The First Commandment – No Other Gods

The First Commandment

No other gods

1.1 Be holy to the Lord

The precepts and statutes in this section are designed to teach and reinforce devotion to the Lord. God’s people are called to discipline their hearts to love and fear Him, their consciences to prefer and choose Him, and all their practices to serve Him. Thus would they be a people holy to the Lord, separated unto Him for the praise of the glory of His grace.

Deuteronomy 10:12-22

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.”

Matthew 10:28; Luke 1:6; Romans 7:12; 1 John 2:1-6

What the Lord Requires

Deuteronomy 10:12-22

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?”

How can God require anything of men? There are three reasons.

First, He made all men, and He sustains them by His steadfast love and faithfulness. The all-powerful and all-wise God knows what conduces to mankind’s wellbeing, having conceived, created, and cared for us from the beginning. There is a way that seems right to men, but unless that way comports with what God requires, it must always disappoint (Prov. 14:12).

Second, He is Lord. He is holy, pure, righteous, good, true, and eternal. Whatever He does is right and true. The earth and everything in it is His (Ps. 24:1). He is able by virtue of Who He is to require of every creature whatever He ordains or determines, and His sensate creatures, at least, should realize that He only intends His commandments for their good (Lev. 18:1-5).

Third, He is our Redeemer, Who has graciously given His own Son for our salvation, and Who would, with Him, also freely give us all things (Rom. 8:28-32). He Who has done so much for us can in no way intend evil for us; thus, when our Redeemer informs us what He requires of us, we, out of gratitude, must listen, heed, and obey.

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.

–

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.