ContradictionsReading order 74Bible context 4 min read
Is it OK to add to the law of Moses?
Deuteronomy prohibits altering the commandments, while later teachings explicitly extend or replace earlier formulations of permitted conduct.
- Textual conflict
- Interpretive tension
- The passages pull in different directions, but the conflict depends on how their wording, scope, or narrative context is read.
- Importance
- Major
- A major event or claim with wider implications.
A prohibition on altering Mosaic commands conflicts with later authoritative expansions and reversals, particularly the replacement of regulated oaths with no oaths.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
Moses forbids adding to or removing from the commandments
Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.
Deuteronomy 4:2
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:Deuteronomy 4
Jesus and Paul impose further rules on conduct
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Matthew 5:21-22
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)