Why do the various denominations of Christianity have differences in the numbering of the commandments?

Question

Yes they do, look here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments

Answer 1

Jewish, Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant (except Lutheran) all have their own division. That some of our bible-friends commenting here didn't know is amusing. But not surprising.

Answer 2

Some people still feel they are under the old law. No seriously somethings are passed down as tradition and it became even in some churches and unspoken law. This is a from of legalism and religion instead of faith. Most groups are legalistic to some degree even those claiming not to be. We all have things we do and do not do. But Christ came to set us free from all of that. Some of it can be a good thing because it teaches respect, but taken to extremes it becomes a task master. Christ accepts us how we are. All groups of Christian need to accept each other for who they are.

Answer 3

Ancient Judaism, most Protestants & Eastern Orthodox all
share the same grouping of the commandments, which I believe is the correct one. It is logical for the New Testament Christian church to follow the order used by Ancient Judiasm. In addition in Romans 13:9, the last five of the commandments are listed and "Thou Shalt not covet" is listed ONLY once, and is not divided.

Romans 13:9a "For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet"

The church of Rome, and the lutherians use an order which obsersures the commandment forbidding the making of images of God, and divide the commandment which speaks on coveting. While there is nothing written to explain this, it is well know that the church of Rome does support the making of images of God, therefore this grouping is helpful to them.

Answer 4

There are two different numberings and that's because of slight differences in bible translations.

NOTE - for those who are wondering here is the difference. Before Protestantism, the 10th and 11th commandments were separate and the commands of having "no false gods, and no idols which are also false gods" are 1 commandment.

All Catholic Bibles, all the way back to 148 B.C., use the numbering system from the earliest scriptural texts. The Protestant Bibles which appeared on the scene beginning inl 1611, list the commandments in a different order.

Answer 5

You're thinking of X-ians focused on sacrifice for sin;
Which 'the only true God" never desired, no, not ever.

His Grace: "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice".
Allegory meaning: I will have grace, and not law.
(Ps 40:6; 51:16; Hos 6:6; Mt 9:13; 12:7; Heb 10)

Christ-ians are focused on Christ: "the end of the law".
In him there is "no law" = "no sin" and death to anyone.
(Rom 4:15; 5:13; 10:4; Gal 5:4,18; Eph 2: 15; Col 2:14)

The GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ with you all. Amen.

Answer 6

When you ask someone who God gave the commandments to, they will usually say Moses, but the truth of the matter is that God gave the commandments to all of humankind through Moses. The numbering of the commandments is ten (Exo 20:1-17), and if one were to read the Bible and examine them that were written nearly thirty five hundred years past they would find that there are a couple of them that are explained. Man has taken the explanations and considered them to be commandments. Since there are only ten commandments they added to the first one and made it two, then took away from the last two and made them one. The first thing that we all need to understand is that there are only two greatest commandments from God (Matt 22:37-40) of which all the others hinge upon, not to mention the fact that all our laws are based on the ten commandments. There is no law against doing what is right, and I mean what God is telling us that is right and not our own interpretation. I've had people tell me that they don't need to believe in Jesus Christ to be able to understand the Bible, but at the same time they are telling me that they can't understand what God is saying here or there. The Bible is a spiritual book and not some piece of literature for us to pick apart. What people need to understand is that on this earth there are two forces at work, God and Satan, so they need not blame God for everything that goes wrong in their lives. God gave all of us the commandments to live by, and if all were living our lives according to these laws, and treating each other in the manner spelled out in the Bible, whether you elect to believe in it or not, or whatever spiritual denomination you elect to practice, there would be no need for any other laws because everyone would be edifying one another instead of tearing one another down. The problem with numbering the commandments properly lies with man's arrogance and pride. For some reason man has come to the level of worldly understanding that he now feels that he knows more than God, but (Isa: 55:6-11) tells me a different version, and I happen to be a firm believer in Jesus Christ who lowered Himself to human form and shed His blood on the cross for my sins, and that the Father raised Him from the dead on the third day (Rom 10:8-11), and I believe Him. Every commandment God gave to us speaks out about love. When Jesus mentioned the two greatest commandments, He said that we are to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, body, and soul; and to love our neighbor as we should love ourselves. Who our neighbor might be is explained in (Luke 10:30-37) where someone not only takes time out of his journey to help a stranger in dire need, but takes it one step further and dresses up his wounds and pays for his lodging. Most people today won't even stop to help someone if they saw them on the side of the road because either they've heard of people getting robbed or carjacked when stopping to help someone, or they just don't want to get involved in someone else's problems, but we shouldn't lump everyone who needs help on the side of the road into one category, because more often than not the person truly needs help. I guess I really took the scenic route to where I was trying to go here today, but I try to emphasize as often as I can the greatest need we all have in this world, and that is the love of God through His Son Jesus Christ, and each other. God didn't give the commandments specific numbers, so why should we? The important thing is that we obey them and thank God for them; Let us not read any more into the Bible than what is already there, for God gave us what we need. Everyone wants to be right when it comes to interpreting the Bible, and the numbering of the commandments is only one of many interpretations that are the basis for a denomination to get off the ground. As long as you can get some people to believe in what you are telling them is right, regardless of how wrong you might be, you have yourself a following. You take care, and know that God loves you. God bless you and keep you in His care; I will pray for you. Your Brother In Christ.

Answer 7

If you go just by the "Thou shall" and "Thou Shalts" you get more than ten.

Swedenborg says the Catholic numbering system is correct and the Protestant numbering system is wrong according to what was written on the stone tables.

Answer 8

It depends on what they wanted to indoctrinate their kiddies with.....for example -

Commandment 2 used to read ".....thou shalt not make any graven images, thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them....(etc)

....but the Catholics decided that they liked making staues and things to bow down before, so they cut that Commandment out.....which left them with only 9.

Bit of a problem now, but easily fixed....just split Commandment 10 into two different Commandments .....it used to be "...thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife, nor his,ox, nor his ***, nor anything that is thy neighbours",....

and make it "9 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife" and then "10 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours ox nor his ***, (etc).

Problem solved, and (if I must say so myself) a rather concise way of explaining the question.

Answer 9

What are you talking about? The Ten Commandments are listed in the Bible and I have never heard of what you are talking about.

Answer 10

What does it matter? Live well and Love much and you are keeping all the commandments.