The First Commandment – No Other Gods

The First Commandment

No other gods

Leviticus 18:1-5

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.”

The people of Israel were not to take their ethical cues from the surrounding nations, whether Egypt, where they had lived, or Canaan, to which they were going. God’s rules and statutes were to be their guide in all things; His Word was sufficient to equip them for every good work (2 Tim. 3:15-17).

So it is today as well. We are not to be conformed to this world (Rom. 12:1, 2) but are to lay aside all the ways of the flesh and follow in the way that Jesus walked, the way of God’s Word and Law (Eph. 4:17-24; 1 John 2:1-6). The promise for obedience is life. We have the oath of the Lord that, if we obey Him, we will know full and abundant life as He intends.

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.