The First Commandment.

From The Voice in the Wilderness,
Vol. 5, No. 117; November 1, 1850. 

This commandment lays the foundation of all true obedience; for it sets forth the claims of God, and there can be no true obedience if there be not a recognition of those claims. Thus it stands properly at the beginning of the decalogue; and we should regard the duty which it prescribes as our first and most essential duty, We are apt to attach importance to duties in proportion as they are outwardly palpable and imposing; but, while outward duties should not be neglected or their importance underrated, it is inward duties - the frame and exercises of the heart - that rank first in importance. It is of primary necessity that the heart be right, and, particularly, that it be properly affected towards God. So much is this the case, that love - an inward affection cherished in the heart - is represented as the fulfilling of the law. If the heart be not right there can be no true obedience in the life, for true obedience is but the practical embodiment and expression of love.

This commandment, as you will perceive, is in the form of a prohibition - "thou shalt have no other gods before me." In explaining and applying it, therefore, the rule is to be observed, that prohibitions presuppose and imply the corresponding requirements or positive commands. Accordingly, when the Lord says "thou shalt have no other gods before me," this prohibition implies that he requires of us that we have him as our God. The object is not to withhold us from idolatry merely, but to raise and restrict us to the acknowledgement and worship of the true God. The commandment is thus directed against atheism as well as against idolatry.

It is required of us, then, as our first duty, that we have the true God, as our God. That we may have him as our God, in accordance with the full import of this requirement, we must receive him as such in the manner proper to our nature in its whole extent - as intelligent and as active. We receive him in the manner proper to our nature as intelligent, when we know him and assent to the truths respecting him. The knowledge of God is clearly necessary at the outset, and as a basis for the further reception of him. It is by knowledge that our souls take the first cognisance of any object presented to them, and enter into communication with it.

The knowledge of God is, of course, opposed not only to ignorance, but also to erroneous and defective views. Indeed such views are but a form of ignorance; and it is the more necessary that we be on our guard against them as they are very prevalent, and as, from various causes, there is a strong tendency towards them in the human mind. Our views of God must be those which he himself communicates to us in his word. We may not distort or modify them, to render them more conformable to our previous notions or in any way less offensive.

It is the more necessary that we be at pains to attain to those views, as they are not presented to us, and could not be presented to us with the intended advantage, in a brief abstract statement. Such a statement would not be fitted to interest our affections, and to afford to us the requisite practical guidance. Accordingly it is very much in the light of history that God is revealed to us in the Bible - in the light of the history of creation, of redemption, and of various providential dealings. It is necessary therefore that we carefully trace this historical manifestation of the character of God, observing the influential bearing of his character upon man and his interests, and learning thus its bearing upon ourselves. We most not rest in such bare statements as that God is just and that he is merciful; we must learn and ponder how his justice and his mercy have been displayed, particularly in Christ's mediatorial work. The views at which we arrive will thus not only be more accurate, but also possess more practical power - they will be fitted to tell more upon the heart and the life.

Our knowledge of God must embrace his relations to us; it must exhibit him as our Sovereign, our Saviour, and our portion.

And knowing God, we must assent to the representations from which our knowledge of him is derived; we must adopt it as our belief, that he is God and that he alone is God.

Having thus received God as our God, in the manner proper to our nature as intelligent, we must further receive him in the manner proper to it as active. Here we must distinguish between internal and external activity - the former consisting particularly in the exercise of affections and the latter in our words and deeds. Now we receive God as God, in the manner proper to our nature as capable of inward activity, when we regard him with the affections with which such a being ought to be regarded - when our hearts are properly affected by the knowledge of him - when, as he is great and greatly to be feared, we fear him greatly; and, as he is worthy of supreme love, we love him supremely.

Here we must guard against making the benefits which he has bestowed, or which we suppose he has bestowed upon us, the sole or chief ground of our love, or the terribleness of his wrath the sole or chief ground of our fear. While we give to these their legitimate influence, our fear and our love must be mainly awakened by what he is in himself; otherwise, they will not properly have him for their object; but somewhat distinct from him and extraneous to him.

From the due reception of God by the heart, the due reception of him in the life, or in the manner proper to us capable of outward activity will necessarily follow, for out of the heart are the issues of life. We give him this reception when we sustain the character of his servants and worshippers - doing all things in obedience to his will and with a view to his glory, and intermingling with the ordinary business of life the exercises of worship as he directs us.

Such is the positive requirement of this commandment; let us now attend to its prohibition "thou shalt have no other Gods before me." It need scarcely be remarked that it is not against the more gross and other forms of idolatry merely that this prohibition is directed, but against idolatry under all its forms, not excepting the most disguised and hidden. We shall at present notice three different ways in which men have other gods than the true God.

1. They are guilty of this great sin, when, intending to have the God of the Bible as their God, and believing that he is their God, their views respecting him are so erroneous, that it is a totally different being that they represent to themselves - not the God of the Bible, but another god that exists only in their own imaginations. Thus the god whom many acknowledge does not hate sin. That they entertain this view respecting him is very evident, for, though they commit sin, not from infirmity or when surprised by temptation only, but allowedly, still they do not fear his displeasure - they expect his blessing. They will say that he hates sin; but of what force are those words in opposition to the distinct and uniform declaration of their practice, that they do not believe that he hates it.
   The God of many is not omnipresent or omniscient. They are often where he is not present - he is indeed never with them - and there is much in their character and conduct that is wholly hidden from him. This is their practical belief - the belief that is in actual operation with them; there is an opposite article in their creed, but it is a dead letter, and serves only to condemn them.
   The God of many does not administer a kingdom that ruleth over all. He leaves them to accomplish much for themselves, indeed, as regards the entire department of ordinary life, he leaves them thus to their own resources. And, as they are abandoned by him, they feel on their part at liberty to overlook him - to prosecute their plans and designs without any reference to him. Their notion seems to be, that in the meantime they are far off from him and he far off from them - that the journey of life will carry them over the intervening distance, and that it is only at the close of this journey that they shall find themselves in his presence. They do not, however, by any means very distinctly recognise, that they shall find themselves in his presence even then.
   Those who entertain such views evidently violate the prohibition before us - they have another god and not the God of the Bible.
2. Men violate the prohibition of the first commandment, when they practically exalt any object above God. The test here is man's solicitude and efforts. What are they anxious to secure? Is it the glory of God and an interest in his favour, or is it some worldly advantage or some carnal gratification? If it is the latter, then they exalt this advantage or gratification above God - they idolize it. Hence the scriptures testify that covetousness is idolatry, and they speak of some whose god is their belly and who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. And to what are men's efforts directed? Is it to the realizing of some temporal result, which they view exclusively in its bearing upon themselves? It is evident that, stopping short at such a result and resting in it, they do not rise to the recognition of the true God. The case is widely different when men enter into the design of the divine Government, and, seeking the great ends to which the administration of it is directed, seek temporal results in their relation and in subserviency to these, and as means of reaching them.
   It is the idolatry to which we have now referred, that the apostle John describes and condemns when he says, "if any man loves the world and the things that are in the world the love of the Father is not in him." It is against it that our Lord warns, when he declares that we cannot serve God and mammon, and when he teaches that the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things choke the word in many.
3. Those violate the prohibition before us, who, from the fear of man, or from regard for the opinion and customs of the world, contravene the will of God. Multitudes rather than offend man and forfeit his favour, offend God - and multitudes will far sooner turn aside from the path which God prescribes, than turn aside from the path which the world prescribes. As they cannot walk in both they walk in the latter. Some, indeed, endeavour to walk in both but the attempt is vain. Accordingly the apostle, in claiming his due for God - "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service," considered it necessary to call off from conformity to the world, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."

The concluding words of the commandment, "before me," point out an aggravation of the sin which it forbids, and present a strong reason for carefully avoiding that sin. If we commit this sin, we commit it under God's eye and in his very presence, and thus insult him to his face. He will not therefore pass it by - as it must be highly offensive to him, he will deal with it according to its great heinousness.

You learn from this commandment what forms the life and radical principle of true obedience - that whatsoever we do we do it in acknowledgement of the character and claims of God, or, in other words, from love to him. It is not at a few points only that we are to hold intercourse with God. He is in contact with our whole being, and we are to have reference to him and to hold intercourse with him in all things. We are to have him as our God and therefore to be wholly for him and to do all things to his glory.

In every case our first and, in a sense, our only inquiry should be, what do we owe to God - what is the service which we should render to him in this instance? When we have answered this question, we have ascertained what we ought to do, and no consideration whatever can discharge us from the obligation to do it. It is only with the view of discovering what we owe to God that we may institute other inquiries; when we have discovered it, inquiry must terminate. Further inquiry would indicate a desire to evade and not to perform our duty. For whatever our own claims or the claims of those around us may appear to be, they can in no way invalidate the claims of God. His claims are paramount. Besides, taking a large and comprehensive view, when we duly acknowledge and respect the claims of God, we satisfy all other claims.

But may the claims of God be ascertained? If they could not, he would not require that we should acknowledge them. He has given his law to us for the very purpose of setting forth his claims; has he not, then, succeeded in setting them forth intelligibly? If his claims be just any thing that our views may make them, of what use then is the law? If we set up our own views for a rule, we not only abolish the law, but we dethrone God; for how can God be a king, if we are left to walk every man in his own way? "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man," but that does not make it right, and therefore it is added, "the end thereof are the ways of death." - Prov. xiv. 12.

Every act we perform is service to some god, and the spirit which animates us is, under every character which it assumes, an acknowledgement of some god. Hence, when we act without any reference to the true God or to his claims, we render service to another god and are guilty of idolatry. We not only withhold from the true God the service that is due to him, but we render that service to an idol. Such being the case to how grievous an extent are most men guilty of idolatry. They form plans and devote themselves to the execution of them, they propose objects to themselves and prosecute the operations by which they hope to accomplish them, without the least reference to the true God, or the least acknowledgement of him, either as having authority over them, or as entitled to service at their hands, or as alone able to prosper them in their undertakings, or as himself the only source of true happiness. The claims of God being thus overlooked and practically rejected, the object which is supreme in their regard is put in his place, and receives from them the service which they should render to him. Or, rather, whatever the object may be which they thus exalt, whether pleasure, or possession, or power, or honour; self is still their idol. Whatever they pursue, they pursue it in obedience to self and for the gratification of self. The character which they sustain throughout is that of "lovers of their own selves." In multitudes of cases the service which men seem to render to the Lord is rendered to self; for they render it not in acknowledgement of his claims or from love to him, but with a view wholly to their own advantage. Thus, even here, where it might be supposed it would not enter, the idolatry of self prevails. It intrudes into the very temple and mingles itself with the very worship of God.

Consider the guilt of withholding from God the service to which he is entitled and transferring it to an idol. When men do not serve God, they practically deny that he is entitled to service - in other words, they deny that he is God, for he is not God if he is not entitled to the service which he claims. And then, before his face, they render this service to another, and thus declare that that other is entitled to it though he is not. All this may be done in the spirit of actions which are outwardly praiseworthy and altogether such as they ought to be; and the sinfulness of it may thus be concealed from the eye of man. But God sees it, and sees that it is fearfully great. Multitudes are satisfied with themselves, because their lives are free from marked and prominent transgression; but this is the great and radical transgression - that men reject the claims of the true God; and have other gods before him. Inquire whether you are guilty of this transgression. You have been guilty of it, and, if it does not now characterize the whole conduct of some of you, even then you are still guilty of it to a great extent; consider then how grievous a transgression it is, how dishonouring it is and how offensive it must be to God, and what daring rebellion on your part it involves.