Why are the 10commandments changed in the Roman Catholic religion?

Question

I was just wondering why are the 10 commandments changed in the roman catholic religion? also does anyone know why we celebrate Sunday as been the Sabboth day? Could anyone shed some light on this for me as it's rather confusing, many thanks!

Answer 1

The truth, of course, is that the Catholic Church did not and could not change the Ten Commandments. Latin Catholics and Protestants simply list them differently. It is incredible that such a pernicious lie could be so easily spread and believed, especially since the truth could easily be determined by just looking into the matter. But the rumor lives.

Most common Protestant listing:

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
Honour thy father and thy mother
Thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt not commit adultery
Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour
Thou shalt not covet


Latin Catholic listing:

Thou shalt not have other gods besides Me
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain
Remember to keep holy the Lord’s day
Honor thy father and thy mother
Thou shalt not murder
Thou shalt not commit adultery
Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods

The Old Testament was around long before the time of the Apostles, and the Decalogue, which is found in three different places in the Bible (Exodus 20 and Exodous 34 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21), has not been changed by the Catholic Church. Chapter and verse divisions are a medieval invention, however, and numbering systems of the Ten Words (Commandments), the manner in which they are grouped, and the "short-hand" used for them, vary among various religious groups. Exodus 20 is the version most often referred to when one speaks of the Ten Commandments, so it will be our reference point here. Here's how the relevant portion of Exodus 20 reads:



2
I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3
Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

4
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

6
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

7
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

8
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

13 Thou shalt not kill. 1
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ***, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.


So we have 16 verses and Ten Commandments (this we know because of Exodus 34:28 and Deuteronomy 4:13 which speak of the "Ten Words" of God). How to group these verses and Commands?

When the Commandments are listed, they are often listed in short-hand form, such that, for ex., verses 8, 9, 10 and 11 concerning the Sabbath become simply "Remember the Sabbath and to keep it holy." Because Latin Catholics group 3, 4, 5 and 6 together as all pertaining to the concept "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," we are accused of having "dropped" the commandment against idols. That Eastern Catholics list the Commandments differently never enters the equation for people who think this way; they are simply against those they probably call the "Romish popers" and that's that (I hope it doesn't bother them that Jews would accuse them of totally forgetting the First Commandment, or that Latin Catholics could accuse some Protestants of skipping lightly over the commandments against lust.

Bottom line:


chapter and verse numbering in the Bible came about in the Middle Ages


the Catholic Church (which includes Eastern Catholics, too) has two different numbering systems for the Commandments given, one agreeing with the most common Protestant enumeration;


the Latin Church's numbering is the most common in the Catholic Church and is the one referred to by Protestants who, ignoring Eastern Catholic Churches, accuse the Catholic Church of having dropped a Commandment;


no Commandment has been dropped, in any case, but the Latin Church's shorthand for the Commandments looks different than the typical Protestant version because of how the Commandments are grouped;


everyone knows how to find Exodus 20 in the Bible, and
we don't care how they are grouped together; we only care that they are understood and obeyed -- not because we are under the Old Testament Moral and Ceremonial Law with its legalism and non-salvific ritual (we aren't!), but because we are to obey God as children of the New Covenant, whose moral law includes the Two Great Commandments (to love God and to love our neighbor) which surpass the Decalogue, and whose Sacraments surpass empty ritual, being media of grace.

Answer 2

Have you looked into all the beliefs of the church, and other churches? I was raised Lutheran myself, so I can understand why you don't find it fulfilling, and also in a very Catholic area and Catholic state (my county is 77% Catholic). The Catholic church dominates here but people do not talk about Jesus and putting Him first. I also have a close Catholic relative so I know a lot about it and have listened to quite a lot of EWTN, and there is a lot about Catholic beliefs that trouble me, like the prayers to Mary. I ended up in a Baptist church myself although I would consider some other similar denominations to be sound according to the Bible. Pray for God's guidance, and read the Bible, too, especially the New Testament, which is about Jesus and His church. He guides us through His word, too. Edit: One other thing I left out is that after deciding to look at other churches, about 20 years ago, I did attend a Catholic Church now and then to see if I'd want to convert to it, and in more recent years I considered it too. For a long time I really didn't know what I was looking for until I started reading the Bible.

Answer 3

My understanding has it that the Catholics, for one reason or another, decided to adopt the day Jesus Arose from the dead as the holy day.

It has to be a Catholic or Catholic related (Greek Orthodox) thing because there WAS not other religion other than Judaism when Sunday was adopted. Lutherans didn't come until 1500 and Sunday was the Christian Sabbath for ages by that time!

I'm not exactly sure where the Jewish sunset to sunset law came from. The Bibles says "The Morning and the Evening" were the first day.

So if we're going to get into a sabbath day thing, then maybe we better take the WHOLE thing apart and see what a "day" is from the Genesis prespective, even though it wasn't Earth days it still says MORNING (first) then AND EVENING (second).

Not NIGHT(First) and then Daytime (Second) as the JEws practise.

Also, as a matter of record, Jesus, while having dinner with the head Pharasee on the Sabbath day asked the Pharaseee if it was wrong to heal someone on the sabbath day and the Phrasee couldn't not answer him, so Jesus went to the Pharasee's door where a man was and he healed the man on the Sabbath.

Answer 4

The Commandments are the same onlyReformed/Eastern 1&2 is 1 in R Cath/Lutheran. Reformed 10 is 9&10 R Catholic. The Protestant Reformed,unlike the Lutherans embraced Iconoclasm, the destruction and rejection of all religious visual images as idolatry and wanted the Eastern numbering to emphasize that "anti-Incarnational'" view,which the Eastern Orthodox rejected and the Muslims and Jews( who both rejected any incarnation of God) endorsed.
One argument is that the idolatry of having many gods or any god other than God and that of having idols of anything(not just spirit beings) are just aspects of the same commandment. Coveting a neighbor's goods and coveting his or her spouse are very different types of coveting and deserve to be two distinct Commandments.
Since neither Exodus nor Deuteronomy actually number the "10 Words" there is really no one "biblical' way of numbering them. I don't see either numeration as a "plot' to cover up either idolatry or adultery...;so take your pick.
Catholics and Orthodox don't understand why so many non-Lutheran or non -Anglican Protestants can't see that the OT did not ban religious images but that God actually commanded images to be made and honored such as the Cherubim (angel) statues and carvings andtapestries on the Ark of the Covenant and throughout the Temple(Ex 25:18-19,1 kings,6:23-29 &7;25-45) and the Brazen or Bronze Serpent in the desert (that Jesus compares Himself to)of Numbers21:8-9.

Answer 5

This is a very important question and it is a wave maker. Many people answered my question that was similar to this, and I learned alot. My studies have shown that , with respect to my catholic friends on this site, there is no BIBLICAL reason to change the day of worship. As a matter of fact, the scriptures show that in the new heaven and new earth we will keep the Sabbath Day as GOD intended.see Isaiah 66:22-23. also in Mark 2:23-28,JESUS doesn't advocate breaking the Sabbath day, but labels it as HIS day., Therefore the SON OF MAN is also LORD of the Sabbath. theses are just 2 of the many scriptures that show how important the Sabbath is to GOD, because it shows HIS creative authority and power. Please read in Genesis 2:1-3. HE blessed this day and sanctified it. what does that mean? set apart as a memorial. Why? Because in it HE rested from all HIS work which GOD had created and made. When you look at Revelation and how GOD is described ther it says in 14:7 , worship HIM who made the heaven and the earth, the sea and springs of water. In Rev 4: 11 it says YOU are worthy O LORD TO RECEIVE GLORY AND HONOR AND POWER, For YOU created all things , And by Your will they exist and were created. So you see when we talk about THE LORD OUR GOD, being the creator, we also have to talk about the memorial day that HE CREATED AND MADE for that very purpose. and there is a whole lot more to this study.

Answer 6

From an Ex-Roman Catholic

Q1. Why do the Catholics order their 10 commandments the way they do?

A1. Ancient Judaism, most Protestants & Eastern Orthodox all share the same correct grouping of the commandments. My understand is that Catholics have purposely combined the first two commandments to hide the commandment that we are not to make images of God. As you know they are famous for having pictures of God. Therfore in order to keep it at Ten commandments they divide the tenth commandment into two.

Q2. Why do they hold to a Sunday observance of the Sabbath?

A2. In the Old Testament, God set the command of keeping one day in seven to be a holy Sabbath, to be held on Saturday. In the New Testament God set the command on keeping one day in seven, to be held on Sunday – the day of Jesus’ resurrection. This is done to commemorate the new creation. Right after the resurrection we see the disciples gathering for worship on Sunday. Jesus appears and blesses the occation. Read John 20:19, and John 20:26, where the disciples gather together on Sunday. Also 25 years later the disciples were still meeting on the Sunday -- as indicated by Acts 20:6-7 and 1 Cor. 16:1-2. In all the New Testament books after the resurrection we have not one example of the disciples ever gathering for worship on Saturday.

Answer 7

As many other posters here have already said, the 10 commandments were not changed at all in the Roman Catholic religion. They're just listed in a different order depending on where you look.

As to Sunday being the day of the Sabbath, this was originally changed by Jesus himself. He celebrated the last supper on a Sunday! I'm suprised that no other Catholic has said this, as it's what we were all taught in Sunday School!! He changed the day from Saturday to Sunday by breaking the bread and blessing it along with the wine.
"While they were eating, Jesus took breas, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins." -Matthew 26:26-28
Hope this helps!

Answer 8

Catholicism is 1500 years OLDER than Protestant Christianity, it is the "modern Christians" that 'changed' them...Though in actuality the bible does not really list a set of "Ten Commandments", they too are a relatively modern invention based on a mixture of verses from Exodus & Leviticus in the Old Testament.

In Matthew 19 (verses 18 & 19), when Jesus lists the "Commandments" there are only SIX!

"Sabbath" comes from the Hebrew word שַבָת ("shābath"), meaning 'to rest', and there is much debate about why Christians moved the "day of rest" from Saturday to Sunday.
You might find this interesting (if not very enlightening!):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbath_in_Christianity#Early_church_observance_of_the_Sabbath

Answer 9

The 10 Commandments are not change in Catholicism...they're the same ones that the Protestants and Jews have.

Answer 10

The division of the Ten Commandments is different depending on which church you attend.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_commandments#Division_of_the_commandments

Jewish, Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant (except Lutheran) all have their own division.

I vote since the Jews were first they have it right. Its their set of commandments to begin with.

Answer 11

We combine the first two commandments into one, and then separate the last 2 into 2 different, they are the same rules just differently numbered.

Also Jesus was a big Notre Dame fan, so in order to watch his favorite team, he changed the Sabbath day to Sunday.
Real answer because this is the day Jesus rose.