Begin Here – A Kingdom Catechism

Begin Here

A Kingdom Catechism

The first commandment is the key to all the Law.

Q 46: What is the first commandment of the Law of God?

A 46: The first commandment is, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exod. 20:2, 3; Deut. 5:6, 7)

The first commandment establishes the spiritual and moral basis for human well-being. It declares the reality of God, recalls His saving mercies, and commands full and unqualified obedience to Him as God, Lord, and Savior of humankind. The first commandment underlies all other aspects of the Law of God. The Law cannot be truly obeyed apart from the kind of love for God which grows from recognizing Him as God and Lord and gratefully acknowledging His saving mercy and grace. To teach the Law apart from submission to and love for God is to promote legalism and salvation by works. To teach love for God without teaching the rest of the Law is to promote a kind of spiritual licentiousness.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.