The Ten Commandments Part 2

Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Deu 5:7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

Since there are some minor variations between the two chapters which give the Decalogue, I thought it would be good to give the text of both for a fuller elucidation of its meaning.

The First Commandment is also the most important, since as we see in Romans 1:21-32, that God gives those who fail in this commandment over to break other of the commandments as a punishing of sin with sin.

This commandment shows the jealousy of God. Jealousy differs from envy. Envy desires what another has, and is linked to unthankfulness and covetousness. God is never envious for He owns everything, but He is jealous. Jealousy is properly the desire to be number 1 in position and in the hearts of the people. In man it is a sin, but in God who is alone worthy to be number one it is His right. As a husband and wife have the right to expect that in each other’s affections as far as humanity is concerned they come first, so God has the right to expect that He comes first and only in the class of God, especially since He is in a class by His own.

This commandment is broken when we cherish anything above God in our hearts. Jesus enlarged on this commandment in Matthew 10:37-38, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.” When man lowers God in his estimation, God lowers the man in His. Those who do not see the worth of our Lord and become willing to forsake all for Him, have actually shown their own lack of worth. Some people speak of relationships as 50/50 propositions, but actually they are 100/100. The Christian relationship with God only works when we give our hundred percent to it, God already gave His hundred percent. We love Him because He first loved us.

This commandment is broken even by those who claim to believe in no God. They actually believe in three, matter, time and chance. These three inferior deities are claimed to have worked in conjunction to bring into being everything we see. Their reliance is on these deities to continue moving everything towards a better form of life, and their lives are controlled by these forces. This religion even has its own eschatology, whereby eventually all the stars will burn out and all life will cease. This is at least partially true for its adherents who will taste the second death and for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

This is all in contrast to the self-revelation of God, Who created the universe from nothing, with no external aid. Currently He upholds all things by the Word of His power, and is moving His creatures (the sons of God) towards a better form of existence, which will be manifested fully in the new heavens and new earth.

Whenever we take any attributes that belong to God alone and ascribe them to any created thing, we make a god of it and are in violation of the first commandment. We also violate this law when we place an inordinate confidence in any created thing as opposed to God. For example if we begin to place our trust in salvation more in our church than in Christ Himself, or when we rely exclusively on doctors when ill, to the detriment of faith in God. Our faith should always be in God, He can heal using doctors or He can heal directly without healing agency, but unless He purposes it, no healing can take place. We are also guilty of violating this commandment when we trust in our own resources, strength, wisdom, etc. and forget that all these are merely gifts of God of which we are stewards. This is one test which all mankind will face, we have all been given differing talents and abilities, and we will be tested on whether we used what was given us for God’s glory or for self-aggrandizement as Lucifer did. Let God be God in your life!