I got an email that said:
Why do Catholics have...the ten Commandments changed to suit their rules?
Before we begin, we should say that the Commandments are not numbered in the Bible. The Lord has not explicitly set out for us how they are to be numbered. If we were to number every "command" in those sections of the Bible we would have about 17 commandments or more. So different efforts have been made to number and group them over the centuries. Two of the major players in the early Church were Augustine and Origen. We Catholics consider these two guys Saints. Catholics and Lutherans generally prefer those set out by Augustine and the Eastern Churches and Protestants follow the Commandments set out by Origen.
| Catholic/Lutheran (As per Augustine, around 400 A.D.) |
Protestant/Orthodox Churches (As per Origen around 200 A.D.) |
|
|---|---|---|
| 1 | I am the Lord your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me. | I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. |
| 2 | You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in Vain. | Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. |
| 3 | Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day. | Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. |
| 4 | Honour your father and your mother. | Remember the Sabbath Day. |
| 5 | You shall not kill. | Honor thy father and mother. |
| 6 | You shall not commit adultry. | Thou shalt not kill. |
| 7 | You shall not steal. | Thou shalt not commit adultery. |
| 8 | You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. | Thou shalt not steal. |
| 9 | You shall not covet your neighbour's wife. | Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. |
| 10 | You shall not covet your Neighbour's goods. | Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house nor his wife nor anything that belongs to him. |
The great Protestant Evangelist Jerry Falwell actually disagrees with this complaint against the Catholic Church. The following statement is on Jerry Falwell's web site. http://www.falwell.com/?a=news&news=prstencom
As Dr. Falwell promised on the June 22, 1999 Rivera Live television program, here are the Ten Commandments from the King James Version of the Bible, used most widely by Protestants, and the Ten Commandments as found in the official Catechism of the Catholic Church, which uses Scripture quotations adapted from the Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Versions of the Bible...As you can see, the difference between the two versions is minimal.
This is the Catholic first Commandment.
1. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image.
Even Jerry Falwell acknowledged that Catholics did not remove the commandment "You shall not make for yourself a graven image." It is part of the first commandment "You shall have no other god's before me." (Section 2, Chapter 1, Part IV) We have not removed it. The Jewish people also place "you shall not make any graven image" with the commandment "thou shalt not have any strange gods before Me."
Here are two paragraphs from the Catholic Catechism which talk about the history of the 10 Commandments:
2065 Ever since St. Augustine, the Ten Commandments have occupied a predominant place in the catechesis of baptismal candidates and the faithful. In the fifteenth century, the custom arose of expressing the commandments of the Decalogue in rhymed formulae, easy to memorize and in positive form. They are still in use today. The catechisms of the Church have often expounded Christian morality by following the order of the Ten Commandments.
2066 The division and numbering of the Commandments have varied in the course of history. The present catechism follows the division of the Commandments established by St. Augustine, which has become traditional in the Catholic Church. It is also that of the Lutheran confessions. The Greek Fathers worked out a slightly different division, which is found in the Orthodox Churches and Reformed communities.
It is perfectly acceptable for a Catholic to follow the Origen numbering system or the Augustine system. Each numbering system has its strengths and weaknesses. For example, the Origen system (that most Protestants use, except the Lutherans) lumps coveting your neighbor's wife under the commandment of coveting his possessions. But the opening chapters of Genesis make it plain in the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden that a woman is not a man's "possession" like a horse or livestock. He is the bone of his bones and the flesh of his flesh. (Gen 2:23)
So although the Bible tells us that there are 10 Commandments, it does not tell us how they are numbered. Perhaps what falls where was not an essential thing. What is important is that we follow all of what is written in Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21, not just the one sentence statements that we have numbered.
When we look at Scripture, even Deuteronomy and Genesis have differences in emphasis on different commandments.
When I go into a hardware store, it is not important whether I find the sink faucets in the Kitchen section or the Bathroom section. What matters is that the hardware store has faucets. What matters for our salvation is that we read all of the Scripture. Both Catholics and Protestants should be reading the entire section under each of the headings of their Commandments, and if they do that they will both be reading the same thing. We must understand the full Gospel.
Lord Jesus, let Your prayer of unity for Christians
become a reality, in Your way
we have absolute confidence
that you can bring your people together
we give you absolute permission to move
Amen
SECTION TWO
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
| Exodus 20 2-17
|
Deuteronomy 5:6-21
|
A Traditional Catechetical Formula
|
| I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
|
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. |
1. I am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me. |
| 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 have no other gods before me . . . |
|
| 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.
|
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain . . . |
2. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God 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.
|
Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy . . . |
3. Remember to keep holy the LORD'S Day. |
| Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
|
Honor your father and your mother . . . |
4. Honor your father and your mother. |
| You shall not kill.
|
You shall not kill. | 5. You shall not kill. |
| You shall not commit adultery.
|
Neither shall you commit adultery. | 6. You shall not commit adultery. |
| You shall not steal. | Neither shall you steal.
|
7. You shall not steal. |
| You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. |
Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor.
|
8. 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.
|
Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife . . . You shall not desire . . .
|
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. 10. You shall not covet |
Please help me understand what is meant by the "bolded" words. It can't be what it seems.