For Your Bible Lesson For The Day
What Does The First Commandment Forbid?
The First Commandment:
You Shall Have No Other Gods Besides Me Ex.20:3
It was taught in the previous brief Bible study that the First Commandment means God wants our heart, a heart that worships him and clings to him at all times above all else. This being true, what does the First Commandment forbid?
Isaiah 45;21 says, “There is no other God besides me, a righteous God and Savior. There is none besides me.” God is the only God in heaven and on earth.
Wanting our heart to belong only to him and to give him the honor, glory, and praise that is rightfully his, he says in Isaiah 42:8, “I am the Lord, that is my name; and I will not give my glory to another, or my praise to graven images.” God’s name is the Lord, as is every name he has used for himself in the Bible, such as Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Savior, Redeemer, Counselor, almighty God, and others. The God of the Bible is not known and worshipped by names like Allah, Buddha, Brahman, or the names of other idols. The notion that all people worship the same God only by different names is false. So with the First Commandment God forbids us to worship, honor, love, trust, or call on any god but himself. To do so would be what has been called the sin of open idolatry.
John 5:23 states, “ . . . that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” God cannot be worshipped unless his Son, Jesus Christ, is also worshipped, for the true God is the Father and the Son as well as the Holy Spirit. The worship and recognition of any god that omits, denies, or rejects Jesus Christ as God’s Son is also open idolatry. It is against the First Commandment for Christians who confess faith in Jesus Christ to be affiliated with organizations that acknowledge and worship a god but refuse to call upon Jesus as the Son of God. Such a denial and rejection of Jesus Christ is also a sin of open idolatry.
Ephesians 5:5 declares, “ . . . no fornicator or morally impure person or greedy person, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” A greedy person is an idolater. Greed, then, is idolatry. It is against the First Commandment to honor, love, or trust in anything or anyone more than God himself, whether it be money, material things, status, recognition, pleasure, family, friends, recreation, sleep, or whatever might be named. Such honor, love, and trust have been called secret idolatry, for no one may know of the person’s sin of idolatry and the person himself may not even be aware of it.
So what does the First Commandment forbid? It forbids open and secret idolatry.
You Shall Have No Other Gods Besides Me Ex.20:3
It was taught in the previous brief Bible study that the First Commandment means God wants our heart, a heart that worships him and clings to him at all times above all else. This being true, what does the First Commandment forbid?
Isaiah 45;21 says, “There is no other God besides me, a righteous God and Savior. There is none besides me.” God is the only God in heaven and on earth.
Wanting our heart to belong only to him and to give him the honor, glory, and praise that is rightfully his, he says in Isaiah 42:8, “I am the Lord, that is my name; and I will not give my glory to another, or my praise to graven images.” God’s name is the Lord, as is every name he has used for himself in the Bible, such as Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Savior, Redeemer, Counselor, almighty God, and others. The God of the Bible is not known and worshipped by names like Allah, Buddha, Brahman, or the names of other idols. The notion that all people worship the same God only by different names is false. So with the First Commandment God forbids us to worship, honor, love, trust, or call on any god but himself. To do so would be what has been called the sin of open idolatry.
John 5:23 states, “ . . . that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” God cannot be worshipped unless his Son, Jesus Christ, is also worshipped, for the true God is the Father and the Son as well as the Holy Spirit. The worship and recognition of any god that omits, denies, or rejects Jesus Christ as God’s Son is also open idolatry. It is against the First Commandment for Christians who confess faith in Jesus Christ to be affiliated with organizations that acknowledge and worship a god but refuse to call upon Jesus as the Son of God. Such a denial and rejection of Jesus Christ is also a sin of open idolatry.
Ephesians 5:5 declares, “ . . . no fornicator or morally impure person or greedy person, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” A greedy person is an idolater. Greed, then, is idolatry. It is against the First Commandment to honor, love, or trust in anything or anyone more than God himself, whether it be money, material things, status, recognition, pleasure, family, friends, recreation, sleep, or whatever might be named. Such honor, love, and trust have been called secret idolatry, for no one may know of the person’s sin of idolatry and the person himself may not even be aware of it.
So what does the First Commandment forbid? It forbids open and secret idolatry.