Do Christians have the Ten Commandments Wrong?

Question

In Exodus 20 we see the Ten Commandments as we usually know them. But later Moses breaks the tablets in Exodus 34 and God says "Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.", but they actually do not match. The 2nd set of commandments don't even mention killing, lying, stealing, or coveting.
Do Christians need to upgrade to v2.0? It seems they are following a down-rev'd covenant, v1.0.

Wow, this is confusing some people, so let me help: Uhm, look in your little bible and read Exodus 20, then read Exodus 34. Then compare them. M'kay?

Answer 1

Hi there,

You are quite correct about the fact that there seems to be a second decalogue in Exodus 34:10-26... and God certainly does make a new covenant with the Israelites in that passage.... however, God instructed Moses to write down the words of Exodus 34:10-26 on paper. They were not written by the finger of God onto the second set of stone tablets.

Exodus 34:27 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

So, what was written on that second set of tablets? Exactly the same words that were on the first set of stone tablets, found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.

I base this on the same Scripture you referred to:

Exodus 34:1 And the LORD said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke.

When God says, "I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke," He really does mean what He says: that He will write the same words onto the second set of tablets.

God bless you.

Answer 2

The ten Commandments cover every facet of human nature in a broad way. Taken by themselves, they are the law we should live by. However, there are actually more than 600 laws both criminal and civil that cover contracts, health, diet and worship and these go into more detail.
As far as the Christian lifestyle is concerned, we live beyond the written law that Moses wrote. The Spirit gives us the power to live rightly, but it is the gift of Jesus' perfect life that allows God to forgive us. God actually gave us the law to show us His standard of perfection. A standard that we obviously cannot meet. Jesus said the came to fulfill the law, live it out without breaking even one, which he did. That's why we can now live freely to experience the grace of God and work to live better lives without the danger of God's wrath being before us all the time. We are free now to stumble and make mistakes in life and try again to get it right.
It's like I've heard it said so many times before, God is not a God of a second chance, He's the God of another chance.

Answer 3

There are actually three versions of the Ten Commandments, Jewish, Catholic (and Lutheran), and Protestant taken from Exodus Chapter 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy Chapter 5:6-21.

With the new revelations of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the early Catholic Church, a slightly different emphasis was placed on different commandments.

Then 1500 years later, the Protestant in objecting to certain Catholic practices, once again changed the emphasis of the Ten Commandments.

+ Jewish Ten Commandments (before 1000 B.C.E.)

1. I am the Lord your G-d who has taken you out of the land of Egypt.
2. You shall have no other gods but me.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your G-d in vain.
4. You shall remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy.
5. Honor you mother and father.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness.
10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Source: http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Torah/Ten_Cmds/ten_cmds.html

+ Catholic (and Lutheran) Ten Commandments (about 100 C.E.)

1. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 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.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
3. 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.
4. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
10. You shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ***, or anything that is your neighbor's.

Source: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect2chpt1ind.htm

+ Protestant Ten Commandments (about 1600 C.E.)

1. You shall have no other gods but me.
2. You shall not make unto you any graven images
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
4. You shall remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
5. Honor your mother and father
6. You shall not murder
7. You shall not commit adultery
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not bear false witness
10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor

Source: http://www.biblicalheritage.org/Bible%20Studies/10%20Commandments.htm

With love in Christ.

Answer 4

Exodus 20:3-17 First set, because Moses threw them on the ground when he saw the Israelites worshiping the "holy cow". He was mad!

Deuteronomy 5:7-21 is the second set.

They look the same to me.

Answer 5

The Ten commandments are real and like stated in another comment there where over 30. The only difference for christians is that when Jesus died we no longer are bound by some of the laws set for the Jews in those times like (sacrafice for forgiveness of sins) but we are now bound by the moral laws set by the origional ten commandments Jesus taught this and explaind it in full when he gave the sermon on the mount......

Answer 6

Read the rest of God's commandments in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and you will find others. If I'm remembering correctly there are 683 laws in the Bible. You have moral law, spiritual law, physical law, civil law, ceremonial law, etc.

Jesus came because no man could keep them all.

Answer 7

No, on no account. the belief of stained glass residing house windows is to remind us of biblical sections in photos, and the strange statues is a few church homes are to remind us of whoever they represent & help concentration in prayer. what proportion residing house windows depicting Mary, mom of Jesus teach her as blond haired & blue eyed.....whilst she became into needless to say no longer white & quite wasn't llikely to have blond hair & blue eyes; it quite is all merely there as a seen help. I consequently agree that it would be completely incorrect to 'worship' any pictures, and in case you experience that somebody you have seen in a church is doing this, then I advise you tell the minister or priest to have a reliable be conscious with them. Richard (uk)

Answer 8

That you misunderstand the flow of the context is irrelevant, for the ten commandments are irrelevant to Christianity.

Christians were not a party to that covenant; Israel was.

.

Answer 9

Confused? That's what happens when a ray of truth is shined upon their fairytales

"what fantasy story did you read that says the words were
different the second time?"

KJV

"YOU need to READ the BIBLE the REAL ONE"

Try reading it for yourself.

Here are the pertinent links for the lazy deniers among you:

http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Exd/Exd034.html#top
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Exd/Exd034.html#top

"What are you citing that says they did not match? It does not say that in the Bible."

Yes, it does.

"so you are wrong or just making this up."

Will the denial never end?

ROTFLMAO!

Answer 10

The Ten Commandments in the Quran


Islam (Submission to the will of God) is the same and only religion ever given to the human race. It is the religion of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon, Jesus, Muhammed and all the other messengers mentioned or not mentioned in the scripture. The Ten Commandments as we see them here are not any more than the same message given to the prophet Muhammed . See the following table.
http://www.submission.org/quran/ten.html