The First Commandment

Arthur W. Pink

“And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” —Exodus 20:1-2

This Preface to the Moral Law is to be regarded as having equal respect to all the Ten Commandments, (and not to the first one only) containing as it does the most weighty arguments to enforce our obedience to them. As it is the custom of kings and governors to prefix their names and titles before the edicts set forth by them, to obtain more attention and veneration to what they publish, so with the great God, the King of kings, being about to proclaim a Law for His subjects—that He might affect them with a deeper reverence for His authority and make them the more afraid to transgress those statutes which are enacted by so mighty a Potentate and so glorious a Majesty, blazons His august Name upon them.

What has just been pointed out above is clearly established by those awe-inspiring words of Moses to Israel: “That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD” (Deu 28:58). “I am the LORD thy God.” The word for “LORD” is “Jehovah,” who is the Supreme, Eternal and Self-existent One, the force of which is (as it were) spelled out for us in “which was, and is, and is to come” (Rev 4:8). The word for “God” is “Elohim,” the plural of Eloah, for though He be one in nature, yet is He three in His Persons. And this Jehovah, the Supreme Object of worship, is “thy GOD,” because in the past He was your Creator, in the present He is your Ruler, and in the future He will be your Judge. In addition, He is the “God” of His elect by covenant relationship and therefore their Redeemer. Thus, our obedience to His Law is enforced by these considerations: His absolute authority to beget fear in us—He is “the Lord thy God,” and His benefits and mercies to engage love—“which brought thee out of the [antitypical] house of bondage.”

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exo 20:3) is the First Commandment. Let us briefly consider its meaning. We note its singular number: “thou” not “ye,” addressed to each person separately, because each of us is concerned therein. “Thou shalt have no other gods” has the force of, you shall own, possess, seek, desire, love or worship none other. “No other gods”; they are called such not because they are so either by nature or by office (Psa 82:6), but because the corrupt hearts of men make and esteem them such—as in “whose God is their belly” (Phil 3:19). “Before me,” or “my face,” the force of which is best ascertained by His word to Abraham, “Walk before me and be thou perfect” or “upright” (Gen 17:1) conduct yourself in the realization that you are ever in My presence, that Mine eye is continually upon you. This is very searching. We are so apt to rest contented if we can but approve ourselves before men and maintain a fair show of godliness outwardly; but Jehovah searches our innermost being and we cannot conceal from Him any secret lust or hidden idol.

Let us next consider the positive duty enjoined by this First Commandment. Briefly stated, it is this: you shall choose, worship and serve Jehovah as your God, and Him only. Being who He is—your Maker and Ruler, the Sum of all excellence, the supreme Object of worship—He admits of no rival and none can vie with Him. See then the absolute reasonableness of this demand and the madness of contravening it. This Commandment requires from us a disposition and conduct suited to the relation in which we stand to the Lord as our God, as the only adequate Object of our love and the only One able to satisfy the soul. It requires that we have a love for Him stronger than all other affections, that we take Him for our highest portion, that we serve and obey Him supremely. It requires that all those services and acts of worship which we render unto the true God be made with the utmost sincerity and devotion (implied in the “before me”) excluding negligence on the one hand and hypocrisy on the other.

In pointing out the duties required by this Commandment we can not do better than quote the Westminster Confession of Faith. They are “the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God, and our God (1Ch 28:9; Deu 26:17, etc.); and to worship and glorify Him accordingly (Psa 95:6-7; Mat 4:10, etc.); by thinking (Mal 3:16), meditating, (Psa 63:6), remembering (Ecc 12:1), highly esteeming (Psa 71:19), honouring (Mal 1:6), adoring (Isa 45:23), choosing (Jos 24:15), loving (Deu 6:5), desiring (Psa 73:25), fearing of Him (Isa 8:13), believing Him (Exo 14:31), trusting (Isa 26:4), hoping (Psa 103:7), delighting (Psa 37:4), rejoicing in Him (Psa 32:11), being zealous for Him (Rom 12:11), calling upon Him, giving all praise and thanks (Phil 4:6), and yielding all obedience and submission to Him with the whole man (Jer 7:23), being careful in all things to please Him (1Jo 3:22), and sorrowful when in anything He is offended (Jer 31:18; Psa 119:136), and walking humbly with Him (Mic 6:8).”

Those duties may be summarized in these chief ones. First, the diligent and lifelong seeking after a fuller knowledge of God as He is revealed in His Word and works, for we cannot worship an unknown God. Second, the loving of God with all our facilities and strength which consists of an earnest panting after Him, and deep joy in Him, and a holy zeal for Him. Third, the fearing of God, which consists of an awe of His majesty, supreme reverence for His authority, and a desire for His glory—as the love of God is the motive-spring of obedience, so the fear of God is the great deterrent of disobedience. Fourth, the worshipping of God according to His appointments. The principal aids to which are: study of and meditation upon the Word, prayer, and putting into practice what we are taught.

“Thou shalt have no other Gods before me”: that is, you shall not give unto anyone or anything in Heaven or earth that inward heart affiance, loving veneration, and dependence upon, which is due only to the true God; you shall not transfer to another that which belongs alone unto Him. Nor must we attempt to divide them between God and another, for no man can serve two masters. The great sins forbidden by this Commandment are first, willful ignorance of God and His will through despising those means by which we may acquaint ourselves with Him. Second, atheism or the denial of God. Third, idolatry or the setting up of false and fictitious gods. Fourth, disobedience and self-will or the open defiance of God. Fifth, all inordinate and immoderate affections or the setting of our hearts and minds upon other objects.

They are idolaters and transgressors of this First Commandment who manufacture a God out of the figment of their own mind. Such are the Unitarians, who deny that there are three Persons in the Godhead. Such are Romanists, who supplicate the Saviour’s mother and affirm that the pope has power to forgive sins. Such are the vast majority of Arminians, who believe in a disappointed and defeated Deity. Such are sensual Epicureans (Phil 3:19), for there are inward idols as well as external—“these men have set up their idols in their hearts” (Eze 14:3). “Covetousness which is idolatry” (Col 3:5) and by parity of reason so are all immoderate desires. That object to which we render those desires and services which are due alone to the Lord is our “God,” whether it be self, gold, fame, pleasure or friends. What is your God? To what is your life devoted?