The Ten Commandments – Winter 2016 – Week 2
Holy Trinity Presbyterian Church
1. Thou shalt have no more Gods but me.
2. Before no idol bow thy knee.
3. Take not the name of God in vain.
4. Nor dare the sabbath day profane.
5. Give both thy parents honour due.
6. Take heed that thou no murder do.
7. Abstain from words and deeds unclean.
8. Nor steal, tho' thou art poor and mean.
9. Nor make a wilful lie, nor love it.
10. What is thy neighbour's dare not covet.1
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT
Exodus 20.3 and Deuteronomy 5.7: “You shall have no other gods before me.”
Why is this the first commandment?
Johannes Vos: “Our obligation to God is the source and basis of all other obligations. It is the primary and
fundamental obligation of our life.”2
Matthew 22.37-40
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the
great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two
commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
With all thy soul love God above.
And, as thyself thy neighbour love.3
Westminster Shorter Catechism
Q. 46. What is required in the first commandment?
A. The first commandment requireth us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God; and
to worship and glorify him accordingly.
Q. 47. What is forbidden in the first commandment?
A. The first commandment forbiddeth the denying, or not worshipping and glorifying the true God as God, and our
God; and the giving of that worship and glory to any other, which is due to him alone.
So the 1st commandment introduces the danger of idolatry. What is idolatry?
1 Isaac Watts,
DIVINE SONGS ATTEMPTED IN EASY LANGUAGE, FOR THE USE OF CHILDREN, WITH SOME ADDITIONAL COMPOSURES; 1715; accessed
online at http://www.english.uga.edu/nhilton/wblake/SONGS/hymns/watts.html#Ten
2 Johannes Vos, The Westminster Larger Catechism: a Commentary; ed.
260
3 Watts, ibid.
G. I. Williamson (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed, 2002),
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“…having or worshiping more gods than one, OR any with or instead of the true God” (Larger Catechism
105).
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“…having or inventing something in which one trusts in place of or alongside of the only true God, who
has revealed himself in his Word” (Heidelberg Catechism 95).
This is the ESSENCE of our fallen, sinful condition (Romans 1)! But are we able to identify it in our lives? Here
are some helpful diagnostic tools:
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What do I daydream about?
Am I preoccupied with money (getting it, keeping it, growing it)?
How do I respond to unanswered prayers and frustrated hopes?
What are my most uncontrollable emotions?
Here are some “idol categories” from Tim Keller’s book, Counterfeit Gods:
Theological idols—Doctrinal errors that produce such distorted views of God that we end
up worshipping a false god.
Sexual idols—Addictions such as pornography and fetishisms that promise but don’t
deliver a sense of intimacy and acceptance; ideals of physical beauty in yourself and/or your
partner; romantic idealism.
Magic/ritual idols—Witchcraft and the occult.
Racial/National idols—Racism, militarism, nationalism, or ethnic pride that turns bitter or
oppressive.
Cultural idols—Radical individualism, as in the West, that makes an idol out of individual
happiness at the expense of community; shame cultures that make an idol out of family and
clan at the expense of individual rights.
Deep idols—Motivational drives and temperaments made into absolutes: a. Power idolatry:
“Life only has meaning/I only have worth if—I have power and influence over others.” b.
Approval idolatry: “Life only has meaning/I only have worth if—I am loved and respected
by _______________.” c. Comfort idolatry: “Life only has meaning/I only have worth if—I
have this kind of pleasure experience, a particular quality of life.” d. Control idolatry: “Life
only has meaning/I only have worth if—I am able to get mastery over my life in the area of
_____________.”
And, as Larger Catechism 106 says, all idolatry is “a most impudent provocation” of the God who sees
us, the God “to whom we must give account” (Heb 4.13). This is the significance of the words
“before me” in the first commandment.
We live our lives “coram deo” – how could this be a potent weapon against idolatry of all kinds?
THE SECOND COMMANDMENT
Exodus 20.4-6; Deuteronomy 5.8-10; WLC 107-110; WSC 49-52
Idolatry consists not only in worshipping false gods, but also in worshipping the true God falsely. “If you stand with
your back to idols, then you must still learn to kneel properly before the God of Israel.”4
Why are we not free to worship God in whatever way is most appealing to us?
1. Exodus 32.1-6
2. 1 Kings 12.25-33
Why are images to have no place in our worship?
Acts 17.16, 22-31…
What is the heart issue that God is addressing in the 2nd commandment? Will we live by faith, or by sight?
The Bible calls Jesus “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1.15) and “the exact imprint of his nature”
(Hebrews 1.3). Why is this important to remember in our discussion of the 2nd commandment?
Heidelberg Catechism:
96. Q. What does God require in the second commandment?
A. We are not to make an image of God in any way, nor to worship Him in any other manner than He has
commanded in His Word.
97. Q. May we then not make any image at all?
A. God cannot and may not be visibly portrayed in any way. Creatures may be portrayed, but God forbids us to
make or have any images of them in order to worship them or to serve God through them.
98. Q. But may images not be tolerated in the churches as "books for the laity"?
A. No, for we should not be wiser than God. He wants His people to be taught not by means of dumb images but
by the living preaching of His Word.
4 Joachim Douma, The Ten Commandments: Manual for the Christian Life;
Reformed, 1996), 35.
tr. Nelson D. Kloosterman (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and