What is the basis on how the Ten Commandments are divided? The Roman Catholics and Luterians define our duty to God as 3 commandments and 7 commandments for our duty to others. The Reformed position divides it 4 and 6.

Specifically while the Reformed divisions has Ex 20:3 as the first commandment and Ex 20:4-6 as the second commandment, the RC/Lutherian has all that as the first commandment. Then to get Ten Commandments Ex 20:17 is divided into two commandments.

One impact of treating Ex 20:3-6 as one commandment might be seeing idolatry in terms of worship of other gods rather than false worship of the true God. If this is so, Ex. 32 would show that such a division is in error.

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Soli Deo Gloria

John Schultz
Member, Riveroaks Reformed Presbyterian Church (PCA)
Germantown, TN

"The reason why we worship God in a slight way is because we do not see God in His glory"
Jeremiah Burroughs

The Protestant church, except for the Lutherans, almost without exception went back to the Hebrew divisions of the commandments.

The Lutheran church, in the matter of images as well as some other things, was a branch of the Reformation that split somewhere between the Reformed and Presbyterian Churches and the RCC. The Lutherans retained the RCC division of the 10 Commandments (which had long since fostered the use of images).

We find the Anglicans between the Lutherans and the Puritans on this issue--in many ways close to the Lutherans in practice, but (partly becasue of the timing of the English Reformation) possessing many Reformed/Presb. touches. What high-church Anglicanism retained in the contest with the Puritans established them closer to the Lutherans than anything.

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Rev. Bruce G. Buchanan
ChainOLakes Presbyterian Church, CentralLake, MI


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[quote:369fd17527="jfschultz"]What is the basis on how the Ten Commandments are divided? The Roman Catholics and Luterians define our duty to God as 3 commandments and 7 commandments for our duty to others. The Reformed position divides it 4 and 6.

Specifically while the Reformed divisions has Gen 20:3 as the first commandment and Gen 20:4-6 as the second commandment, the RC/Lutherian has all that as the first commandment. Then to get Ten Commandments Gen 20:17 is divided into two commandments.

One impact of treating Gen 20:3-6 as one commandment might be seeing idolatry in terms of worship of other gods rather than false worship of the true God. If this is so, Gen. 32 would show that such a division is in error.[/quote:369fd17527]

Just to clarify, we are talking about Exodus, not Genesis, right?

My understanding of the whole issue is that it is centered on the Second Commandment and it's implications for worship. By joining the First and Second Commandments (and then later dividing the Tenth Commandment into two parts) the RCC minimizes the import of idolatrous worship which is forbidden in the Second. Essentially, they take out the Second Commandment as distinct from the First and split the Tenth to make up for it. It would never do to have only Nine Commandments, after all.

The Second Commandment is the basis for the whole Regulative Principle of Worship. We see that clearly enunciated in the WLC #107-110. I am greatly blessed whenever I harken back to the Catechism and its thorough exposition of the moral law of God because it so beautifully contrasts what is commanded and what is forbidden. And in so doing, it clarifies the intent of God's law in a way which gets at the heart of the matter. The RCC would rather obscure the truth, while the WLC shines the light of God's truth directly on their obfuscations.

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Andrew Myers
Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church of Northern Virginia
Warrenton, VA USA
Editor, The Matthew Poole Project

"Let your Morning Thoughts, and your last Evening Thoughts, be what shall become of you to all Eternity." -- Matthew Poole