[AI translation] In Thursday Bible study we study the questions and answers of the Heidelberg Bible, which has been celebrating its 400th anniversary for a year. This will be followed by an explanation of the Ten Commandments. I would like to begin this new series here in the church and then, God willing and living, continue it in Bible classes.As you have heard, it is about the first commandment. Our Bible answers the questions, "How are these commandments divided? The first table teaches in four commandments how we are to conduct ourselves towards God. And the second table gives us our duties towards our neighbour in six commandments. That, if I would not play at the salvation of my soul, I should avoid and put away all idolatry, sorcery, superstition, and the invocation of saints or other creatures. And that I may truly know the one true God, trusting in Him alone, expecting all good things from Him alone, with perfect humility and forbearance. To love, fear, and honour Him with all my heart, so that I may renounce all created things rather than do the least part against His will." (Q.Q. 93-94 - Answer) - Now let us look at this more closely.
First we have to do with the law of God Himself. The law of God as He has given it to us in ten specific commandments. Well known verses, perhaps most of us can recite them, we have heard them so many times. But have we really heard it? Because it is one thing to hear something and another to listen to something. To hear it, that is, to hear it as the word of God, to hear it in such a way that it has an effect on us, that is, to hear it in such a way that we obey it. We may know it well by heart, but that is not enough. Do we really know it from the inside? Is it engraved not only in those two stone tablets, but also in the flesh tablets of our hearts? For without that, it is not worth much.
Man generally feels the law, the commandment, to be a certain burden. The law of God especially. We feel that it hinders our freedom of movement, that it surrounds us with forbidding walls, that it blocks our desires, as if an invisible finger were constantly warning us: this is not permitted, that is forbidden! As if it were always urging you: do this, do that! As if it were depriving us of our freedom. As if our will always clashes with the will of someone else, someone more powerful. It would be so much easier and more pleasant if we could do as we please, if we could live according to the desires of our heart. Sometimes this clash is so violent that it becomes a rebellion, as in the case of Herodias, who finally could no longer bear the constant unanimous warning: you must not continue this sinful affair, do not be adulterous! So he simply got John the Baptist out of the way. However despicably he acted, at least he acted consistently. For either one silences the law of God in his heart, or he obeys it. But to obey God's command and yet do as I please is irresponsible and dangerous play! Such people, Jesus says, will be judged more severely. (cf. Mt 23,14) God did not intend His law to be a burden or a hindrance to man, but a blessing, a blessing, a help. The divine law is the greatest blessing in man's life. It is not meant to bind our hands and feet, but to set us free. Imagine what would happen to us if God were silent, if he let us go where we wanted, as we pleased, where our desires led us? What would happen to us if God abandoned us?
It happens to little children that they are fussy, demanding, wanting to go their own way, despite their parents' talk. In the end, his mother says to him: 'I don't care, do what you want! And then the child is shocked. It's not going to work! How good it is that God never says: "I regret it, do what you want!", but that he always keeps his commandment to us: "Do this, don't do that! And even if this word may sometimes sound harsh, it is full of great, responsible love. The law of God around our lives is like an invisible fence that protects us from falling into a dark abyss, a dangerous precipice.
God does not tell us not to steal, not to marry, not to covet, not to restrict our freedom of movement, but to prevent us from falling into the many threatening abysses of life and from breaking ourselves. For if someone crosses this fence, breaks the law, the peace of life is immediately upset, and all kinds of strife, quarrels and wars break out in the conscience, in the family, in society, in international coexistence. God's law is the eternal basis for peaceful coexistence. Just as every board game has its own basic rules which the players must obey, so the great board game of human coexistence has its basic rules which, if not obeyed, will be upset.
If the limits of the divine law of the Ten Commandments were not constantly transgressed by mankind, all social and societal issues, international conflicts, the whole problem of war and peace would be solved. Yes, the law of God is the greatest blessing in the life of mankind. What air is to the lungs, water to the fish, rails to the train, is the law of God to human life. Somewhere, if somebody breaks the rail, the law, the train, the life, is derailed. Yes, the derailment of all life is due to the breaking of divine law. If we see the law of God in this way as a blessing, an air in which we can breathe freely, an element in which we can truly live, a pair of rails on which we can safely proceed, then there is no question of seeing the law as some unpleasant obstacle, a forbidding tree in our way. Rather, we then gratefully accept that God contrasts our often foolish "I will it this way" with his wise "I will it that way". And then we understand the psalmist's grateful rejoicing when he says, "Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord...I delight in your commandments, which I love." (Psalm 119:1. 47.)
It is precisely for the redeemed man in Christ that the divine law given in the Ten Commandments has much meaning, where God details the way, the certain narrow path by which man can now live out in deeds his gratitude for the grace he has received. That is why the law begins precisely thus: 'I the Lord am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of service' (v. 2). It's as if God is saying, "Look, this is what I have done for you: I have redeemed you from the bondage of your sins through Jesus, so now walk in the way I tell you with a thankful heart for this salvation. Through Jesus we are freed from the curse of the law, but not from the law itself. In fact, it is the law that shows the way of new life for the redeemed man. Yes, Jesus has fulfilled the law for us, but He continues to do the same by now wanting to fulfill the law in us. For it is He who, through His Holy Spirit, works in us the life of living according to God's will. This is precisely how Jesus continues to live in us. It is through living according to the law of God that it is realised that "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2,20a).
Our kate asks the question, "How are these commandments divided? Answer. (Q.Q. 93 - Answer) In other words, the Ten Commandments regulate and restore man's right relation to God and his fellow men. So the first four commandments are about how to relate to God, His person, His service, His name, His day. And the second six are about how to relate to our fellow human beings, how to respect first those closest to us, our parents, and then people's lives, marriages, property, reputations in general. The tenth, summing up the whole, says: God condemns not only the sinful act, but also the desire to sin, so that man should not even in thought try to break any of God's commandments.
It is not by chance that this is the order of the Ten Commandments, that first the duties to God are given, and then those to one's fellow man. We usually give more importance to the second six commandments than to the first four. We feel more guilt when we sin against our fellow man than when we sin against God. We judge murder, adultery, theft, more severely than idolatry, or the disrespectful mention of God's name, the degradation of the day of rest. Yet the Ten Commandments set before us first our duties to God, and only then our duties to men. And this order is of the utmost importance, because all morality, all ethics, derives from man's religious conduct, rests on it. Morality cut off from the root of faith in God withers and dries up. From our relationship with God comes the way we relate to people. The two are inextricably linked. God can only be truly respected and loved through people, and vice versa: people can only be truly respected and loved through God. The worship and service of God that is not realized in the love and service of people is a false dream, an abominable piety - and vice versa: the love of man that is not backed by the fear of God is powerless, insufficient, little, it runs out. Neither is complete without the other. Love God and love your neighbour: this is the fullness of the law, and never separate the two, for the whole becomes nothing.
What does God require in the first commandment? Answer. And that I may truly know the one true God, trusting in Him alone, expecting all good things from Him alone with perfect humility and forbearance, and loving, fearing, and reverencing Him with all my heart, so that I may renounce all created things rather than do anything in the least part against His will." (H.K. Question 94 - Answer)
So detailed is this explanation that it is sufficient to draw attention to a few points. The first commandment literally reads, "Thou shalt have no strange gods before me." (Exodus 20:3) It is not that there really is another god besides the one God, but that we are casting our trust and giving our hearts instead of God, or besides God, to something other than God. Our Catechism is deadly serious in its warning, based on God's revelation, to avoid "all idolatry, sorcery, superstition" for the salvation of our souls. But is there even such a thing in the nuclear age? How much! We can't imagine how much the old idols survive in the modern age. Only their names have changed. Now they are not called Baal, Astarte, Dagon, Moloch or Venus, but, for example, dollar, house on Lake Balaton, car, love, or happiness, time, machine. Yes, the modern age has such gods. Modern man lives under the tyranny of such gods, in the bondage of such powers that bind body, soul, time, desire and imagination, often without even being aware of it. Man always walks like the prodigal son who, when he left his father, "was married to a citizen of that country." (Lk 15,15b) Man who turns away from God is always attached to some other lord, always under the power of some idol-god, always drifting into the worship of foreign gods. Such foreign gods have a much greater influence on us than we think. The commandment is therefore very timely: "Thou shalt have no strange gods before me."
Magic and superstition are also mentioned in our Catechism. Well, the man who is so proud of the science of the 20th century should not smile at this! There are many more than admit who indulge in all kinds of dark superstitions. For example, they fear the number 13, or they knock the bottom of the table when it comes to someone's health. They carry amulets and talismans in secret, consult horoscopes, inquire from the spirits of the dead, and trust in the nonsense of fortune-tellers. There is a dreadful revelation for those who do such things in the book of Moses. (Deut 18:10-12) These are abominable things in the sight of God, Who has given to men such a shocking testimony of His own fatherly love and goodness as the death of Jesus on the cross. Is not God trustworthy enough, is not God powerful enough, is not God merciful enough, is not God kind enough? Do we need to imagine something else instead of him or beside him in whom or in what we put our trust? Do we not feel what an insult this is to God? What a blasphemy against the God who loves us as He showed us through Jesus! "Thou shalt have no strange gods before me" (Exodus 20:3) You have no need of strange gods besides Him!
Now in a positive sense, this means "To truly know the one, true God", says our KJV. There is no greater privilege on this earth than to know and love God as He has revealed Himself to us in Jesus. Let us take advantage of this privilege and tell Him now of Himself, the living, powerful God who loves us:
I lift up my heart to you
And I trust in you, Lord;
And I will not be ashamed,
No one will laugh at me,
For they will not be ashamed,
Those who cry to you,
Let those who live in unbelief, Let them be scornful.
(Psalm 25:1)
Amen
Date: 3 May 1964.
Lesson
Mt 22,34-40