The First Commandment

The Text

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:3

Rules for Understanding the Commandments

The Westminster Larger Catechism

Question 103: Which is the first commandment?
Answer: The first commandment is, Thou shall have no other gods before me.

Question 104: What are the duties required in the first commandment?
Answer: The duties required in the first commandment are,

• and to worship
• and glorify Him accordingly
• by thinking
• meditating
• remembering
• highly esteeming
• honoring
• adoring
• choosing
• loving
• desiring
• fearing of Him
• believing Him
• trusting
• hoping
• delighting
• rejoicing in Him
• being zealous for Him
• calling upon Him
• giving all
  • praise
  • and thanks

• being careful in all things to please Him
• and sorrowful when in anything He is offended;
• and walking humbly with him.

Question 105: What are the sins forbidden in the first commandment?
Answer: The sins forbidden in the first commandment are

• atheism
  • in denying
  • or not having a God;
• idolatry
  • in having
  • or worshiping more gods than one
  • or any
    • with
    • or instead of the true God
• the not having
• and avouching Him for God
• and our God;
• the omission or neglect of anything due to Him required in this commandment;
• ignorance
• forgetfulness
• misapprehensions
• false opinions
• unworthy and wicked thoughts of Him;
• bold and curious searching into His secrets;
• all profaneness
• hatred of God;
• self-love
• self-seeking
• and all other inordinate and immoderate setting of
  • our mind
  • will
  • or affections upon other things
• and taking them off from Him in whole or in part;
• vain credulity
• unbelief
• heresy
• misbelief
• distrust
• despair
• incorrigibleness
• and insensibleness under judgments
• hardness of heart
• pride
• presumption
• carnal security
• tempting of God;
• using unlawful means
• and trusting in lawful means;
• carnal delights and joys;
• corrupt zeal
• blind zeal
• and indiscreet zeal;
• lukewarmness
• and deadness in the things of God;
• estranging ourselves
• and apostatizing from God;
• to saints
  • praying
  • or giving any religious worship
• to angels
  • praying
  • or giving any religious worship
• or to any other creatures;
  • praying
  • or giving any religious worship
• all compacts and consulting with the devil
• and hearkening to his suggestions;
• making men the lords of our faith and conscience;
• slighting and despising God and His commands;
• resisting and grieving of His Spirit
• discontent
• and impatience at His dispensations
• charging Him foolishly for the evils He inflicts on us

Question 106: What are we specially taught by these words [before me] in the first commandment?
Answer: These words [before me], or before my face, in the first commandment, teach us, that God, who sees all things, takes special notice of, and is much displeased with, the sin of having any other God: that so it may be an argument to dissuade from it, and to aggravate it as a most impudent provocation: as also to persuade us to do as in his sight, whatever we do in his service.

The Westminster Larger Catechism (1648) explains our duties under the First Commandment. You will notice that the brilliant Puritan Theologians who compiled the Catechism discerned duties in passages of Scripture which do not begin with the words "Thou shalt" or "Thou shalt not."

Every word of God is a command for us.

 

But even the "thou shalts" and the "thou shalt nots" demand more from us than we might first think:

How to Study the Ten Commandments

How to use the Catechism for a Moral Inventory

First, you must agree that the Catechism has correctly explained the implications of the Commandment. Assuming it has, you must agree with God that you are obligated to carry out those principles in your life.

Second you must ask yourself if you have violated each aspect of the command.

Third, you must take steps to develop the Character of Christ, and eliminate "character defects" from your life.

1. The First Commandment and the Shema Israel
2. The Undivided Word
3. God versus Molech
4. The Laws of Covenant Membership
5. The Law as Power and Discrimination

• Do I Agree With God's Word?
• Have I Violated This Commandment?
• Am I Resolved to Obey it in the Future?
• How This Commandment was Applied in Early American Law

The Ten Commandments Home Page

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