Overview

The exposition of the commandments begins with the first table — our duty to God — and the first commandment, which governs whom we worship. This section gives the commandment (Q103), the duties it requires (Q104), the sins it forbids (Q105), and the special force of the words “before me” (Q106).

The Questions & Answers

Q103. Which is the first commandment? A. The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Scripture Proofs (ESV):

“You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exod. 20:3, ESV)

Q104 — the duties required (summarized): 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, by thinking, meditating, remembering, esteeming, honoring, adoring, choosing, loving, desiring, fearing Him; believing, trusting, hoping, delighting, rejoicing in Him; being zealous for Him; calling upon Him; giving all praise and thanks; yielding all obedience and submission with the whole man; being careful to please Him, and sorrowful when we offend Him; and walking humbly with Him.

Q104 (key clause). …to worship and glorify him accordingly, by thinking, meditating, remembering… loving, desiring, fearing of him; …and walking humbly with him.

Scripture Proofs (ESV):

“…know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind.” (1 Chron. 28:9, ESV)

“…you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” (Matt. 4:10, ESV)

Further proofs: Deut. 26:17; Ps. 95:6–7; Jer. 31:18; Mic. 6:8; Phil. 4:6.

Q105 — the sins forbidden (summarized): The first commandment forbids atheism (denying or not having a God), idolatry (having or worshiping more gods than one, or any with or instead of the true God), the not having and avouching Him for God and our God, and the omission or neglect of anything due to Him; ignorance, forgetfulness, misapprehensions, false opinions, and unworthy thoughts of Him; bold and curious searching into His secrets; all profaneness, hatred of God, self-love, self-seeking, and inordinate setting of our mind, will, or affections upon other things; vain credulity, unbelief, distrust, despair; carnal delights and joys; corrupt, blind, and indiscreet zeal; lukewarmness and deadness in the things of God; estranging ourselves from Him; praying or giving worship to saints, angels, or any creature; and all compacts and consulting with the devil.

Scripture Proofs (ESV):

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Ps. 14:1, ESV)

“…they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” (Rom. 1:25, ESV)

Further proofs: Jer. 2:13, 27–28; Rom. 1:21, 30; Col. 2:18; Acts 26:9.

Q106. What are we specially taught by these words, before me, in the first commandment? A. These words, before me, or before my face, in the first commandment, teach us, that God, who seeth all things, taketh special notice of, and is much displeased with, the sin of having any other god: that so it may be an argument to dissuade from it, and to aggravate it as a most impudent provocation: as also to persuade us to do as in his sight, whatever we do in his service.

Scripture Proofs (ESV):

“…for all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we have to give account.” (Heb. 4:13, ESV; cf. Ezek. 8:5–6)

Further proofs: Ps. 44:20–21; 1 Chron. 28:9.

Exposition: The first commandment governs who is our God (the second will govern how He is worshiped). The Larger Catechism’s Q104 is striking in its breadth: rightly “having” God as our God involves the whole inner life — thinking, loving, fearing, trusting, delighting, obeying — not mere outward acknowledgment. Q105’s catalog of sins is correspondingly vast, reaching from open atheism to the subtle idolatries of self-love, distrust, lukewarmness, and “inordinate setting of our mind, will, or affections upon other things.” Q106’s insight is that “before me” means “before my face”: idolatry is committed in the very presence of the all-seeing God, which both aggravates the sin and calls us to do everything “as in his sight.”

Connections

• WSC Q45–48 — the first commandment, its duties, sins, and the special teaching of “before me.”
• WCF 21 (Of Religious Worship) — worship due to God alone, through Christ alone.
• Loci: The first commandment; the worship of God; idolatry of the heart (Col. 3:5).

Pastoral & Practical Significance

The first commandment is the root of all the others: get God right, and the rest follows; dethrone Him, and everything goes wrong. The Larger Catechism’s expansive treatment is searching, because it shows that this commandment is broken not chiefly by bowing to literal idols but by the heart’s quiet defections — the “functional gods” we look to for the security, identity, and joy that belong to God alone. Q105 names them with uncomfortable precision: self-love, self-seeking, distrust, despair, lukewarmness, “inordinate” affection set on other things. Examine yourself by Q104’s positive demands: do you love, fear, trust, delight in, and obey God with the whole heart? And let Q106 press home both warning and intimacy: the God who sees all is “much displeased” with rival gods — yet that same all-seeing gaze means He welcomes the heart that takes Him alone as God, and bids us live and serve “as in his sight.” To have the Lord as your only God is not a burden but the fulfillment of your chief end (Q1): He alone can satisfy.

For Memory & Reflection

• Memorize Q103 and Q106; anchor verses: Matthew 4:10 and Hebrews 4:13. Study Q104–105 to search your heart.
• “Before me” means before God’s face. What “functional gods” do I serve in the presence of the God who sees all?
• Q104 requires loving, fearing, trusting, and delighting in God with the whole heart. Which of these is weakest in me?