Differences Between the Catholic 10 Commandments and the Bible!

Introduction

In the article “Differences Between the Catholic 10 Commandments and the Bible!“, I will explore the significant changes that have occurred in the commandments as presented by the Catholic Church and those originally found in the Holy Scriptures. Throughout this text, I will analyze the omissions and substitutions made in the commandments, highlighting the implications of these changes in religious practice. Let’s understand together how these differences impact the way Christians live and interpret God’s Law, revealing elements that many may not yet be aware of.

God Warns Us Through Prophecy

Around 600 years before Christ, there was a young man named Daniel, who was a Jew and was taken as a slave to Babylonian captivity. His story is told in a small book of 12 chapters, in the Holy Bible. In addition to his story, Daniel also tells how God took care of him and his friends when they were taken captive to Babylon. He also tells of the dreams and visions that God gave him about things that were supposed to happen. It is a book with a lot of prophetic content, most of which have already happened.

The focus of today’s study is not related to the story of the prophet Daniel, nor to all the revelations he received. We will look at the differences between the 10 commandments in the Bible. I would like to begin today’s study with just one of the warnings that God left for His people through His messenger. This warning is reported in the verse below:

Daniel 7:25 – “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and shall think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand for a time, and times, and half a time.“

Within the context of this verse, it is said that a power would arise at a given moment in history, and that this power would act “against the Most High“, would persecute and destroy “the saints of the Most High“, as well as I would also take care of “change times and law“. Furthermore, God’s revelation also warns us how long this power would reign, but we will not address that period in this study. We will focus only on the change of “law“.

A Warning from God

The first thing we must consider is God’s concern in warning us about the change in the Law. Nowadays, many Christians mistakenly end up interpreting that the Law is no longer valid in the time in which we live. They think that all the commandments contained in the Law were abolished with the death of Christ, and that since then, we have been living in a period in which there is no need to comply with it. On the other hand, the warning given by God in the revelation to the prophet Daniel shows us exactly the opposite! If God left us a warning, it is because it is important in the eyes of God! If it is a warning about the change that would occur on the part of an oppressive power, it is because we must be careful not to comply with such commandments, but rather to continue observing the commandments that the Lord gave us!

The power mentioned in Daniel 7:25 is symbolized by a “small cipher“, a symbol for a power that would arise from the 4th World Empire from his time. The 4th Empire in his vision is the Empire of Rome. The “little horn” that would emerge from Rome refers to the religious power that would form over the centuries. This religious power is nothing more than the Catholic religion formed over the centuries and established as the main religion in the time of Rome. To this day, the Catholic religion is known by the acronyms “ICAR“, which means “Roman Catholic Apostolic Church“. Without going into the details of the vision and the meanings of its respective symbols, I would like to focus only on the change in the Law of the 10 Commandments that occurred through this religious system, generating differences between the 10 Commandments and those in the Bible.

Difference between Laws

Unfortunately, not everyone knows this, but there is a difference between the 10 Commandments of the Bible and the 10 Catholic Commandments. Many sincere Christians are unaware of this difference. In today’s study, we will analyze each of these differences, and the consequences of this change. Let’s start by creating a table and placing each of the commandments side by side:

Notice that the commandments that have undergone a major change are highlighted in red.

Change: Commandment Removed

Let’s start by analyzing this difference with the 2nd commandment. In the Law of God, the Lord prohibited the construction and worship of carved images. In the law of Catholic origin, this commandment was omitted. Because of this, we should have only 9 commandments in Catholic law, but to cover this difference, the 10th commandment was divided in half, becoming the 9th and 10th commandments in Catholic law. The division of the 10th commandment has only one reason, which is that “cover” the removal of the 2nd commandment from God’s law.

Exodus 20:4-6 – “You shall not make for yourself a carved 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. 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. And showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.“

Exodus 20:17 – “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 Catholic Church justifies that the principle of the 2nd commandment is contained within the 1st commandment. Claiming the possibility of this junction, it divided the 10th commandment into two! But wouldn’t that be exchanging “6” by “half a dozen“?! In fact, the prohibition against worshiping carved images is completely linked to the worship of false gods. However, the 2nd commandment not only prohibited the worship of carved images, but also prohibited us from bowing down before them! The removal of this commandment hid this order from the Lord, and with that, the ICAR allowed the idea of ​​”images of sculptures of saints” are built by their people, and many times, people bow down or even prostrate themselves before such images. Even though they claim not to be worshiping these images, they are clearly performing an act forbidden by God. Unconsciously, they are transgressing one of the Lord’s commandments. Once again, we find differences generated between the 10 commandments.

Change: Rest Day Changed

The second difference is the replacement of the day of rest. While in God’s Law it is ordered that we keep the 7th day of the week in memory of Creation and in recognition of the Creator, in Catholic law it is assigned to keep the 1st day of the week (Sunday) and other festive days, which, by the way, are not even of divine order!

Exodus 20:8-11 – “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 not do any 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 heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.“

Likewise, the Catholic Church justifies this change based on the day Christ was resurrected. They are aware that there is no divine command for this change, and that at no time did Jesus himself or any apostle teach such a change of the holy day. They claim that such a change is based on tradition and not on the Holy Scriptures (which is our only rule of faith and doctrine). In this way, people and governments around the world are led to prioritize Sunday rest over Sabbath rest! And this becomes a big problem, because the latest controversy will be related precisely to this commandment.

Change: The God of Law is Hidden

The last change we can find is related to the 1st commandment of the Law. It is a subtle and little-noticed change, but with great significance. The Lord God was the One who wrote the Law with His own finger (Exodus 31:18). When writing the 1st commandment, He used the pronoun “me” in the singular, identifying the owner of the Law as being a single person. Furthermore, in the 1st commandment of the Law, the worship of any person other than the author of the Law was forbidden.

Exodus 20:3 – “You shall have no other gods before me“

To whom this “me” refers to? Certainly to the One who wrote the Law, and such a person is identified in the previous verse:

Exodus 20:2 – “I am the Lord [YHWH] your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage“

In Hebrew, the word “Sir” in this verse it refers to the tetragrammaton, that is, the four little letters that refer to the name of God.”YHWH” is a reference to the Father, also identified in the Bible as the one God in the Bible (John 17:3; 1 Corinthians 8:6). He is the Father of Jesus, the person whom he prayed that we would recognize as the “One True God” (John 17:3). Regarding the Father, Jesus himself stated that we should worship only His person:

Matthew 4:10 – “…for it is written: You shall worship the Lord [ YHWH ] your God, and him only shall you serve“

The change in the first commandment was an action of the Catholic Church, motivated by the change in the interpretation of the nature of God. Initially, the one God was the Father, but over time, with the adoption of the doctrine of the Trinity, God came to be seen as composed of three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This change created a problem with the first commandment, which was in the singular “me“, indicating exclusive worship of the Father, and therefore the commandment was modified. The worship of any figure other than the God presented in the Bible, therefore, constitutes a serious transgression of this commandment. This generated further differences in the 10 commandments of the Bible.

Conclusion

As we have seen, over the centuries God’s Law of the Ten Commandments has undergone significant changes. This has resulted in significant differences in the 10 commandments of the Bible. These were not insignificant changes, as God Himself warned us about such changes around 600 years before Christ. In light of these changes, the command to have no other God before the author of the Law was hidden, the prohibition against making and bowing down to images was removed, and the day of rest was changed from the seventh to the first day of the week. May we be careful not to turn our feet to the right or to the left, but to fulfill exactly the commandments that the Lord left us, for anything beyond this is false and vain worship of the Lord:

Matthew 15:9 – “But in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men“

May God bless us!