No Other. None. Period. The First Commandment

No Other. None. Period.

The First Commandment

Exodus, 20.2, 3; Deuteronomy 5.6, 7

“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.”

Praise the intolerant God!

What would we think of a parent who allowed anybody and everybody to have a hand in raising his children? How would such a situation affect the children? Surely it would create confusion, uncertainty, and fear, for they’d never know from one situation to the next whom to obey, what to do, or what the consequences may be for any of their actions. We don’t condemn as “intolerant” those parents who insist on being the only parents their children must obey. Frankly, because of Who He is, we should be really glad that God doesn’t allow others to meddle in our upbringing, as it were. So just like a parent says to his children, “Listen to my voice and obey,” God says to us, “I’m Your God; I made You; I know you better than you know yourself; I brought you into this life, and I set you free from death. Listen to me.” The first commandment is eminently reasonable when we look at it from this perspective. God alone is to be God in our lives. No other gods need apply, and we must not go looking for them, whatever the form of them we may envision.

Talk with some Christian friends about the reasonableness of the first commandment. Do they agree? What different does it make in their lives?

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is 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.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.