613 điều răn trong Luật Cựu Ước là gì?

The number 613 is often cited as the number of commandments in the Old Testament Law; however, there is no verse in the Bible that gives 613 as the correct enumeration. There are other counts as well. There is no universal agreement among Jews or Christians that there are exactly 613 laws given by God through Moses.

In any calculation of the number of commandments in the Mosaic Law, complications arise. For example, if a command occurs in Exodus and is then repeated in Deuteronomy, does that count as one commandment or two? Further, some commandments can be understood as clarifications of other commandments rather than additional commandments.

There is some debate as to who first came up with 613 as the number of commandments. The Talmud points to Rabbi Simlai in the 3rd century AD as the originator. However, there is no record of Rabbi Simlai listing all 613 commandments. The most commonly accepted breakdown was done by Maimonides in the 12th century AD. Maimonides further divided the 613 commandments into positive, “do this” commandments, numbering 248, and negative, “do not do this” commandments, numbering 365.

Biblically speaking, whether or not 613 is the correct count is not that important. The purpose of the Law was to point us to Christ. Galatians 3:24 says, “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (NKJV). No one can perfectly obey all the commandments, no matter how many or few there are (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23). In fact, no one can even perfectly obey the Ten Commandments. The Law makes our sinfulness evident (Romans 7:7). God gave the Law to define sin and demonstrate our need for a Savior. Jesus is the only one who has perfectly obeyed the Law. Through His life, death, and resurrection, He fulfilled all of God’s righteous commands (Matthew 5:17–18).