Q45. Which is the first commandment?
A. The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Q1. What is the first duty enjoined in the first commandment?
A. It is to know and acknowledge the existence or being of God, and consequently condemns all atheism, both in judgment and practice; Hebrews 11:6. For he who comes to God, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Psalm 14:1. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.
Q2. What is the second duty of the first commandment?
A. It requires all men to know and acknowledge the unity of God; Deuteronomy 6:4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And condemns polytheism, or plurality of gods; 1 Corinthians 8:5, 6. For though there be that are called gods, whether in Heaven or in earth (as there be gods many, and lords many;) but to us there is but one God.
Q3. Whence sprang the opinion of more gods than one at first in the world?
A. It sprang from ignorance of God's omnipresence and omnipotence. Hence came their vain imaginations; Romans 1:21. Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. They thought the presence and power of God might reach one place, and not another; 1 Kings 20:23. And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills, therefore they were stronger than we: But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.
Q4. What were the first creatures worshiped as gods?
A. Probably the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, and stars, because of their splendor and influences. These as heralds, do proclaim God to the world; Psalm 19:1, 2. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handy work: Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge. And these messengers of God were mistaken for God himself; Job 31:26, 27, 28. If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart has been secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed my hand; this also were an iniquity, for I should have denied the God that is above.
Q5. What does these words [before me] import?
A. It notes God's perfect knowledge and abhorrence of all idolatry, or worshiping of another God, as what he cannot endure to behold; Jeremiah 44:3, 4. Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense to serve other gods whom they knew not, neither they, you, nor your fathers. Howbeit, I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early, and sending them, saying, Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate.
Q6. Are none guilty of this sin but heathenish idolaters?
A. Yes; all that place their supreme love or trust in any creature, make that creature their God; and in scripture are called idolaters, Colossians 3:5. And covetousness, which is idolatry. Philippians 3:19. Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
Q7. How does the idolatry forbidden in the first, differ from that forbidden in the second commandment.
A. The idolatry forbidden in the first commandment is a sin respecting the object of worship, when we set up anything in the place of God, which by nature is not God; Galatians 4:8. Howbeit, then when you knew not God, you did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But that against the second commandment is, when we pretend to worship the true God, but do it by such means, and in such a manner as he has not required, or has forbidden; Exodus 32:4. And he received them at their hands, and fashioned it with a graven tool, after he had made it a molten calf; and they said, These be your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Q8. What is the first inference from the first commandment?
A. That it is a special mercy to be brought forth in a land where the true God is known and worshiped; Psalm 147:20. He has not dealt so with any nation; and as for his judgments, they have not known them; praise you the Lord.
Q9. What is the second inference from the first commandment?
A. That it is a great and dreadful sin to live without the worship of God in the world; Ephesians 2:12. That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.
Q10. What is the third inference from the first commandment?
A. That Christians must not comply with idolatrous and superstitious worship, when they are cast into idolatrous places, however great the danger be; Psalm 16:4. Their sorrows shall be multiplied, that hasten after another God; their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their name into my lips.
Q11. What is the fourth inference from hence?
A. That supreme love, fear, and trust of the soul, is God's peculiar right and due. Whoever places them on any other besides God, is guilty of a very heinous and great sin against him; 1 John 2:15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world: If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Compared with Job 31:24-28. If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, you are my confidence; this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge; for I should have denied the God that is above.
Q12. What is the fifth inference from hence?
A. That God's eye discovers the closest idolatry in the world, whether it be in secret actions; Ezek 8:12. Have you seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark? Every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, the Lord sees us not, the Lord has forsaken the earth. Or inward affections; Colossians 3:5. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, impurity, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Q13. What is the sixth inference from hence?
A. That an high and full condition in the world, is a dangerous condition, and lies most exposed to the danger of heart-idolatry; Proverbs 30:9. Lest I be full, and deny you, and say, who is the Lord? Mark 10:24. How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of Heaven?
Q14. What is the last inference?
A. That in covenanting with God, and avouching him for our God, we must wholly renounce all others, and take God alone for our portion, and object of our love and dependence; Hosea 3:3. You shall not be for another man; so will I also be for you. Luke 14:33. So likewise, whoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple. Of the second Commandment
Q1. Is it an essential duty of religion to worship God?
A. Yes: For those have no hope that are without God in the world Eph. 2:12.
Q2. Are we concerned to be right in the object of our worship?
A. Yes: We must know what we worship, John 4:22.
Q3. Does the first commandment direct us in this?
A. Yes: For the first of all the commandments is this, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, Mark 12:29.
Q4. Does God lay a stress upon our having him for our God?
A. Yes: Hear, O my people, and I will speak; I am God, even thy God, Ps. 50:7.
Q5. And upon our having him only?
A. Yes: Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee; there shall no strange god be in thee, neither shall thou worship any strange god, Ps. 81:8, 9.
Q6. Did Israel need this commandment?
A. Yes: For their fathers served other gods, Josh. 24:2.
Q7. And were they tempted to serve other gods?
A. Yes: The gods of the people that were round about them, Deut. 13:7.
Log in to save personal notes on this question.
The Ten Commandments
The moral law and what God requires of man
Q39. What is the duty which God requireth of man?
A. The duty which God requireth of man, is obedience to his revealed will.
Q40. What did God at first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?
A. The rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience, was the moral law.
Q41. Wherein is the moral law summarily comprehended?
A. The moral law is summarily comprehended in the ten commandments.
Q42. What is the sum of the ten commandments?
A. The sum of the ten commandments is, To love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbour as ourselves.
Q43. What is the preface to the ten commandments?
A. The preface to the ten commandments is in these words, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Q44. What doth the preface to the ten commandments teach us?
A. The preface to the ten commandments teacheth us, That because God is the Lord, and our God, and Redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments.
Q45. Which is the first commandment?
A. The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Q46. 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.
Q47. 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.
Q48. What are we specially taught by these words, 'before me', in the first commandment?
A. These words, before me, in the first commandment teach us, that God, who seeth all things, taketh notice of, and is much displeased with, the sin of having any other God.
Q49. Which is the second commandment?
A. The second commandment is, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thy self to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Q50. What is required in the second commandment?
A. The second commandment requireth the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath appointed in his Word.
Q51. What is forbidden in the second commandment?
A. The second commandment forbiddeth the worshipping of God by images, or any other way not appointed in his Word.
Q52. What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment?
A. The reasons annexed to the second commandment are, God's sovereignty over us, his propriety in us, and the zeal he hath to his own worship.
Q53. Which is the third commandment?
A. The third commandment is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Q54. What is required in the third commandment?
A. The third commandment requireth the holy and reverend use of God's names, titles, attributes, ordinances, Word, and works.
Q55. What is forbidden in the third commandment?
A. The third commandment forbiddeth all profaning or abusing of anything whereby God maketh himself known.
Q56. What is the reason annexed to the third commandment?
A. The reason annexed to the third commandment is, that however the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment.
Q57. Which is the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment is, Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Q58. What is required in the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment requireth the keeping holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his Word; expressly one whole day in seven, to be a holy sabbath to himself.
Q59. Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly sabbath?
A. From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian sabbath.
Q60. How is the sabbath to be sanctified?
A. The sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God's worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.
Q61. What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission or careless performance of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about our worldly employments or recreations.
Q62. What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment?
A. The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment are, God's allowing us six days of the week for our own employments, his challenging a special propriety in the seventh, his own example, and his blessing the sabbath day.
Q63. Which is the fifth commandment?
A. The fifth commandment is, Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Q64. What is required in the fifth commandment?
A. The fifth commandment requireth the preserving the honor, and performing the duties, belonging to everyone in their several places and relations, as superiors, inferiors, or equals.
Q65. What is forbidden in the fifth commandment?
A. The fifth commandment forbiddeth the neglecting of, or doing anything against, the honor and duty which belongeth to everyone in their several places and relations.
Q66. What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment?
A. The reason annexed to the fifth commandment is, a promise of long life and prosperity (as far as it shall serve for God's glory and their own good) to all such as keep this commandment.
Q67. Which is the sixth commandment?
A. The sixth commandment is, Thou shalt not kill.
Q68. What is required in the sixth commandment?
A. The sixth commandment requireth all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life, and the life of others.
Q69. What is forbidden in the sixth commandment?
A. The sixth commandment forbiddeth the taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbour, unjustly, or whatsoever tendeth thereunto.
Q70. Which is the seventh commandment?
A. The seventh commandment is, Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Q71. What is required in the seventh commandment?
A. The seventh commandment requireth the preservation of our own and our neighbour's chastity, in heart, speech, and behavior.
Q72. What is forbidden in the seventh commandment?
A. The seventh commandment forbiddeth all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.
Q73. Which is the eighth commandment?
A. The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal.
Q74. What is required in the eighth commandment?
A. The eighth commandment requireth the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others.
Q75. What is forbidden in the eighth commandment?
A. The eighth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever doth, or may, unjustly hinder our own, or our neighbour's, wealth or outward estate.
Q76. Which is the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Q77. What is required in the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment requireth the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbour's good name, especially in witness bearing.
Q78. What is forbidden in the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own, or our neighbour's, good name.
Q79. Which is the tenth commandment?
A. The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's.
Q80. What is required in the tenth commandment?
A. The tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbour, and all that is his.
Q81. What is forbidden in the tenth commandment?
A. The tenth commandment forbiddeth all discontentment with our own estate, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbour, and all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his.
Q82. Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?
A. No mere man, since the fall, is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed.
Q83. Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?
A. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.
Q84. What doth every sin deserve?
A. Every sin deserveth God's wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come.