Program / Course 22: Christian Ethics / Lesson 2.2
What you will learn
- Identify the two biblical texts of the Ten Commandments and the main ways the commands are numbered.
- Explain how Jewish, Catholic and Lutheran, and Reformed and Orthodox traditions divide the text.
- Describe the principles of interpretation used by Luther, Calvin and the Catechism.
- Discuss how the commandments are understood as a summary of duties to God and to neighbor.
The big idea
The Ten Commandments, also called the Decalogue, are the best known moral text in the Bible. They appear twice, in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, and the traditions agree on their content but number them differently. Jews, Catholics and Lutherans, and Reformed and Orthodox Christians each divide the text in their own way. The traditions also interpret the commands broadly, taking each to forbid a whole family of wrongs and to require a positive good. The commandments are widely seen as summing up duties to God and to neighbor.
Key terms
- Decalogue
- A Greek word meaning ten words. It is another name for the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:28).
- Two tables
- The two stone tablets on which the commandments were written (Exodus 31:18). Traditions describe the first table as duties to God and the second as duties to neighbor.
- Preamble (prologue)
- The opening statement, “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 20:2), which grounds the commands in God’s act of rescue.
- Synecdoche
- A figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole. Interpreters say that a single commandment names one wrong and forbids a whole class.
- Apodictic law
- Law stated as an absolute command, such as “Thou shalt not kill,” in contrast to case law that begins with “if.”
- Idolatry
- Giving to anything other than God the worship, trust or love that belongs to God alone.
- Covet
- To desire strongly something belonging to another. Interpreters debate whether the commandment forbids inward desire only or also the plan to take.
Background
The Ten Commandments appear in Exodus 20:1-17 and in Deuteronomy 5:6-21, with small differences, such as the reason given for the Sabbath. In Exodus the Sabbath looks back to creation, in Deuteronomy to rescue from Egypt. Both accounts place the commandments at the center of the covenant between God and Israel. The text itself says that God wrote them on two tablets of stone (Deuteronomy 4:13).
Jesus and the apostles cite many of them (Matthew 19:18-19; Romans 13:9). The early church treated them as a summary of moral duty and used them in teaching new believers. Over time the numbering of the ten became a point of difference between traditions. The text does not number the commandments, so the division is a matter of interpretation, and each tradition has reasons for its own.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Three ways of numbering
Jewish tradition counts the opening statement, “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt,” as the first word. The second is the ban on other gods and images together. The third is the ban on the misuse of God’s name, and so on, with a single commandment against coveting at the end.
Augustine, followed by the Catholic Church and the Lutheran churches, counts the ban on other gods and the ban on graven images as one commandment. To keep the total at ten, the command against coveting is divided in two: the neighbor’s house or wife, and the neighbor’s other goods. Reformed churches, Anglicans and most Eastern Orthodox churches count the ban on other gods as first and the ban on images as second, and keep the command about coveting as one, the tenth. The content is the same in every case. The differences reflect different judgments about where one command ends and the next begins, and also, in the Reformation, differences about the use of images in worship.
Step 2: The two tables
Traditions commonly say that the first table concerns duties to God and the second duties to neighbor. In the Catholic and Lutheran count, the first table has three commandments (God alone, God’s name, the Sabbath) and the second seven, beginning with honoring parents. In the Reformed count, the first table has four and the second six. Jewish tradition sometimes pairs commands on opposite tablets, showing relations between duties to God and to others.
Jesus’ summary of the law, to love God with all the heart and the neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:37-40), corresponds to the two tables. Many writers, from Augustine on, have used this correspondence to read each commandment as an expression of love.
Step 3: Rules of interpretation
The Reformed Westminster Larger Catechism lists rules for reading the commandments, and Luther’s Small Catechism applies a similar approach. Among the principles: the law is perfect and requires full obedience in heart, speech and act. A command forbidding a sin also forbids its causes and what leads to it. A command that requires a duty also forbids the opposite sin. What is forbidden or commanded to oneself should be sought for others according to one’s place. Luther begins each explanation with a statement that God is to be feared and loved, and then states both the prohibition and the positive duty. For the fifth commandment, for example, he says that one should not hurt or harm a neighbor but help and support him in every need.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church likewise reads each commandment as both a prohibition and a call. The commandment about killing, for instance, is treated alongside respect for life, health, peace and the care of the dying. Jesus’ own teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, on anger and lust (Matthew 5:21-28), is the model for this broad reading.
Step 4: Disputed matters
Some interpretive questions are debated. The sixth commandment (fifth in some counts) in Hebrew uses a verb, ratsach, usually rendered kill in the King James Version, which most scholars take to mean unlawful killing and in particular murder. Whether it forbids all killing, including capital punishment and war, is debated among Christians and is taken up in the module on war and peace.
The Sabbath commandment is understood by Jews as a weekly rest on the seventh day, by most Christians as fulfilled in Christ and observed on Sunday as the day of worship and rest in various ways, and by Seventh-day Adventists and some others on the seventh day. The ban on images is understood by Reformed tradition as forbidding images used in worship, and by Catholic and Orthodox traditions as forbidding idols but not sacred images, a point defended at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 by distinguishing veneration from worship.
- Which numbering is being used, and what does it do to the order and weight of the commands?
- Is the command about a duty to God or a duty to neighbor, or does it touch both?
- What does the command forbid directly, and what wider range of wrongs does the tradition include?
- What positive good does the command require?
- How does the preamble about the rescue from Egypt change the way the commands sound?
- How do the New Testament writers use this command?
Examples
The same text in three numberings
A Catholic child learns “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife” as the ninth commandment. A Reformed child learns the same words as part of the tenth. A Jewish child learns them as part of the tenth word as well, though the first word is the preamble. The words are the same. Only the count differs.
From the act to the heart
A catechism teacher explains that the commandment against murder also forbids hatred, contempt and cruelty, following Matthew 5:21-22, and requires care for the neighbor’s life. A student asks where the limit is. The teacher says that traditions agree on the principle and differ on some cases, such as war, which later lessons take up. (A constructed example.)
Honor and age
The fifth (or fourth) commandment says, “Honour thy father and thy mother” (Exodus 20:12). Paul applies it to children who are growing up (Ephesians 6:1-3). Jesus criticizes those who used religious vows to avoid supporting parents (Mark 7:10-13), showing that the commandment includes material care.
Different perspectives
Jewish
Jewish tradition counts the opening declaration as the first word and treats the Decalogue as the heart of the Torah revealed at Sinai, though not a separate legal code from the other 613 commandments counted by tradition. The Sabbath is central. Many rabbinic commentators treat the commandments as headings that the rest of the Torah elaborates.
Catholic
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, using Augustine’s numbering, teaches that the Decalogue belongs to God’s revelation and is a prolongation of natural law. It binds all people, in conscience, and it is fulfilled in the love of God and neighbor. Its prohibitions have a positive content and are read in the light of the Sermon on the Mount.
Lutheran
Luther used the Augustinian numbering and placed the commandments first in his catechism, as the mirror that shows sin before the Creed shows grace. Lutheran teaching stresses that the commandments reveal sin and teach what a good work is, and that a Christian keeps them from love, not from fear.
Reformed
Reformed teaching, as in Calvin, the Heidelberg Catechism and the Westminster standards, numbers the commandments with images as the second, and stresses the third use of the law, the law as a guide for the believer. The Reformed churches have generally been strict about worship that God has not commanded, and read the second commandment accordingly.
Orthodox
Orthodox tradition treats the Decalogue as holy law given through Moses and fulfilled in Christ, and teaches it in catechesis, though its liturgical life draws more directly on the Beatitudes. Orthodox writers distinguish the worship of God from the veneration of icons and reject the claim that the second commandment forbids all images.
Why it matters
The commandments have shaped the moral vocabulary of Western societies and of many other cultures, and they are the usual starting point for catechesis and moral teaching. A reader who knows that the numbering varies, and why, will not be puzzled when a Catholic and a Reformed Christian disagree on whether a certain verse is the second or the third commandment, and will be better able to see where real disagreement lies.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: The Ten Commandments are a list of prohibitions only.
Correction: The traditions read them as including positive duties, such as keeping the Sabbath, honoring parents and telling the truth. Jesus’ summary in terms of love shows the same.
Misunderstanding: Catholics removed the commandment against images.
Correction: The Catholic count joins the ban on other gods and the ban on images into one commandment. The content of the text is still taught. Catholics deny that the ban forbids all images of Christ and the saints, a view shared by the Orthodox.
Misunderstanding: The Bible numbers the commandments.
Correction: The text says there are ten words (Deuteronomy 4:13) but does not number them. The difference of counts comes from later interpretation.
Misunderstanding: The commandment says, Thou shalt not kill, so all killing is forbidden.
Correction: The Hebrew verb is generally taken to mean unlawful killing. Whether it extends to war or capital punishment is argued on other grounds, as later lessons show.
Knowledge check
Where do the Ten Commandments appear in the Bible?
They appear in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. The two versions agree in substance but differ in some wording, notably in the reason given for the Sabbath. The text does not number the commands, so the division into ten is a matter of tradition.
How do the main traditions differ in numbering?
Jewish tradition counts the preamble as the first word. Catholic and Lutheran traditions, following Augustine, join the ban on other gods and images and divide the coveting command into two. Reformed, Anglican and most Orthodox traditions count the ban on images as the second and keep coveting as one.
What does it mean to read a commandment broadly?
It means taking the command to forbid not only the named act but also its causes and related wrongs, and to require the opposite good. Luther and the Catechism of the Catholic Church both read the commandments this way, following Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount on anger and lust.
Why do Reformed and Catholic traditions differ on images?
Reformed teaching reads the second commandment as forbidding images used in worship. Catholic and Orthodox teaching read it as forbidding idols while permitting sacred images, citing the Second Council of Nicaea, which distinguished veneration from the worship due to God alone.
Think it through
- Which numbering were you taught, if any, and how does it shape the way you see the commandments?
- What good does each commandment protect? Choose three and describe it.
- Why might the commandments begin with a statement about rescue from Egypt?
- Which commandment do you think is hardest to keep in modern life, and why?
Independent assignment
One commandment in depth
In your notebook, write 400 to 600 words. Choose one of the commandments. State the text from the King James Version, then write what it forbids, what it requires and how Jesus or an apostle uses it. Add how a Catholic or Lutheran catechism and a Reformed catechism describe it, using the library sources. Finish with one sentence on how the commandment applies to a concrete situation today. Do not send this to anyone or post it anywhere.
Further study
- Martin Luther, The Small Catechism Read the explanation of each of the commandments.
- Zacharias Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus, The Heidelberg Catechism Read the section on the law and the explanation of the commandments.
- Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church Read the Third Part, Section Two, on the Ten Commandments.
- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion Read the chapter on the explanation of the moral law.
- Exodus 20:2 The preamble to the commandments.
- Deuteronomy 5:6 The second statement of the commandments.
- Matthew 22:37 The great commandment.