Words of Truth

Ten Commandments:The First Commandment

"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. Thou shall have no other gods before Me" (Exod. 20:1-3).

The one true God is unique and incomparable. The heathen nations each had a multitude of gods, and as we may recall from the Greek and Roman mythology we had to learn in school, these gods and goddesses were always squabbling with one another (just like the people who created them). In contrast, Scripture declares that "The Lord our God is one Lord" (Deut. 6:4), and while our God has manifested Himself to us in three Persons_Father, Son, and Holy Spirit_these three are in perfect unity and harmony in all their ways, motives, desires, purposes, and actions. Note that the word "one" in Deut. 6:4 is the same in the Hebrew as in Gen. 2:24:"A man shall . . . cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh." The word for "one" refers to a composite unity or "many which make one," and thus prepares us for the later revelation of the Trinity. (See Words of Truth, Volume 26, pages 14,15 for further details on this topic.)

The gods of the nations were created by the people (Psa. 115:4) to serve their own interests and purposes. In contrast, the one true God is Himself the creator of all mankind as well as the entire universe. When the citizens of Lystra began worshipping the apostle Paul as if he were the god Mercury, and Barnabas as if he were Jupiter, Paul cried out to them, "Why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein" (Acts 14:15).

The gods of the nations are impotent, lacking the ability to communicate with the people or to help them. "They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; they have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not; they have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither speak they through their throat" (Psa. 115:5-7). In contrast, note again how the Lord introduces the first commandment:"I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (Exod. 20:2). Repeatedly in the Scriptures we find God communicating His will to His servants, and delivering His people from their enemies in miraculous ways. With such a merciful and powerful God available to us, why should anyone want to create their own gods?

Today we do not find so much evidence of people worshipping a multiplicity of gods, at least among the types of people we are likely to encounter at work, at school, in the neighborhood, or on the streets. However, a problem frequently encountered, even among many well-meaning so-called Christians, is the belief that the sincere Moslems, Buddhists, Hindus, and Jews worship the same God as do Christians, and that there are many roads leading to the same God. As mentioned above, God has revealed Himself to us in three coequal Persons_Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19; Luke 3:22; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 5:18-20; Tit. 3:4-6; 1 Pet. 1:2). God the Son lovingly, graciously humbled Himself to come down from heaven to be born a man-child of Mary, a virgin, in order that He might offer Himself as a sacrificial substitute for the sins of mankind and thus become a Saviour for sinners. Is this triune God the same that the Jews, Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, and others believe in? In those religions, Jesus may be considered a great moral teacher and a good man, but in none is He acknowledged as sharing deity with Almighty God the Father.

The adherents of the Islam religion accept Jesus as a prophet like Mohammed, but deny the deity, sacrificial death, and resurrection of Christ. The God of the Jews likewise is not the same as the Christian’s God for the Jews crucified the Son of God, charging Him with blasphemy because He made Himself God (John 10:33). The Buddhists, contrary to popular belief, do not really have a god. Buddha never claimed deity for himself and questioned whether God even existed. In Buddhism, the ultimate goal is nirvana, or the extinction of desire, or essentially, total nothingness. Each person is taught to strive for this goal in his own way and by his own efforts. The Hindus believe that God and the universe are identical, and the ultimate goal is for man to be reunited with this "God," much like the return of a drop of water to the ocean.

"Enlightened," liberal, world-minded Christians may insist that there are many paths to one God, and that the paths of the Jews, Moslems, Hindus, etc. are as equally valid as the path of the Christians. But Jesus claimed, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6). Those who insist that there are many ways to God must therefore reject Christianity because of its strong claims that there is only one way, and that way is through Christ Jesus alone.


"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Are there any ways in which a true believer in Christ, a child of God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, can transgress this first commandment? Listen to the Lord speak in Luke 16:13:"No servant can serve two masters:for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Are we not often tempted_and do we not often yield to the temptation_to place our material wealth (or "mammon"), our possessions, our fame or reputation, our social position ahead of God? How many of us have accepted jobs with greater prestige, higher salary, and increased responsibility and authority at the cost of having to be away from the family and from the assembly a greater amount of time, not having time for daily prayer and Bible reading, and not haying time to participate in assembly responsibilities and activities? This, surely, is putting other gods before our heavenly God and Father. Other examples of material gods may include addiction to television, some all-consuming do-it-yourself project, dedication to training for and participation in athletic contests, and the like. Also, let us seek to avoid building up other human beings into idols, as is often done with movie stars, professional athletes, popular music performers, and even gifted men of God.



Believers in Christ must also beware of failing to keep the first commandment by having wrong notions concerning God. It behooves every child of God to study diligently the Word of God to learn more thoroughly and accurately about the true nature and attributes of God. As we study God’s Word, we should always be asking ourselves and the indwelling Spirit what we can learn about God from the passage before us. We want to have a true and balanced picture and concept of God. He is not just a God of love, nor is He just a God of holiness and righteousness. These attributes are mingled together in Him in a most marvelous, balanced way. Also, as we learn more of God we will discover that He is not the God of a particular social, cultural, educational, or racial class of people. He is certainly not, as some perhaps would like to think, a God especially of the middle class, white, Protestant, high school or college graduates. Jesus was widely known as "a friend of publicans and sinners" (Luke 7:34; see also Matt. 9:10,11) and a champion of the poor (Mark 12:42,43; Luke 4:18; 6:20; 7:22). Also, the apostle Paul teaches that in Christ "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free:but Christ is all, and in all" (Col. 3:11; see also 1 Cor. 1:27-29). And Peter adds that "God is no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34).

So may we who are true believers in Christ and children of God be diligent (1) to defend the one true God and His coequal Son Jesus Christ before those who would equate all of the world’s religions; (2) to seek to have a Scripturally correct and balanced understanding of who God is, what He is like, what pleases and displeases Him, etc.; and (3) to seek God’s help continually to keep from putting any material gods ahead of Himself.

It may be appropriate to conclude our study of the first commandment with the apostle John’s closing admonition of his First Epistle:"We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen."

FRAGMENT Like vines, our poor hearts send out tendrils in all directions, winding themselves around this and that object. Then it is that the Father permits trials to come in to snap these ties to objects other than Christ. By the discovery of Himself and His love to us in these chastenings He seeks to wean us from everything that might hinder our progress, and to attract us more fully to Himself.

E. Dennett