The Thirty Commandments

Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Reformed, and Jews all number the Ten Commandments differently.  Why are there such variations and what is the best solution?

The commands of God which were written on two stone tablets are referred to several times as “the Ten Commandments” (Ex. 34:28; Deut. 4:13; 10:4).  The Hebrew word translated “commandment” is dabar, meaning “word” or “statement.” Thus, these commands are also known as the ten words. This is translated in the Septuagint in Greek as deka logoi, from which we get the term Decalogue.  The commands are recorded in Exodus 20 and again in Deuteronomy 5 but nowhere in Scripture are the commands are specifically numbered.  Roman Catholics and Lutherans combine the command to have no other gods before the LORD and the prohibition against idols together as the first commandment.  In the Reformed tradition these are the first and second commandments.  To offset this, Catholics and Lutherans split the prohibition against coveting into two commandments: the prohibition against coveting your neighbor’s wife as the ninth commandment and the prohibition against coveting your neighbor’s house, land, servants, and the rest as the tenth commandment.  In each of these systems, Exodus 20:2 is viewed as a preface to the ten words.  However in the traditional Jewish numbering system Exodus 20:2 is considered to be the first word, even though nothing is actually commanded in this verse.  The Jews then combine Exodus 3-6 as the second word.  After this point, the Jewish and Reformed understanding is the same.  The Greek Orthodox understanding is the same as the Reformed understanding.

Abridged Statement (ESV)	Jewish	Roman Catholic & Lutheran	Reformed & Greek Orthodox
I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (Ex. 20:2)	#1	preface	preface
You shall have no other gods before me.  (Ex. 20:3)	#2	#1	#1
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above… (Ex. 20:4-6)			#2
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain… (Ex. 20:7)	#3	#2	#3
Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy… (Ex. 20:8-11)	#4	#3	#4
Honor your father and your mother… (Ex. 20:12)	#5	#4	#5
You shall not murder.  (Ex. 20:13)	#6	#5	#6
You shall not commit adultery.  (Ex. 20:14)	#7	#6	#7
You shall not steal. (Ex. 20:15)	#8	#7	#8
You shall not bear false witness...  (Ex. 20:16)	#9	#8	#9
You shall not covet…your neighbor’s wife… (Ex. 20:17)	#10	#9	#10
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house… or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.  (Ex. 20:17)		#10

Roman Catholics point to Augustine who agreed with their system.  The Reformed are able to point to Josephus and Philo whose systems match their system, except that Philo inverts the sixth and seventh commandments.[1]  Calvin writes that Augustine used the same numeration as Calvin in a letter to Boniface, but “for a very insufficient reason” Augustine choose elsewhere to combine the first two commandments so that there would be three rather than four commandments in the first tablet (Institutes, II.8.12).  Augustine felt that this better manifested the mystery of the Trinity.

In the Roman Catholic version, the division of the coveting law seems to be arbitrary and unnecessary except for the need to reach a total of ten commandments rather than just nine.  A bigger problem is the fact that although the prohibition of coveting your neighbor’s wife is listed first in Deuteronomy 5:21, in Exodus 20:17 the neighbor’s house is listed first and then the neighbor’s wife.  In Exodus, wife is sandwiched between house and the remaining items, making it extremely unlikely that it is intended to be isolated as an individual command.

In the traditional Jewish understanding, the preface to the commandments is considered to be the first word.  However, the lack of an actual command or “shall” statement weighs against this understanding.  In addition, most modern scholars have noticed the formal similarities between the Decalogue and second-millennium Hittite suzerain-vassal treaties.[2]  In this format, the stipulations are preceded by a historical prologue.  Whether or not Exodus 20:2 is considered to be a preface, the first word, or part of the first word, it is intimately connected with the entire Decalogue and presents these commands in this context as a gift given to God’s people as a way for them to respond in gratitude to what the LORD has already done for them.

One of the theological issues at stake here is the mode of worship.  In the Catholic understanding, the prohibition against idolatry might be understood as merely another statement against worshipping false gods.  However in the Reformed understanding, the second commandment is not merely about what deity to worship, but the proper manner in which God must be worshipped.  Therefore as one Reformed theologian has observed, “Whether to include Exodus 20:4-6 as part of the first commandment has more to do with the interpretation of the second commandment [in the Reformed counting] than with the first.”[3]

Based on these observations, I believe the Reformed understanding seems to be correct.  However even Calvin did not regard these divisions as being of great importance, writing that, “each man ought to have free judgment, and ought not to strive in a contentious spirit with one who differs from him” (Institutes, II.8.12). 

A related issue is the division of the commands into two tables as indicated in Exodus 34:28, Deuteronomy 5:22 and 10:3.  Calvin saw the first four commandments as composing the first tablet of the law, relating to our duty to God; The last six commandments compose the second tablet, relating to our duty to neighbor.  The Heidelberg Catechism (Q. 93) and the Westminster Larger Catechism (Q. 98) also reflect this same division.  However, as Harrelson states, “the reference to two tables was intended from the first to refer to two copies of the entire list of the Decalogue, rather than to a division of them.”[4] In a suzerain-vassal treaty, one copy was made for the suzerain and one copy was made for the vassal.  Thus it could very well be that the reference to two tablets is a reference to two duplicate copies of the entire list rather there being some of the commandments written on one tablet and the rest written on the other tablet.  Certainly, we can still notice the shift in emphasis between the first four commandments and the final six, but this division may not have been used when they were originally inscribed on stone tablets.

As we have noted, the Roman Catholic numbering does not include the prohibition of graven images as a separate commandment (CCC 1852[5]).  In their traditional catechetical formula, the text concerning the making of graven images is omitted (CCC p. 496).  This opens Catholicism to the charge that they have combined the first two commands in order to reduce the visibility of the injunction against images. Calvin states that they “erase” or “hide” the prohibition concerning images (Institutes, II.8.12).  In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the veneration of images is defended first by noting the Old Testament examples of the bronze serpent, the ark of the covenant, and the cherubim (CCC 2130).  Next, the Catechism points to the judgment of the seventh ecumenical council at Nicea of 787 in which the veneration of icons was justified.  It is argued that the incarnation of the Son of God introduced a new economy of images (CCC 2131).  Finally, the Catechism appeals to Aquinas and asserts that the veneration given to images does not violate the command since the honor given to the images is transmitted to the prototype of the image, not the image itself, and further because this honor is “respectful veneration” not the adoration due to God alone (CCC 2132).  Aquinas distinguishes between latria, which is worship proper to God alone, and dulia, which is “piety whereby we honor our neighbor” (STh II-II, 81, 3-4).[6]   Reformed Christians find this distinction to be unconvincing and believe that their own numbering system does a better job of guarding against idolatry and against worshipping God in an improper manner.  In this understanding, the first commandment relates to the object of worship while the second command relates to the mode of worship.

In conclusion, there are not thirty commandments even though there are three different systems of numbering the Ten Commandments.  The content is the same.  Obeying them is more important than numbering them.  Evem more, our failure to keep them shows us our need for a Savior.

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[1] Walter Harrelson, The Ten Commandments and Human Rights (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980), 47.
[2] Walter Kaiser, “Exodus” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990), 2:422.
[3] Calvin VanReken, “Response to ‘The Face of Ethical Encounter’” in The Ten Commandments for Jews, Christians, and Others, ed. Roger E. VanHarn (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 19.
[4] Harrelson, Ten Commandments, 48.
[5] Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1852.  References to CCC will be to the paragraph unless otherwise noted.
[6] Interestingly, the Greek Orthodox venerate icons but number the commandments the same as Reformed Christians.