Heidelberg Catechism: 'What is the Law of God?'
LORD’S DAY 34
92. What is the Law of God?“God spake all these words, saying,
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; you shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourselves any graven image, or any likeness of anything 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. 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. 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 maidservant, 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. Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.1
1 Ex 20:1-17; Deut 5:6-21
93. How are these commandments divided?
Into two tables: the first teaches us duties we owe to God; the second, what duties we owe to our neighbor.1
1 Mt 22:37-40
94. What does God require in the first commandment?
That, on peril of my soul’s salvation, I avoid and flee all idolatry,1 sorcery, superstition,2 prayer to saints or of other creatures;3 and that I rightly acknowledge the only true God,4 trust in Him alone,5 with all humility6 and patience7 expect all good from Him only,8 and love,9 fear10 and honor Him11 with my whole heart; so as rather to renounce all creatures than do the least thing against His will.12
1 1 Cor 6:9-10, 10:5-14; 1 Jn 5:21; 2 Lev 19:31; Deut 18:9-12; 3 Mt 4:10; Rev 19:10, 22:8-9; 4 Jn 17:3; 5 Jer 17:5, 7; 6 1 Pt 5:5-6; 7 Rom 5:3-4; 1 Cor 10:10; Php 2:14; Col 1:11; Heb 10:36; 8 Ps 104:27-28; Isa 45:7; Jas 1:17; 9 Deut 6:5 (Mt 22:37); 10 Deut 6:2; Ps 111:10; Prov 1:7, 9:10; Mt 10:28; 1 Pt 1:17; 11 Deut 6:13 (Mt 4:10), 10:20; 12 Mt 5:29-30, 10:37-39; Acts 5:29
95. What is idolatry?
Idolatry is having or invented something in which to put our trust, instead of, or in addition to, the only true God who has revealed Himself in His Word.1
1 1 Chron 16:26; Gal 4:8-9; Eph 5:5; Php 3:19
