The 10 Commandments are called "Statutes, Ordinances and Decrees"
False Distinction #5: Commandments vs. Statutes, Ordinances and Decrees |
See main document: for False distinctions 1-10
I. Introductory summary:
The phrases "commandments", "The commandments" "my commandments", "the Lord commanded", "what Moses commanded" are uses so many times in the Old Testament in reference to what Adventists call the Ceremonial law to the exclusion of the 10 commandments, it would take 10 pages to list all the verses!
Lev 27:34 These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the sons of Israel at Mount Sinai.
Num 36:13 These are the commandments and the ordinances which the Lord commanded
Deut 30:10 obey the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law
Jesus defined the commandants to include the Law of Moses: Mt 19:17-19 Jesus said: "keep the commandments." The man replied "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself"
Deut 5:1 The Ten commandments are called "My statures and all My ordinances"
Ezekiel 20:19-21 The weekly Sabbath is called "My statures and all My ordinances"
Mal 4:4 Book closes with a call to keep "statutes and ordinances" which obviously include the 10 commandments because it would be unthinkable for such a doxology to leave them out completely!
Neh 9:13-14 the weekly Sabbath is included without distinction: "right judgments, true laws, good statutes, commandments"
Lev 19:1-37 The Ten commandments and the ceremonial law are mixed together without distinction and called "My statures and all My ordinances"
Deut 5:1-6:25: Two whole chapters that deal exclusively with the 10 commandments and the following 5 terms are used interchangeably without distinction: "statutes", "ordinances", "commandments", "judgments", "testimonies".
Lev 23 The Weekly Sabbath is lumped in with all the yearly Sabbaths without distinction and they are all called "The Lord's appointed times" and "holy convocations".
Ezek 20 calls the first and fourth commandment, "My statutes and My ordinances"
Neh 8 uses interchangeably without distinction, the following terms: "the book of the law of Moses", "the law", "the book of the law", "the law of God", "book of the law of God" and includes
Col 2:14 & Eph 2:15 refer to the whole of the Old Covenant law including the ten commandments
II. 10 proofs that the 10 commandments are called "Statutes, Ordinances and Decrees":
Proof #1:Deuteronomy 5:1 Moses introduces the 10 commandments with "Statutes & Ordinances", but doesn't use the word commandment. |
This verse is most powerful, because the very first statutes and the ordinances Moses speaks is the 10 commandments! "Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully. " (Deuteronomy 5:1)
Proof #2:Ezekiel 20:19-21 The weekly Sabbath is referred to twice as "my statutes and my ordinances". |
This is powerful because the weekly Sabbath is referred to twice as "my statutes and my ordinances". "I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them; And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God. Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my ordinances to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness." (Ezekiel 20:19-21)
Proof #3:Malachi 4:4 Malachi closes the book with an admonition to keep God's law and only mentions "statutes and judgments" that obviously must include the 10 commandments. I would be unthinkable for such a doxology to exclude the decalogue |
This is powerful because Malachi closes the book with an admonition to keep God's law and only mentions statutes and judgments that obviously must include the 10 commandments. It would be unthinkable for him to give a grand call to keep God's law and leave the 10 commandments out of this call! "Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments." (Malachi 4:4)
Proof #4:Nehemiah 9:13-14 The weekly Sabbath is lumped in with "right judgments, true laws, good statutes, commandments" without any differentiation. |
This is powerful because the ten commandments given at Sinai, specifically the weekly Sabbath, are called "right judgments, true laws, good statutes, commandments" without differentiating between any of them. Sabbatarians will argue that the Jews would apply "commandments" to the Sabbath and "statutes" to the cerimonial law, but such a distinction was never used by the Jews, nor can it be proven in the Bible. This distinction is a Sabbatarian myth unsupported by the Bible and the record of history. "Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:" (Nehemiah 9:13-14) They had the "the book of the law of the Lord their God" (9:3) read to them and all the people "all they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God" (9:4) and said, you gave us the weekly Sabbath! In other words, they learned about the Sabbath from the book of the law!
Proof #5: Leviticus 19 The chapter is a complete unit that lists 5 of the 10 Commandments as well as 24 references to the "ceremonial law" and calls them My statures and all My ordinances without differentiation. The words "law" and "commandment" are absent! |
Lev 19 is perhaps the most powerful chapter in the Bible to prove the Sabbatarian distinction between the ten commandments and the ceremonial law is a false distinction.
Lev 19:1-37 |
Ten commandments |
Ceremonial law |
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: v1 |
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Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father |
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keep My sabbaths |
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Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods |
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offer a sacrifice of peace offerings |
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shall not reap to the very corners of your field |
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You shall not steal |
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nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another . |
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You shall not swear falsely by My name |
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You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. |
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You shall not curse a deaf man |
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You shall not go about as a slanderer |
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You shall not take vengeance |
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you shall love your neighbor as yourself |
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You are to keep My statures . |
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You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle |
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you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed |
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nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together. |
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a man lies carnally with a woman who is a slave |
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He shall bring his guilt |
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You shall not eat anything with the blood |
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practice divination or soothsaying. |
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You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads |
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nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves |
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Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot |
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You shall keep My sabbaths and revere My sanctuary |
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Do not turn to mediums or spiritists |
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You shall rise up before the |
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You shall have just balances, just weights |
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I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt. |
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'Thus You shall observe all My statures and all My ordinances and do them; I am the Lord.' V37 |
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Proof #6: Deut 5:1-6:25 Two whole chapters that represent a unit, deal exclusively with the 10 commandments starts off by calling them "statutes and ordinances", then goes on to mix together for without differentiation and interchangeably: these five terms: "statutes", "ordinances", "commandments", "judgments", "testimonies". None of the section deals with the "ceremonial law". |
Deut 5:1-6:25: Two whole chapters that deal exclusively with the 10 commandments:
Deuteronomy chapters 5-6 proves interchangeability of terms and disproves any distinction between the 10 commandments and what Sabbatarians falsely call the ceremonial law. |
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Proof #7: Leviticus 23 The Weekly Sabbath is lumped in with all the yearly Sabbaths without distinction and they are all called "The Lord's appointed times" and "holy convocations". |
Lev 23 The Weekly Sabbath is lumped in with all the yearly Sabbaths without distinction and they are all called "The Lord's appointed times" and "holy convocations".
Lev 23 proves no distinction between the weekly Sabbath and the other Sabbaths! |
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Proof #8: Ezekiel 20 The whole chapter charges Israel with breaking the 1st and 4th Commandments: Idol worship and breaking the Sabbath, and calls them "My statutes and My ordinances" 7 different times! The chapter contains no "ceremonial laws", and never uses the terms "feasts, festivals, holy days". Neither the word, "law" or "commandment" are found in the section. The 1st and 4th commandment (the weekly Sabbath) |
Ezek 20 calls the first and fourth commandment, My statutes and My ordinances:
Ezek 20 calls the 10 commandments, "My statutes and My ordinances"
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Proof #9: Nehemiah 8 Nehemiah 8 uses interchangeably without distinction the following terms: "the book of the law of Moses", "the law", "the book of the law", "the law of God", "book of the law of God" and 10 commandments are included within the context but are never called "commandments"! |
Verse |
phrase from Nehemiah 8:1-18 |
v1 |
the book of the law of Moses |
v2 |
the law |
v3 |
the book of the law |
v5 |
the book |
v7 |
the law |
v8 |
the book |
v8 |
the law of God |
v9 |
the law |
v13 |
the law |
v14 |
the law |
v18 |
the book of the law of God |
Proof #10: Col 2:14 & Eph 2:15 10 Commandments are called Ordinances and Decrees |
Col 2:14 & Eph 2:15 refer to the whole of the Old Covenant law including the ten commandments
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