The First Commandment – No Other Gods

The First Commandment

No other gods

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Ephesians 5:15-17; Colossians 4:6

The obedience God requires, and by means of which the redeemed gain the promises of God, must be an entire and complete obedience, emanating from a pure love for God. But why should we love God? First, because of His inherent beauty, goodness, and truth. God is a Being deserving of the love of every sentient creature, simply because of Who He is. Further, because He is our Creator, Redeemer, and Lord, and bears with us in our fallenness and folly, we must study to love Him supremely.

A “feigned obedience” (Ps. 81:15, NASB) to God will not do. He requires, and we must be careful to give, obedience that grows from a heart of love, love which we may daily nurture as we contemplate God in His Being and recall His mighty works on our behalf. It is not hard to love God, nor to obey Him, if we take the time to know Him as He intends (John 17:3).

In this series of In the Gates we present a detailed explanation of the Law of God, beginning with the Ten Commandments, and working through the statutes and rules that accompany each commandment. For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the practice of ethics, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.MyParuchia.com and click on our Book Store.

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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.