Catholic Doctrine Regarding The Ten Commandments - Numbering

Numbering

Further information: Ten Commandments#Numbering schemes

The Old Testament refers to ten individual commandments, even though there are more than ten imperative sentences in the two relevant texts: Exodus 20:1–17 and Deuteronomy 5:6–21. The Old Testament does not make clear how the texts should be divided to arrive at ten commandments. The division traditionally used by the Catholic and Lutheran churches was first derived by the Latin Church Father Augustine of Hippo (354–430) in his book Questions on Exodus. Other Christian churches, such as the Eastern Orthodox and some Protestant churches, use a form established by the Greek Fathers. The two forms have slightly different numbering, but maintain exactly the same substance despite Protestant accusations to the contrary. Jewish numbering differs from Christian denominations in that it considers what many Christians call a prologue to be the entire first commandment.