Chapter 20. Of the First Commandment.
WILLIAM PERKINS
Chapter 20. Of the First Commandment.
The first tablet has four commandments.
The first teaches us to have and choose the true God for our God. The words are these:
I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage, You shall have no other God but me.
The Resolution.
[I am]: If any man judges that these words are a preface to all the commandments, rather than a part of the first, I would not hinder him. Nevertheless, it is likely that they are a persuasion to keep the first commandment; and that they are set before it to make way to it, as being harder to be received than the rest.
And this may appear in that the next three commandments that follow, have their several reasons.
[Jehovah] This word signifies three things: I. Him who, of Himself and in Himself, was from all eternity.
Rev 1.8, Who is, who was, and who is to come. II. Him who gives being to all things, when they were not, partly by creating, partly by preserving them. III. Him who mightily causes that those things which He has promised, should both be made, and continued. Exo
6.1; Rom 4.17.
Here begins the first reason for the first commandment, taken from the name of God. It is thus framed:
He that is Jehovah must alone by your God.
I am Jehovah:
Therefore, I alone must be your God.
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This proposition is wanting: The assumption is in these words, I am Jehovah; the conclusion is the commandment.
[Your God] These are the words of the Covenant of Grace, Jer 31.33-34, by which the Lord promises to His people remission of sins and eternal life. Indeed, these words are a second reason for the commandments, drawn from the equality of that relation which exists between God and His people.
If I am your God, you in return must be my people, and take me alone for your God.
I am your God.
Therefore, you must be my people, and take me alone for your God.
The assumption, or second part of this reason, is confirmed by an argument taken from God's effects, when He delivered his people out of Egypt, as it were, from the servitude of a most tyrannous master. This deliverance was not appropriate only to the Israelites, but some way, to the Church of God in all ages — in that it was a type of a more surpassing deliverance from that fearful kingdom of darkness. 1Cor 10.1-2, I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that all our
Fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the Red Sea, and all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud, and in the sea. Col 1.13, Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated [transferred] us into the kingdom of his dear Son.
[Other Gods, or strange gods] They are so-called, not that they are such by nature, or can be, but because the corrupt and more than devilish heart of carnal man esteems them so. Phi 3.19, Whose God is their belly.
2Cor 4.4, Whose minds the god of this world has bewitched.
[Before my face] That is (figuratively) in My sight or presence, to whom the secret imaginations of the heart are known. And this is the third reason for the first commandment, as if He had said, If you, in my
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presence, reject me, it is a heinous offence. Therefore see that you do not do it. The Lord reasons in the same manner in Gen 17.1: I am God Almighty, therefore walk upright.
The Affirmative Part Choose Jehovah to be your God. The duties commanded here are these:
I. To acknowledge God; that is, to know and confess Him to be such a God as He has revealed Himself to be in His word, and creatures [creation]. Col 1.10,
Increasing in the knowledge of God. Jer 24.7, And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people and I will be their God. For they shall return to me with their whole heart. We must glory in this knowledge of God. Jer 9.24, Let him that glories, glory in this, that he understands and knows me; for I am the Lord who shows mercy, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
II. A union with God, by which man is knit in heart with God. Jos 23.8, Stick fast to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day. Act 11.23, He exhorted all, that with purpose of heart, they would cling to the Lord.
Man clings to God in three ways: in affiance, in love, and fear of God.
Affiance is that by which a man, acknowledging the power and mercy of God, steadfastly rests himself in Him, against all assaults whatsoever. 2Chr 20.20, Put your trust in the Lord your God, and you shall be assured; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.
Psa 27.1, God is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? God is the strength of my life; of whom should I be afraid? Verse 3, Though a host [an army] is pitched against me, my heart should not be afraid; though war is raised against me, I will be secure.
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From this rises patience, and alacrity [eagerness] in present perils. Psa 39.9, I should have been silent, and not opened my mouth, because You did it. 2Sam 16.10, the King said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he cursed because the Lord said, Curse
David, who is he that dares say, Why do you do so? Gen 45.5, Do not be sad, nor grieved with yourselves, that you sold me here. For God sent me before you for your preservation. Verse 8, Now then, you did not send me, but God himself. 2Kng 6.16, Fear not, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.
This affiance engenders hope, which is a patient expectation of God's presence and assistance in all things that are to come. Psa 37.5, Commit your way to the Lord, and trust in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Verse 7, Wait patiently upon the Lord, and hope in Him. Pro 16.3, Commit your work to the Lord, and your thoughts will be directed.
The Love of God is that by which man, acknowledging God's goodness and favour towards him, loves God in return, above all things. Deu 6.5, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
The marks of the true love of God are these:
1. To willingly hear His word.
2. To speak of Him often.
3. To think of Him often.
4. To do His will without irksomeness [annoyance].
5. To give body and all, for His cause.
6. To desire His presence above all, and to bewail His absence.
7. To embrace all those things which pertain to Him.
8. To love and hate what He loves and hates.
9. In all things, to seek to please Him.
10. To draw others to the love of Him.
11. To esteem highly those gifts and graces which He bestows.
12. To stay ourselves upon His counsels revealed in His word.
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Lastly, to call upon His name with affiance.
The fear of God is that by which man, acknowledging God's mercy and justice, fears to displease God as if it were a capital crime. Psa 103.11.
With you is mercy, that you may be feared. Hab. 3.16, When I heard it, my belly trembled; my lips shook at the voice. Rottenness entered my bones and I trembled in myself — that I might rest in the day of trouble, when
He comes up against the people to destroy them. Psa 4.4, Tremble, and do not sin.
From this arises the godly man's desire to approve himself in all things to his God. Gen 5.22, And Enoch walked with God, after that, etc. Gen 17.1, God said to him, I am all-sufficient; walk before me and be perfect.
Out of these three former virtues proceeds humility, by which a man — acknowledging God's free bounty, and prostrating himself before Him — ascribes to Him all praise and glory. 1Cor 1.31, Let him that glories, glory in the Lord. 1Pet 5.5-6, Dress yourselves inwardly with lowliness of mind. For God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. 1Chr 29, 10-11, And David said,
Blessed are you, O Lord God of Israel, our Father forever, and yours, O Lord, is greatness, and power, and glory, and victory, and praise. For all that is in heaven, and in earth is yours, etc.; and verse 14, But who am I, and what are my people, that we should be able to offer willingly in this way? For all things come from You, and from your own hand we have given you, etc.
The Negative Part Do not account that as God, which by nature is no God. In this place [Exo 20.3], these sins are forbidden:
I. Ignorance of the true God and His will, which is not only not to know, but also to doubt those things which God has revealed in His word. Jer 4.22, My
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people are foolish. They have not known Me. They are foolish children, and have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good, they have no knowledge.
Jer 9.3, They proceed from evil to worse, and have not known Me, says the Lord.
II. Atheism, when the heart denies either God, or His attributes: such as His Justice, Wisdom, Providence, and Presence. Psa 14.1, The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Eph 2.12, You had no hope, and were without God in the world. Mal 1.2, I love you, says the Lord; yet you say, In what have we spoken against You?
Mal 3.14, You have said, It is in vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept His commandments, and that we walk humbly before the Lord of hosts?
III. Errors concerning God: the Persons of the Deity, or the Attributes.
Here what is to be reproved is Hellenism, which is acknowledging and adoring a multiplicity of gods. —
Augustine, 6th book of the City of God, chapter 7.
Again, Judaism is condemned here, which worships one God without Christ. The same may be said of the heresies of the Manichees and Marcion, who deny God the Father; of Sabellius, denying the distinction of the three Persons; and Arius, who says that Christ the Son of God, is not true God.
IV. To withdraw and remove the affections of the heart from the Lord, and set them upon other things.
Isa 29.13, The Lord said, this people draws near me with their mouth, and honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Jer 12.2, You are near in their mouth, and far from their reins [inner being].
The heart is in many ways withdrawn from God.
I. By distrust in God. Heb 10.38, The just shall live by faith; but if anyone withdraws himself, My soul shall have no pleasure in him. From this diffidence [lack of confidence] arises, 1. Impatience in suffering afflictions. Jer 20.14-15,
Cursed be the day in which I was born, and do not let
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the day in which my mother bore be blessed; Cursed be the man who showed my father, saying a man child is born to you, and comforted him; verse 18, How is it that I came forth from the womb, to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
2. Tempting God, when those who distrust, or rather contemn [despise] Him, seek signs of God's truth and power. Mat 4.7, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.
1Cor 10.9-10, Neither let us tempt God, as they tempted Him, and were destroyed by serpents; nor murmur, as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
3. Desperation. Gen 4.13, My iniquity is greater than can be pardoned.
1Th 4.13, Do not sorrow, as those who have no hope.
4. Doubtfulness concerning the truth of God's benefits, present or to come. Psa 116.11, I said in my haste, all men are liars.
II. Confidence in creatures, whether it is 1. In their strength, as in Jer 17.5, Cursed is the man who has his confidence in man, and makes flesh his arm; but his heart slides from the Lord.
2. Or in riches, Mat 6.24, You cannot serve God and riches. Eph 5.5, No covetous person, which is idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
3. Or defensive places. Jer 49.16, Your fear and the pride your heart have deceived you, that you dwell in the clefts of the rock, and keep the height of the hill.
Though you make your nest as high as the Eagle, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord.
4. Or in pleasure and luxuries. For them, their belly is their God, Phi 3.19.
5. Or in physicians. 2Chr 16.12, And Asa, in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, was diseased in his feet, and his disease was extreme; yet he did not seek the Lord in his disease, but the physicians.
6. [Divination] Briefly, to this may principally be adjoined that devilish confidence which magicians, and those who take advice from them, put in the devil and
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his works. Lev 20.6, If anyone turns to those who work with spirits, and follows soothsayers, to go whoring after them, then I will set My face against that person, and will cut him off from among his people.
III. The love of the creature, above the love of God.
Mat 10.37, He that loves father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loves son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. Joh 12.43,
They loved the praise of man, more than the praise of God. To this belongs self-love. 2Tim 3.2.
IV. Hatred and contempt of God, when man flees from God and his wrath, when God punishes offences.
Rom 8.7, The wisdom of the flesh is enmity with God.
Rom 1.30, Haters of God, doers of wrong.
V. No fear of God. Psa 36.1, Wickedness says to the wicked man, even in my heart, that there is no fear of God before their eyes.
VI. Fear of the creature, more than the Creator. Rev 21.8, The fearful and unbelieving shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. Mat
10.28, Fear not those who kill the body, but fear Him that can cast both body and soul into hellfire. Jer 10.2,
Do not be afraid of the signs of heaven, though the heathen are afraid of them.
VII. Hardness of heart, or carnal security, when a man — neither acknowledging God's judgments, nor his own sins — dreams he is safe from God's vengeance, and those perils which arise from sin. Rom 2.5,
According to your hardness, and a heart that cannot repent, you heap to yourself wrath against the Day of Wrath. Luk 21.34, Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be pressed down with surfeiting
[excess] and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and lest that Day come upon you unawares.
These all jointly engender Pride, by which man ascribes all he has that is good, not to God, but to his own merit and industry, referring and disposing them wholly to his own proper credit. 1Cor 4.6-7, That you might learn by us, that no man [should] presume
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beyond what is written, that one does not swell against another for any man's cause. For who separates you?
Or what do you have that you have not received? Gen 3.5, God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be as gods, knowing good and evil.
The highest stair of pride's ladder, is that fearful presumption by which many climb rashly into God's seat of majesty, as if they were gods. Act 12.22-23, The people gave a shout, saying, The voice of God, and not of man. But immediately the Angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God, so that he was eaten up by worms, and gave up the ghost. 2Th
2.3-4, Who is an adversary, and exalts himself against all that is called God, or that is worshipped — so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.