Question 53: What is forbidden in the first commandment?

Answer: The first commandment forbids us to deny or not to worship and glorify the true God as God and our God; and to give that worship and glory to any other, which is due unto him alone.

"You shall have no other gods before Me.”

Exodus 20:3 NKJV

Introduction

We will cover only one catechism this week, but I left the first commandment up for reference.

Day 1: Only a Fool Would Deny God

Joshua 24:27, Psalm 14:1

We will start with a passage that we looked at last week in Joshua. Recall that the Israelites have now defeated their enemies in the land of Canaan and are about to settle into their inheritance (Joshua 24:28). Joshua, their leader is about to die. He calls in all Israel as we saw last week to command them to make a definitive choice of whom they would serve (Joshua 24:14-15). This was to be an “either/or” choice not a “both/and” choice. Of course, the Israelites very firmly chose to serve the LORD as their exclusive God (Joshua 24:16-24). The implication from verse 23 is that not only were they in a land of foreign gods, with a remnant of pagan worshippers, but also the Israelites had adopted or at least had taken their idols as a spoil into their homes. These were to be “put away (cuwr).” This is given as an imperative and the stem of the word strengthens the meaning to “remove and abolish” these gods.

With this declaration made, Joshua establishes a covenant with the people of Israel in verse 25 that they would serve the LORD God in “sincerity and truth” and that they would “put away” the gods of their fathers (verse 14). The covenant made here is actually a confirmation of the original covenant that God made when Moses led Israel (Exodus 19:5-6). In verse 26, Joshua does two things to commemorate their proclamation. First, he records these events in the “Book of the Law.” He continues the record that Moses made with his own. This would serve the purpose of reminding the people assembled together of their commitment to God, as well as, be an historical record to their children and generations to come. Second, they set up a memorial with a large stone under an oak tree. This memorial would become a sacred reminder of this day. Note that this tree was by the sanctuary that most likely is a reference to the Ark of the Covenant that would have also contained the Book of the Law.

Further, in verse 27 Joshua addresses the people telling them that this stone would be a witness (`edah = witness or testimony). This was similar to the covenant that Jacob and Laban made in Genesis 31:47 with a heap of stones. This obviously was a customary way to set up a covenant between two parties. Perhaps even Joshua recorded this event at Shechem on this stone as well as in the Book of the Law. Everyone present and others to come who would see the stones would know that a covenant was made between Joshua and the people and ultimately with the LORD God and the people. Curiously, also, Joshua says that this stone has heard all these words. This was a common figure of speech that in this case shows that if these rocks have heard then certainly God has heard and will remember this covenant (reference Zechariah 3:8-9 for another use of rocks as animate objects). At the end of verse 27, Joshua again repeats the fact that this stone would be a witness, but attaches it to denying (kachash = to deny falsely) their God. In this context, the stone would stand as a reminder of judgement to the Israelites, if they denied God as their LORD and thus breaking the covenant. The implication is that anyone who would break the covenant would be as senseless as this stone. In Luke 19:40, Jesus makes a similar reference to the Pharisees who call on Him to rebuke His disciples for worshipping Him as Messiah. Jesus was saying that the disciples (all of His followers who were present) were only proclaiming what was in their hearts to proclaim and also to speak what was true. The implication is that the stone hearted Pharisees could restrain themselves, but even a senseless stone could be made to worship Christ. Thus, in both passages we see the utter foolishness of denying the LORD as God or Jesus as the Messiah. In the case of each perspective covenant the consequences were eternally sealed in torment. Before God, there would be no defense for them. He could simply point to the stone and they would remember.

David in Psalm 14:1 goes on to say that anyone who would in his heart say, “There is no God” is a fool. Fool is nabal in the Hebrew speaking not to intellectual foolishness, but to moral foolishness. These fools have three evidences present in their character listed here. First they are corrupt (shachath). This speaks to moral corruption. These fools have perverted God’s perfect moral standard into one of their own choosing. Second these fools perform abominable (ta`ab) works (`aliylah). They do works that are lewd, evil, uncontrolled, and wanton that are detestable in the eyes of God. Third nothing that they do (`asah) is good (towb). They only produce works of unrighteousness.

In verse two we see God searching for any who understands (sakal = wise, prudent, perceptive) or seeks God. Then in verse three we see the Psalm gets very personal. In three different ways for emphasis God does not find any who are not fools: all have turned aside, they all together become corrupt, and there is none who does good, not even one. This includes us today. We are all depraved. We have all sinned in Adam and are helpless to do anything about it. Verse 7 shows us that we are not without hope, though. Reference is made to the Messiah who would come to bring the people out of captivity. Paul quotes these in Romans 3:10-12 among others. In 3:23 Paul sums it all up by saying that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” but it is the righteousness of God Himself that is imputed to us through faith in Christ Jesus (verses 21-22). We see again that God’s mercy and grace alone through faith alone is our only hope of redemption.

1. Get out a copy of your marriage certificate and show it to your children. Explain to your children how this certificate documents a covenant made between you and your wife. Show them the witnesses that signed with them. Speak of your vows that included all of those present as witnesses as well as the vows being spoken before God Himself. Talk of all of the benefits that the covenant promises. But also speak to the foolishness in breaking such a covenant. The certificate itself in a court of law will condemn the one who rejects the covenant. Make parallels to the stone of witness.

2. It may help you children to visualize the even here by having them draw a scene of the people of Israel gathered around Joshua, the oak tree, the Ark, and the stone.

Day 2: The Fools are without Excuse

Romans 1:20-21, 25

We saw in the previous day’s lesson that we all are sinners without hope apart from God’s mercy through Christ Jesus His Son. At some point we may ask ourselves about those who do not have the word. If the Gospel has not reached someone, are they still culpable for their sins? This is the topic of today’s lesson. We looked early on in our catechism studies at verses 18-20 in answer to the question, “how do we know that there is a God?”

After Paul introduces his letter to the believers in Rome in verses 1-15, he gives the purpose of his letter in verses 16-17. In short, Romans is written to reveal very clearly the Gospel in all of its fullness. We see that the Gospel is to be held and proclaimed in confidence, that it is God’s power working salvation, that all peoples, that it is a revelation of God’s righteousness, and that the Gospel is revealed and received by faith.

Paul begins in the first three chapters of Romans by showing us our problem of sin and our great need of the Gospel. He begins in verse 18 by revealing God’s righteous reaction to man’s sin: wrath. This is serious in light of our studies in Revelation 20. As the writer of Hebrews has said, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). Sin here is characterized in three different ways: ungodliness, unrighteousness, and the suppression of truth. Then he gets to the point of our focal verses. This sin of man is not done in ignorance, but in knowledge, by God’s revelation to them (it is manifest in them because God has made knowledge of Himself manifest in them).

In verse 20, we first see how long men have known of the character of God, “since the creation of the world.” God has always revealed Himself to man. These “invisible attributes” of God are “clearly seen.” There is no mistaking what God is all about. The Greek word used here for “clearly seen” is kathorao meaning to see thoroughly, perceive clearly, and understand. These invisible (aoratos = that which cannot be seen) attributes are given later in the verse as “His eternal power and Godhead.” “Eternal power” here is given as the Greek for everlasting (aidios) and the Greek for the mightiest kind of power (dunamis). We can clearly see apart from God’s word that He is the all-powerful God that rules and reigns (Revelation 19:6). “Godhead” is given in the Greek as theiotes referring to God’s divine nature (i.e. His goodness, mercy, justice, wisdom, etc).

The next question answered is “how do they know these things?” They just do not know these things but they have a certain understanding of them. The word used here is noeo meaning to perceive in one’s mind. Thus, the mind of man even its fallen nature can discern the attributes of God. Let us make sure that we do not get confused here. Paul is not speaking of a saving knowledge born out by the regeneration of the spirit of man, but simply a knowledge of who God is. We saw this with the Israelites who knew the attributes of God by their deliverence from Egypt, however, we saw in Deut. 29:4 that this knowledge did not result in a heart that received the righteousness of God in faith. This is the truth as we have seen before in 1 Corinthians 2:14. Back in Romans we see that they know these invisible attributes of God by “the things that are made.” A single word poiema is used here in the Greek meaning the works of God as creator. The creation gives a clear testimony to the character of God: “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19).

On the day of judgement this knowledge put them in a bad position. They are “without excuse.” This is the familiar Greek word that we get apologetics from, but with the negative prefix (anapologetos). The word speaks to that which cannot be defended. The sinner before God cannot get a pass on judgement based upon ignorance and lack of opportunity (or for any other reason, as well).

In verse 21, we have the reasons given for why sinners have no excuse before God. They knew (ginosko) God or better stated they knew about God, but did not know Him personally. Why? Because they did not glorify (doxazo) Him for who He is, nor did they show gratitude (thankful = eucharisteo) for what He had done. We saw this last week in Psalm 29 to ascribe glory to God that is due or fitting for His name. The result of not glorifying God and being thankful is for the sinner to be given over to vain thoughts (mataioo dialogismos = empty, foolish thoughts and reasoning) and their foolish (asunetos = without understanding) hearts are darkened (skotizo = metaphorically of understanding). Verse 23 goes on to tell us that as sinners we believe ourselves to be wise, but all the time we are foolish. Remember the Proverb, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12 reference also 12:15 and 1 Corinthians 1:20-21).

Skipping to verse 25 in Romans 1, we see further that these fools exchange the truth of God for a lie. They did this by denying the true Creator and embracing gods of the creation. The sinner takes these invisible attributes of God and paints them into his own image resulted in a corrupted copy of the original. As we see in Philippians 2:9-11, God will be blessed or praised. We can only suppress the truth for our lifetime. After death, truth becomes a reality that we cannot escape finding for even the sinner an eternity of glorifying God. Thus, God is just in His wrath upon the sinner.

1. This is a rather bleak picture of the plight of man concerning sin. If our hearts are still bent toward this world and us then perhaps this lesson will bring about true repentance. Fast forwarding to chapter 6, we see God intervening on the behalf of sinners to save us from this vanity of sin: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). This is an opportunity to show your children the true depravity of man.

2. Have your children brainstorm attributes of God that they can see from His Creation. Quiz them on what they are going to do with this knowledge.

3. Small children could draw or color pictures depicting the creation.

Scripture: Joshua 24:27; Romans 1:20-21,25; Psalm 14:1.