A Confessional Baptist

The First Table of the Law

Question 51.

Which is the first commandment?

Answer:

The first commandment is, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me."
( Exodus 20:3 )

Question 52.

What is required in the first commandment?

Answer:

The first commandment requires us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God, and to worship and glorify Him accordingly.
( Joshua 24:15; 1 Chronicles 28:9; Deuteronomy 26:17; Psalm 29:2; Matthew 4:10 )

Question 53.

What is forbidden in the first commandment?

Answer:

The first commandment forbids the denying, or not worshipping and glorifying the true God, as God and our God; and the giving that worship and glory to any other, which is due unto Him alone.
( Joshua 24:27; Romans 1:20,21; Psalm 14:1; Romans 1:25 )

Question 54.

What are we especially taught by these words, "before me," in the first commandment?

Answer:

These words, "before me", in the first commandment, teach us, that God, who sees all things, takes notice of, and is much displeased with the sin of having any other God.
( Deuteronomy 30:17,18; Psalm 44:20,21; Psalm 90:8 )

Question 55.

Which is the second commandment?

Answer:

The second commandment is, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me: and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments."
( Exodus 20:4-6 )

Question 56.

What is required in the second commandment?

Answer:

The second commandment requires the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances, as God has appointed in His Word.
( Deuteronomy 32:46; Matthew 28:20; Deuteronomy 12:32 )

Question 57.

What is forbidden in the second commandment?

Answer:

The second commandment forbids the worshipping of God by images, or any other way not appointed in His Word.
( Romans 1:22,23; Deuteronomy 4:15,16; Matthew 15:9; Colossians 2:18 )

Question 58.

What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment?

Answer:

The reasons annexed to the second commandment, are, God's sovereignty over us, His propriety in us, and the zeal He has for His own worship.
( Psalm 45:11; Exodus 34:14; 1 Corinthians 10:22 )

Question 59.

Which is the third commandment?

Answer:

The third commandment is, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."
( Exodus 20:7 )

Question 60.

What is required in the third commandment?

Answer:

The third commandment requires the holy and reverent use of God's names, titles, attributes, ordinances, words, and works.
( Psalm 29:2; Deuteronomy 32:1-4, 28:58-59; Psalm 111:9; Matthew 6:9, Ecclesiastes 5:1; Psalm 138:2, Job 36:24; Revelation 15:3,4; Revelation 4:8 )

Question 61.

What is forbidden in the third commandment?

Answer:

The third commandment forbids all profaning and abusing of any thing whereby God makes Himself known.
( Malachi 1:6,7; Leviticus 20:3, 19:12; Matthew 5:34-37; Isaiah 52:5 )

Question 62.

What is the reason annexed to the third commandment?

Answer:

The reason annexed to the third commandment is, that howsoever the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape His righteous judgment.
( Deuteronomy 28:58,59; Malachi 2:2 )

Question 63.

Which is the fourth commandment?

Answer:

The fourth commandment is, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
( Exodus 20:8-11 )

Question 64.

What is required in the fourth commandment?

Answer:

The fourth commandment requires the keeping holy to God such set times as He has appointed in His Word, expressly one whole day in seven to be a holy Sabbath to Himself.
( Leviticus 19:30; Deuteronomy 5:12 )

Question 65.

Which day of the seven has God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath?

Answer:

From the creation of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath.
( Genesis 2:3; John 20:19; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1,2; Revelation 1:10 )

Question 66.

How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?

Answer:

The Sabbath is to sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days, and spending the time in the public and private exercises of God's worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.
( Leviticus 23:3; Isaiah 58:13,14; Isaiah 66:23; Matthew 12:11,12 )

Question 67.

What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?

Answer:

The fourth commandment forbids the ommission or careless performance of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about worldly employments or recreations.
( Ezekiel 22:26; 23:38; Jeremiah 17:21; Nehemiah 13:15,17; Acts 20:7 )

Question 68.

What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment?

Answer:

The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment are, God's allowing us six days of the week for our own employments, His challenging a special propriety in the seventh, His own example and His blessing the Sabbath day.
( Exodus 34:21; 31:16,17; Genesis 2:2,3 )