Information Related to "Questions and Answers - Jul/Aug 2002"
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Q: In reading a recent issue of The Good News I discovered that someone made an error in regard to the Fourth Commandment. It stated that the Fourth Commandment is "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy." In my catechism, the Fourth Commandment is to "Honor our father and mother." The Third Commandment is to "Remember the Sabbath Day." Please correct this error.
P.R., Morristown, Minnesota
A: No one disputes that there are a total of 10 Commandments in number (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; 10:4). They are listed in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. However, another method of numbering developed some time after the biblical canon was complete.
In the fifth century, Augustine (a Roman Catholic bishop of Hippo) selected a newer way of presenting the Ten Commandments, which became the preferred arrangement in the Catholic Church. This arrangement dropped the Second Commandment, divided the Tenth against coveting into two separate commands, one against coveting a neighbor's wife and another against coveting anything else belonging to a neighbor, thus renumbering the list of 10.
Yet the prohibition against coveting
is given as one thought in one basic sentence.
In contrast, having other gods and worshiping images are stated quite distinctly
as two separate "thou shalt nots."
Notice that the apostle Paul expressed the commandment against coveting as a single commandment in the New Testament. "For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'You shall not covet,' and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Romans 13:9; compare 7:7). Clearly one basic principle is involved, and one fundamental commandment governs it.
The most direct proof of this comes
from comparing the listing of the Ten Commandments in Exodus and Deuteronomy,
both books having been written by Moses. In Deuteronomy 5:21, the prohibition
against coveting a neighbor's wife is given first, before the command against
coveting a neighbor's house and other possessions.
But in Exodus 20:17 the proscription against coveting a neighbor's wife and
house is mentioned in the opposite order. Obviously, Moses was not switching
around the Ninth and Tenth Commandments. Rather, he understood these to be different
aspects of the same Tenth Commandment.
So why was another arrangement of the commandments chosen? Augustine said that by this method the commandments were divided into the biblically significant numbers three and seven (claiming three commands on relating to God and seven on relating to neighbor—as opposed to four and six in the proper arrangement).
But there may be another reason that the three-and-seven arrangement arose in the first place—to allow the use of images in worship. The First Commandment forbids the worship of other gods. The Second Commandment forbids bowing down to, serving or using images in worship. By combining the Second Commandment with the First, it could appear that there is only one commandment against idolatry—and that the forbidding of images merely means that we are not to bow down to images of other gods. Yet, by having a separate commandment against images in worship, it is clear that what is forbidden is not just images of other gods, but of the true God as well.
For a more-complete understanding of the great spiritual principles behind all 10 of the commandments, please request our The Ten Commandments.
Q: In The Good News (January - February 2002) is an article titled "Isn't It About Time You Read the Book?" That article refers to the Bible "in its original form" as the absolute truth. What is the Bible "in its original form"?; Is it some version of the King James translation, or is it a pre‚King James publication? Where can one find the Bible in its original form that has been translated into English?
F.V., Riverdale, Georgia
A: The publishers of The Good News firmly believe that all the books of the Bible were written under divine inspiration. The evidence we base that conviction on is summarized in our free booklet Is the Bible True?
As the apostle Peter succinctly put it: "For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2Peter 1:21). The apostle Paul adds that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2Timothy 3:15).
It is infallible in the original written form. However, these original writings are no longer available—as we might expect for a book whose youngest portions are about 2,000 years old. We also believe that extrabiblical evidence adequately confirms that God involved Himself in the preservation and translation of the Bible.
In the world of biblical translation, the term autograph refers to the original writings as God inspired them in the Hebrew and Greek languages. For instance, an autograph of the book of Revelation would be John's original writing in Greek.
A manuscript is a handwritten copy of an autograph. Often a manuscript is several times removed from the original. As an example, people made copies of John's original autograph of Revelation, then others made copies of these copies, and so on.
In spite of their rigorous training in this profession, as scribes made copies from older copies at times they made errors, mostly minor. Common among the types of errors that are found in biblical manuscripts are misspellings of names and slight errors in numbers. These errors are comparatively few, and many have been corrected simply by comparing manuscripts. There are between 4,000 and 5,000 copies of the New Testament in Greek and many copies of the Old Testament in Hebrew.
These minor copyist errors have had little impact on the original inspiration God gave. Carefully trained scribes employed the most rigorous methodology in carrying out their profession, but they were still human. Their errors were mostly of a technical nature with minimal impact. The Bible as we know it is totally reliable in matters pertaining to our salvation and God's plan for mankind.
However, this does not mean that all modern translations are completely free from error. Although none is completely accurate, some versions are more reliable than others. The Good News generally uses the New King James Version when quoting Scripture. A helpful discussion of the relative merits of various Bible translations can be found on pages 12 and 13 of our How to Understand the Bible.
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Keywords: ten commandments, numbering the ten commandments images idolatry biblical translation inspiration
Idolatry: