were authors?"

I'll speak to that question. First of all, however, let's get the actual 10 Commandments in front of us. None of those three lists are actually the decalogue: "And God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. "You shall have no other gods before me. "You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it. "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives 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, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's."
(Exodus 20: 6-17)

"'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. "'You shall have no other gods before me. "'You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. "'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. "'Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your manservant, or your maidservant, or your ox, or your ass, or any of your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out thence with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day. "'Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you; that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you, in the land which the LORD your God gives you. "'You shall not kill. "'Neither shall you commit adultery. "'Neither shall you steal. "'Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor. "'Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.' "These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them to me. (Deuteronomy 5: 6-22)

"So.. About the canons.. Are there any canons to support as to choosing of which 10 to go with? If so who were authors?"

It's good to see you in the forum again, Clay+Iron_Times.

The three versions of the Decalogue are simply summaries, none of them are the actual Decalogue. We Catholics are not bound by any canons to accept one summary and reject another. Latin Catholics and many Lutherans typically utilize thee the version labeled as "Catholic," while Eastern Orthodox Catholics and many Protestants tend to utilize the one listed above as "Protestant." Apparently many Jews accept the other summary listed above. According the article that Titanites referenced above, St. Augustine was involved in the summary and division of the Augustinian-Lutheran version of the Decalogue. That would have been some time around the year 400 AD.

With regards to the 10 Commandments, it's not a question of choosing one Commandment over another. The Actual Commandments are listed in Exodus 20: 6-17, and in Deuteronomy 5: 6-22. You'll notice those passages don't actually tell us there are ten Commandments, nor are they broken up into ten clear Commandments. We are told elsewhere in Scripture that there are Ten Commandments (Literally, ten words).

"And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Words." (Exodus 34:28 )

"And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Words (Hebrew, eser dabar); and he wrote them upon two tables of stone." (Deuteronomy 4:13 )

"And he wrote on the tables, as at the first writing, the Ten Words (Hebrew, eser dabar)which the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them to me." (Deuteronomy 10:4 )

The three tables listed above are summaries of those Commandments, broken up in such a way as to convey 10 Commands. As there are more than 10 Imperative statements listed in the Decalogue, there is a question of how those statements should be arranged so as to have a 10 Command structure. Most of the groupings are very straightforward, but a few give rise to the differences. For example, "thou shalt not Murder, thou shalt not steal, and Thou Shalt not commit Adultery," all stand alone. But Should Thou Shalt not covet they neighbor's wife be lumped in with "Thou Shalt not desire thy Neighbor's property?"

Should the Scripture: "You shall have no other gods before me. "You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments," be broken into two Commandments or should it be summarized as one?

Finally, should the words, "'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage," be the first "Commandment?"

The question is strictly one of Catechesis. The three tables listed above are all brief summaries of the actual Decalogue. The entire point of these summaries is to aid in their memorization. According to the Catholic Catechism, the Augustinian-Lutheran formulation (Listed above as the "Catholic" version,) was originally designed so that it could be rhymed (presumably in Latin) to aid in easy memorization and internalization.

Also note that the practice of summarizing the Decalogue is a very old tradition and is seen in the New Testament. Jesus himself summarizes the 10 Commandments, and if memory serves, different Evangelists reports different lists of His summaries. Note also that different summaries of the Decalogue are also put forth in the New Testament. For example, Paul's summary is different from Jesus' Summary.

"And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments." He said to him, "Which?" And Jesus said,

1 )"You shall not kill,
2) You shall not commit adultery,
3) You shall not steal,
4) You shall not bear false witness,
5) Honor your father and mother, and,
6) You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matt 19: 17-20) (Numbers added by me)

(The list is slightly different in Mark's retelling of this story, it contains "do not defraud" instead of "Love your neighbor as yourself." Luke's version of the story lists only five Commands.)

" Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

The commandments,
1) "You shall not commit adultery,
2) You shall not kill,
3) You shall not steal,
4) You shall not covet,"
5) and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

"Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed; the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Romans 13: 7-14. I inserted the numbers into the Scripture here.)

So we see both Paul and Jesus summarize the Decalogue, and do so slightly differently. The whole point of the summaries is to help us memorize them so we can apply them to our daily lives. From there, we can spend the rest of our life studying the actual Decalogue as a way of understanding the two great Commandments.

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" And he said to him,

1) "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.

2) And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets." (Matt 22 34-40, numbers mine.)

As I see it, the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount are an elaboration on this teaching.

Interestingly, I recently saw an interview on with an ACLU spokesman who was arguing that the 10 Commandments must be removed from all of our public buildings. His argument was that the particular summary of the 10 Commandments was Protestant (not an entirely correct assertion, as it turns out,) and that it was repressive to his religion. He then claimed, with a barely straight face, that he was Catholic, and that this was repressive toward his religion. I wish, Clay+Iron_Times, that I had been the one conducting the interview, as he would have received his just deserts for such a harebrained comment.

As for me, I think that the Decalogue is absolutely foundational to American Civilization, and I would support having any of the above three summaries of it posted in public.