 The Old Testament refers to ten individual commandments , even though there are more than ten <unk> sentences in the two relevant texts : Exodus 20 : 1 – 17 and <unk> 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 <unk> ( 354 – 430 ) in his book <unk> 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 <unk> to be the entire first commandment . 
