the geneva catechism 4 (continued)
II. The Law
131. What rule has He given us by which we may direct our life? His law.
132. What does it contain? It is divided into two parts: the first contains four commandments, the other six. Thus there are ten in all.
133. Who made this division? God Himself, who delivered it to Moses written on two table, and declared that it was reduced into ten words. (Exod. 32:15; 34:29; Deut. 4:13; 10:1).
134. What is the content of the first table? The Way of the true worship of God.
135. And the second? How we are to live with our neighbours, and what we owe them.
136. Repeat the first commandment. Hear, O Israel, I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: thou shalt have no other gods before Me (Exod. 20:2-3; Deut. 5:6-7).
137. Explain the meaning. At first He makes a kind of preface for the whole law. For in calling Himself the Eternal and the Creator of the world, He claims authority to command. Then He declares that He is our God, in order that we may esteem His doctrine. For if He is our Saviour, that is good reason why we should be an obedient people to Him.
138. But is not that which He says after the deliverance from the land of Egypt, addressed particularly to the people of Israel? Yes, it does refer to the physical deliverance of Israel, but it also applies to us all in a general way, in that He has delivered our souls from the spiritual captivity of sin, and the tyranny of the devil.