Who Changed the Ten Commandments?
Have the Ten Commandments changed? If so, who changed the Ten Commandments? These are serious questions when you consider that the Ten Commandments are the only words in the Bible that were specifically written by the finger of God (Exodus 31:18).
In Bibles that are based on word-for-word translation from the original Hebrew language, the Ten Commandments remain fairly the same. They read like this:
"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 carved image—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 nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."
The original Hebrew text does not separate the Commandments into verses, and we don’t have the original stone on which they were written (Exodus 31:18). So, we could possibly conclude we don’t know how the Commandments were originally divided up. However, we do know that the Commandments were meant to be divided into ten. Three times Moses referred to them as the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13, 10:4).
The phrase ‘Ten Commandments’ is the phrase ‘ten words’ in the original Hebrew. The Hebrew word for word means word, matter, command, or decree. There are more than ten actual words in the Ten Commandments, so why is it called this? Are there ten words that help us know what each of the commandments are?
As you read through the Ten Commandments, you will notice the following imperative (commanding) phrases and words in English: you shall, remember, honour, and you shall not. These phrases are actually one word in the original Hebrew language. There are eleven such words used in Exodus 20 (which is when God first spoke the Ten Commandments), two of which relate to the same topic (they refer to the same matter)—a carved image. We can use these imperative words to identify each of the Ten Commandments.
How does this relate to my question: Who changed the Ten Commandments? Well, the Roman Catholic church divides the Ten Commandments differently from the rest of Christendom. They cite the fact that there is no numbering in the original Hebrew text for their reason. This has consequences for how they summarise the Ten Commandments and also how they observe them.
If we were to look at all the imperative words and topics (matters) in the Ten Commandments, as God originally spoke them in Exodus 20, we would divide and summarise the Ten Commandments this way:
- You shall have no other God’s before Me.
- You shall not make a graven image and bow down and you shall not worship it.
- You shall not use the Lord’s name in vain.
- Remember to keep the seventh-day Sabbath holy.
- Honour your mother and father.
- You shall not kill.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness or lie.
- You shall not covet.
The Ten Commandments, as we find them in most Bibles, are very similar to the ones that are found in the official Bibles of the Roman Catholic church. However, in the Catholic Catechism, they are summarised very differently. They have changed the Ten Commandments.
What is the Catholic Catechism? In the prologue to the catechism it says this,
“This catechism aims at presenting an organic synthesis of the essential and fundamental contents of Catholic doctrine, as regards both faith and morals, in the light of the Second Vatican Council and the whole of the Church’s Tradition. Its principal sources are the Sacred Scriptures, the Fathers of the Church, the liturgy, and the Church’s Magisterium.”
The Catechism is deemed essential for teaching people in preparation for baptism or confirmation.
How does the Catholic Catechism summarise the Ten Commandments?
- I, the Lord, am your God. You shall not have strange gods before me.
- You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.
- Remember to keep holy the Lord’s day.
- Honor your father and your mother.
- You shall not kill.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
- You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
You will notice that they have changed the second command of the Ten Commandments. No commandment mentions not making graven images. They explain this by saying that the command regarding images is incorporated into the first commandment.
In 787 D, the Roman Catholic church presided over the council of Nicaea where “263 fathers embraced the doctrine concerning the cult of sacred images”.2 In the ensuing document, four Anathemas concerning holy images were made:
- “If anyone does not confess that Christ our God can be represented in his humanity, let him be anathema.
- If anyone does not accept representation in art of evangelical scenes, let him be anathema.
- If anyone does not salute such representations as standing for the Lord and his saints, let him be anathema.
- If anyone rejects any written or unwritten tradition of the church, let him be anathema.”
Later, in the same document, it states, “venerable churches consecrated without relics of the holy martyrs, the installation of relics should take place along with the usual prayers. And if in future any bishop is found out consecrating a church without relics, let him be deposed as someone who has flouted the ecclesiastical traditions.”2
Venerating images (icons) and relics is clearly considered an essential part of the Christian experience in the Roman Catholic Church.
What does the Roman Catholic church intend for us to do with these icons and relics?
According to the website, Catholic Identity,
“A religious icon is considered to be a soul window, an entrance into the presence of the Holy.
Icons serve as invitations to keep eyes open while one prays. It is prayer to just look attentively at an icon and let God speak.
The profound beauty of an icon is gentle. It does not force its way. It asks for time spent before it in stillness….gazing. More importantly it invites the one praying to be gazed upon by it.
One is invited to enter into the icon and come closer to the Holy One portrayed. Icons are a reminder of God’s unconditional love.”
In the book The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church, it states that “the church…pleads to God through their [the saints and sacred images] intercession” (p. 547). Moreover, it says, “For it is an image that turns towards us the look of Another who is invisible and gives us access to the reality of the spiritual and eschatological world.” (p. 556)
This sounds very much like the use of icons and images as an intermediary between us and God. The actual original Hebrew words of the first commandment are “You shall have no other gods before face”. It doesn’t say “before me” in the original. The words translated as “before me” are the words “before” and “face”. The implication is that we should have nothing between our face and God’s face. There is to be no intermediary between our face and God’s face.
Paul wrote, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). In 1 Timothy 2:3 Paul refers to Christ as “God our Saviour”. He also wrote in Romans, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27).
A careful study of scripture identifies Christ and the Holy Spirit as part of the Godhead (Acts 17:29; Colossians 2:9; 1 John 5:7-8). If we look to Christ, and allow the Holy Spirit to do the work of intercession, we will have nothing between us and God. The Bible is very clear that our prayers require us to attentively look towards God and His ability to work in and through us. We are not to rely on images, icons or relics to help us gain a connection with God.
Thus, with the changed second commandment, the first and second of the Ten Commandments are broken. The Roman Catholic church does have other gods before the Creator God of the Bible, and they have made graven images that they bow down to and serve (Exodus 20: 4-5).
Returning to how the Ten Commandments are expressed in the Catechism, you will also note that the command regarding the Sabbath day has been changed. They say that they now worship on the first day of the week because it is in honour of Christ’s resurrection and that it points to the recreation we experience in Christ. It is noteworthy that they also change the word Sabbath and replaced it with “Lord’s day.”
The Lord’s day in scripture is the one that the Lord claims. Let’s look at some of the verses that tell us which day that is:
Exodus 20:10 – “…but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God”
Isaiah 58:10 – “…call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD…”
Matthew 12:8 – “…For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath”
Mar 2:28 “…the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”
Luke 6:5 – “…The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”
In all of these scriptures, the Sabbath that was being referred to was the seventh day of the week (what we call in English Saturday). This is the Lord’s day. The faithful Bible student will find that no other day in scripture is identified as the Lord’s day.
The change of the word Sabbath to the Lord’s day in the Ten Commandments is an attempt to take away the emphasis on the seventh-day Sabbath that God gave to all humanity in the perfect unfallen world (Genesis 2:1-3). There is no admonition from God in scripture to start keeping any other day holy.
Reflecting on the role of the Roman Catholic Church in changing the day of worship from Saturday (Sabbath) to Sunday, the Bishop of London wrote this in 1923:
“On Protestant principles there is no possible explanation of the substitution of the Christian Sunday for the Jewish Sabbath; for this plain abrogation of the express commandment of God as recorded in the Bible. Protestants reject Divine Tradition, the Unwritten Word, which Catholics accept as of equal authority with the Written Word, the Bible. The Divine authority given by Christ to the Church to teach in His name, to bind and to loose, Protestants deny. For them—and it is their boast—the Bible and the Bible alone has Divine authority. Now in the matter of Sabbath Observance the Protestant rule of Faith is utterly unable to explain the substitution of the Christian Sunday for the Jewish Saturday. It has been changed. The Bible still teaches that the Sabbath or Saturday should be kept holy. There is no authority in the New Testament for the substitution of Sunday for Saturday. Surely it is an important matter. It’s there in the Bible as one of the Ten Commandments of God. There is no authority in the Bible for abrogating this Commandment, or for transferring its observance to another day of the week.
“For Catholics there is not the slightest difficulty. “All power is given Me in heaven and on earth; as the Father sent Me so I also send you,” said our Divine Lord in giving His tremendous commission to His Apostles. “He that heareth you heareth Me”. We have in the authoritative voice of the Church the voice of Christ Himself. The Church is above the Bible; and this transference of Sabbath observance from Saturday to Sunday is proof positive of that fact. Deny the authority of the Church and you have no adequate or reasonable explanation or justification for the substitution of Sunday for Saturday in the Third—Protestant Fourth— Commandment of God.
“Thus, by that same Divine authority, in virtue of which she did away with the Jewish Sabbath and substituted therefore the Christian Sunday, the Catholic Church legislated as to how the Lord’s Day should be observed” (emphasis added).
You will note that the Bishop, in his own words, identified that there are more denominations than the Roman Catholic church that are complicit in changing the Ten Commandments. Yes, the original change was made by the Roman Catholic church, but through the living practices of the majority of Protestant churches they also have changed the Ten Commandments. They honour and attempt to keep holy the first day of the week (Sunday) as a day of worship when God never made that day holy.
If God made the seventh day holy in the creation week, personally asked us to keep it holy, and wrote on stone with His finger that we should remember to keep it holy, only God should be able to change this commandment. If we believe that we should follow the changed Ten Commandments set forth by the Roman Catholic church, we are acknowledging their authority as more supreme than God’s authority.
Now, as a consequence of the changed second, and fourth of the Ten Commandments, the tenth commandment also was changed by the Roman Catholic church. The tenth commandment was broken into two.
The ninth and tenth commandments in the Catholic Catechism relate to the same matter. They are, in essence, the same word or command and should not be separated. However, they have changed the last of the Ten Commandments by breaking it into two so that there would still be ten supposed commandments.
Jesus warned us,
“Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven”
James wrote, “You might follow all of God’s law. But if you fail to obey only one command, you are guilty of breaking all the commands in that law” (James 2:10, ERV).
There are three of the Ten Commandments that were changed by the Roman Catholic church and one that the rest of Protestantism has changed through their practice.
John the Revelator wrote, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city [heaven]” (Revelation 22:14, emphasis mine). This is the last book of the Bible. These are God’s final words. To our generation, He says eternal life is dependent on us doing His commandments now. May we not also attempt to change the Ten Commandments through our supposedly Christian practices. May we be willing to keep all of the Ten Commandments as God has given them to us and may the Lord fulfil His will entirely in us.
1 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd edition. Accessed via: https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/ 8.3.2024
2 Second Council of Nicaea – 787 A.D. Accessed via https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum07.htm, 8.3.2024
3 Praying with icons. Accessed via: https://catholicidentity.bne.catholic.edu.au/prayer/SitePages/Praying-with-icons.aspx 8.3.2024
4 Jupuis, J. and Neuner, K. (2001) The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church, Theological Publications in India St. Peter’s Seminary, Bangalore
5 Fallon, M.F. (Bishop of London) The Catholic record: Volume XLV, [No.] 2342 (September 1, 1923) accessed via: https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_06663_2342/4?r=0&s=4, 18.2.2021
