8/12/2019 1990 Issue 5 - Law and Liberation: The First Commandment - Counsel of Chalcedon

1/4

GOD AND NONE ELSE

THE

FffiST

COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt have no other gods

before me. (Ex. 20:3). This is

the first

of

the Ten

Commandments spoken by God.

It cannot stand in any position

other than the first. Not only does

it

form the basis on which the

whole structure of the Law of

God is built, but it is also the

foundation of every sphere

of

created life. In keeping with the

principle of beginning with God,

stated in the fliSt article of this

series,

it

is necessary to consider

the speaker.

THE

LORD

THY

GOD

What is requ-ired by the flrst

commandment cannot be properly

prescribed but by the One who

clearly identifies Himself in the

preamble, particularly in the

words: I

am

the LORD thy

God. In the light

of

the written

word of God, this identification

carries with it the inexhaustible

and immeasurable depths

of

God

by which He is

rightfully entitled

to exclusive allegiance. Only a

few of the attributes of the LORD

our God need be considered here

in order to arrive at a Biblical

interpretation of the frrst

commandment. The transcendent,

self-contained, self existent and

independent God is the only God.

Beside

Him

there is no other god

and He will not give His glory to

another. I

am

the LORD, and

there is none else, there is no

God

beside me ... (lsa. 45:

5)

. I am

the LORD: that is my name: and

my glory will I not give

to

another, ... (Isa. 42:8).

He is the Creator who summoned

His creation into being out

of

nothing by the word ofHis

power. .. [T]he worlds were

framed by the word of God, so

that things which are seen were

not made of things which do

Y OWEN FOURIE

A

South

African Business Man

appear. (Heb, 11 :3). No

w o n e r ~

then, that the Psalmist

proclaims: The earth is the

LORD'S, and the fulness thereof;

the world, and they that dwell

therein. (Psalm 24:1). The

heavens are thine, the earth also

is thine: as for the world and the

fulness thereof, thou has founded

them. (Psm. 89:11). Indeed, He

possessed the entire universe;

and while being above and

beyond it,

He

is also present

everywhere in t ..Do not I fill

heaven and earth: saith the

LORD. (Jer. 23:24). Since He

ft lls His whole creation, He sees

all

things and He knows all

things. Neither is there any

creature that is not manifest in his

sight:

but

all things are naked and

opened unto the eyes of him with

whom

we

have to do. (Hebs.

4:13).

doest thou? (Dan.4:35). He is

the ever-living God- .. the

King eternal, immortal, ...

I

Tim. 1:17). He is the Vanquisher

of Satan, sin, and death; and

He

is

the

Triune God who has

commissioned all believers to

proclaim His authority and

dominion to

all

nations. And

Jesus came

and

spake unto them,

saying, all power is given unto

me in

heaven and

in

earth.

Go

ye

therefore, and teach all nations,

baptizing them in the name

of

the

Father, and of the Son, and of

the Holy Ghost: Teaching them

to observe all things whatsoever I

have commanded you: and lo, I

am with you alway, even unto

the

end

of the world.

(Matt

28:18-20)

What is signillcant in this brief

exposition of the identity of God

is His jurisdiction.

This God is the absolutely JURISDICTION

sovereign LORD over His whole

creation. And all the inhabitants How far does God's authority

of

the e rth are reputed as and dominion extend? What is

nothing: and he doeth according the spread of the territory in

to his will

in

the army

of

heaven, which His law applies? Since He

and among the inhabitants of the is the only God,

it

is obvious that

earth: and none can stay his there is territory and

no

hand,

or

say unto him, What more.

That

domain is coextensive

The Counsel of Chalcedon June 199 Page 9

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withwhat God has called into

being and possessed with perfect

and complete knowledge,

namely, the heavens, the earth .

and all its inhabitants - in short,

the entire universe. The very

word "universe" precludes the

idea of other territories or areas of

life over which God

has

no

claim.

In

1895 the term

"multiverse" was used to deny

God and His jurisdiction, but the

word ;.universe" remains .

immovably in our vocabulary and

it witnesses to God's teiritorial

sovereignty.

Since God is eternal, His

jurisdiction also extends over all

ages, which means that the

Decalogue is not restricted in its

relevance

to

the first recipients -

the children

of

Israel. The

enforcement

of

the Law

of

God

by the Lord Jesus Christ and the

apostle Paul makes it clear that it

applies beyond the time and

geographical confines of Old

Testament Israel. " ..Till heaven

and earth pass, one jot or one

tittle shall

in

no wise pass from

the law ..." (Matt. 5:18, see

verses 17-20). "Do we then make

void the law through faith? God

forbid: Yea, we establish the

law." (Rom. 3:31). " ..[L]ove is

the fulfilling [not the replacing]

of

the law." (Roms. 13:10, see

verses 8-10).

Such absolutely sovereign

Lordship over the whole universe

in

all

its ages is necessarily

exclusive; and, in perfect

consistency, God forbids

anything that would detract from

the acknowledgement of His

authorityand domilrion.

Redeemer, theWR God,

acting by eternal design, prepares

a people for His worship and

service in all ages from the

beginning of the world to

its

end.

The :Redeemed of the LORD,

correctly taught, can have no

problem with his foundational

command of the only God

proclaiming His totally sovereign

and exclusive Lordship over life

as

a whole arid

in

all its parts.

They have been redeemed from

bondage and sin

to

serve the

living God. They have been

liberated from the law and rule of

sin and death

to

the liberty

of

sons and daughters under the law

and

rule

of

their loving Father.

Since there is only one God and

one territory, no one else can

claiin jurisdiction apart from

Him,

nor can there be any neutral

area.

n

spite of this, therem

such assertions.

FUTILE TERRITORI L

CLAIMS OF OTHER GODS

Any problem with the Divine

right expressed in the first

commandment has its roots in the

fallen nature

of

man in whose

rebellious mind the frrst

temptation to be

as

God (Gen.

3:5)

is

ceaselessly entertained.

With such a mind, man would

quickly dispose

of

God, His

revelation ofHimself, and

His

claim, in order to put himself first

and to establish

his

independent

territorial rights with the counter

command: "God, keep out "

n

this process, man has built up a

remarkable array of other gods,

but the attempt to declare

territorial sovereignty for himself

and his other gods on territory

"Thou shalt have no other gods already sovereignly held by God

before me." This is true Almighty, will ultimately prove to

totalitarianism rightfully and be as futile as it would be to

properly asserted by the Almighty foolishly insist that it is night

Creator-Redeemer God beside when'the midday sun is in

whom there are no other gods. evidence everywhere. Here is a

As the Creator, God can and does God-given fact: whether in a state

claim absolute sovereignty over of grate or in a state of sin,

all His creatures. As the God's creatures cannot escape the

Page 1 June 199 The Counsel of Chalcedon

reality

of

being subject to

His

law

in the territory He

has

created.He

possessed the entire universe

further than science will ever

enable us to see,

and

His law is

over all. Whether as a curse or as

a blessing, His law cannot be .

evaded; therefore

the

Law

of

God

has implications for the whole of

life. For the same reason, the first

commandment

is

foundational not

only to

all

the succeeding

commandments but also

to

ever}

sphere oflife.

reality of the Fall of man and

his state of sin means that there

are other gods. These are m 41-

made and Satan-suggested gods

that are not gods; nevertheless,

fallen man pays homage to them.

What are these other gods?

OTHER GODS VAIN

IMAGINATIONS

From the many Biblical passages

dealing with the subject of

idolatry, it

is

clear that these other

gods were idols

of

wood, stone,

gold, and silver found in the

heathen nations of the ancient

world. At times the people

of

the

LORD would foolishly worship

idols and incur the

wrath

of God

who would abandon them to their

sin.

''And thereye shall serve.

gods, the work of men's hands,

wood and stone, which neither

see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell."

(Deut. 4:28). It is important

to

note those words "the work

of

men's hands.' ' What a

man

makes with his hands

is

certainly

the product

of

forethought

of

the

mind - and in the matter of

idolatry it is the fruit

of

vain,

corrupt, and rebellious

imagination. " ..[W]hen they

knew God, they glorified him not

as God, neither were thankful;

but became vain in their

imaginations, and their foolish

heart

was

darkened. r o f ~ s s i n g

themselves

to be

wise,

they

become fools, and changed' he

glory of the incorruptible God

into an image made like

to

8/12/2019 1990 Issue 5 - Law and Liberation: The First Commandment - Counsel of Chalcedon

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corruptible man ... (Roms.

1:21-23).

In other

words, fallen

man rebelliously and deliberately

suppresses the truth

of God

in

favour of his imagined version

of

God, a

god

that can be totally

comprehended, completely

contained

by

his mind,

and

subject to him. Idols

of

wood

and

stone

and

precious metals

do

still

exist,

but

more to the fore today ,

than handcrafted objects

of

worship

are the

gods

of

ideology,

philosophy, and false theology

born in

the minds

of

men

who

have

not begun

with God

in

their

thinking

but with

themselves and

their situations.

THE ONLY CORRECTIVE

In

Colossians

2:8

the Apostle

Paul wrote: Beware lest any

man

spoil you through philosophy

and

vain deceit, after the tradition

of

men, after the rudiments

of

the

world,

and not

after Christ Any

t e c h i n ~

that detracts from the

real De1ty and the real humanity

of

the

Lord

Jesus Christ

and

the

uniqueness

of His

Person and

His Work, is the teaching

of

another god.

In

A.D.

45

the

Formula

of

Chalcedon declared: Therefore,

following the holy Fathers,

we

all

with

one

accord teach

men

to

acknowledge one

and

the same

Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at

once complete

in

Godhead and

complete in manhood , trulyGod

and truly man, ... recognized in

two natures, without confusion,

without change, without division,

without separation; the

distinction

of

natures being

in

no

way annulled by the union,but

rather the characteristics

of

each

nature being preserved

and

coming together to form one

person ...

In

this statement,

which the Christian Church

would

do

well to reclaim,

acclaim,

and

proclaim, there is

the clearest assertion

of

the fact

that only

in the

one

~ r s o n of

Christ is there a perfect union

of

the Divine and human natures,

yet

without confusion. Even

in

Christ, the Deity remained Deity,

and

the

human

nature remained

human. In

no way did

the Divine

become human nor could the

human become Divine, and that is

the

key to

a pro per understanding

of

true religion as opposed

to

false religion and every

claim of

the

other

gods.

The

formula of Chalcedon stands

as a bulwark against the ancient

concept of

God

and

men

existing

in one

great chain

or

ladder

of

being. Falsehood sees the Diety

or dieties

on

the higher parts

of

the ladder while

man

occupies the

lower

regions

of

the same ladder,

and in the process of time men

may be

deified.

The

truth,

as

discerned

and

declared at

Chalcedon in faithfulness

to

the

Holy

Scripture, is

that

there is

discontinuity between God

and

man

in

the matter

of

being.

The

Creator-Redeemer God who has

revealed Himself supremely in

the Lord

Jesus Christ is the

uncreated Being, but

man

is a

created being. This is the Creator- .

creature distinction that rules

out

any thought that

man,

despite the

fact

that

he

can

have

communion

with God

through Christ alone,

can ever become Divine. This

means

that

it

will

never

be right

for

men, whether individually

or

corporately, to

act

as God

over

other human beings; yet that is

precisely what has happened as a

result

of

the Fall.

MAN AS GOD

MAKING

GODS

to

God is

sinfully

turned

into

homage

to man-made

gods.

Who or

what

are

these other

gods?

To justify its denial

of

the Creator

God and

to deify man,

Humanism

has

spawned

a deeply

religious faith

in the

unprovable

theory ofEvolution, one of its

manufactured gods. Alongside

Evolution there are the related

gods of Chance and Luck. In this

way the absolutely sovereign,

predestinating, Creator-Redeemer

God

is supposedly eliminated

in

favour

of

an existence

of

uninterpreted, meaningless,

purposeless, isolated

brute

facts.

Such

circumstances require the

invention

of

another

god

the

modem political state -

to

supply

order, control and a plan: man's

predestination of man from the

cradle to

the

grave by which the

Biblical (Roms. 13:1-7)

limitations are greatly exceeded.

A key aspect of that plan is the

education of the young who are

taught

to

begin,

not with

the

Creator-God,

but with man and

his environment

in

all

their

thinking and

in

every subject.

This is vital for Humanism

because

the

god

who

possesses

the

minds of

children procures its

own future. With such a

program, is it

any

wonder that

humanistic

men and

nations arise

to stake

out

totalitarian claims,

daring to be as

God and

forbidding the existence

of any

other gods

in

a dog-eat-dog

situation?

Of

course,

even

the dogs

band

Humanism, whereby

man

together

in

the

face of

a

common

becomes a

god

or

acts as God, enemy.

The

remaining stumbling

was born

in

the

Fall

of

Adam and block to

the establishment

of any

Eve. Now in the great factory of humanistic Utopia is the Christian

Humanism, the mind of fallen Faith that steadfastly proclaims

man; all sorts

of

other gods re the territorial rights of the Creator-

being produced because

man Redeemer

God.

Many

heresies

cannot escape from his have

been sent

to corrup t this

creaturehood. As a creature

of

faith and none

more

devious

than

God

Almighty he

must render

the

god

of Liberation Theology

allegiance,

but

what is rightly

due

with its

Marxist

ideology

The Counsel

of

Chalcedon

une

1990 Page

8/12/2019 1990 Issue 5 - Law and Liberation: The First Commandment - Counsel of Chalcedon

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conveyed in Biblical terminology,

however, its deception cannot

endure for

it

presents a wholly

inadequate god who is ~ k l y

seen to be but a poor replacement

for the only God. nLiberation

Theology, "God" and "Jesus

Christ" are simply symbols for

the People. God is merely a

concept and Christ

an

''event" in

the present struggle of the People

against the repressive structures

of Christian-rooted Western

Capitalism ordained and

sustained by the Creator-God .

(decadence apart). God is

an

incomplete, suffering hoping

being who is caught up with man

in the process of history; and,

subject to history, this god moves

towards an unordained future.

God is completely identified with

the People. He is God the

worker, Christ the labourer, the

revolutionary, or the freedom

fighter. The

PeoJ?le

become God;

they become therr own liberators

executing the divine plan of

salvation. The voice

of

the People

is the voice of God. Remember

the Formula

of

Chalcedon

There are the blood brother gods

of liberation Theology too. They

are Chaos, Ungodly Revolution,

and Anarchy, and.they are

all

the

forerunners of the god

of

Humanistic Totalitarianism which

actually invokes chaos,

revolution and anarchy

in

the vain

process towards a Utopia of

absolute equality in everything .

Then mankind will live beyond

good and evil, right and wrong,

law and order, family life,

property, and religion.

Working towards that Utopia,

too, is the god

of

the New Age

Movement with its sign of

Aquarius, the water-carrier,

which promises true cleansing .

and puri.fjcation of such

proportions as shall wash away

the scourge ofOrthodox

Christianity .The message

of

the

New Age is clear: all is one, all is

God we are God. This

movement, which is presently

being popularized in the

advertising campaigns

of

big

business, declares that Lucifer,

commonly taken to

be

Satan, is

. he true Son

of

God, and

all

who

refuse to be initiated by him into

the New Age are threatened with

extermination.

. CONCLUSION

Now let all these other gods be

silent The Almighty Creator

Redeemer God has spoken.

"Thou shalt have no other gods

before me." For the LORD is

great, and greatly to

be

praised:

he is to

be

feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the nations are

idols: but the LORD made the

heavens." (Psalm 96:4-5).

"Look unto me, and

be

ye saved,

ALL THE ENDS OF THE

EARTH; FOR I AM GOD, AND

THERE

IS

NONE ELSE." ( sa.

45:22).

A BOOK REVIEW

BY

BYROI : S:\APP

FORBIDDEN ALLIANCES,

George Gillespie, Presbyterian

Heritage Publications, P.

0.

Box

180922, Dallas, Texas 75218,

$2.50

God has made man to be a social

being. Prior to Eve's creation

God said, "It is not good for the

man to be alone." (Gen. 2:18b).

God made Eve. Even if God has

given one the gift of singleness

there still remains the need for

fellowship and friendship. Herein

we are reminded

of

the

fellowship

of

the Triune God

within the Trinity itself.

Amqpg the many decisions that

one ti)tist make following

regeneration and conversion is,

"With whom will I be a friend?"

After all,

we

are not taken out of

the world.

At

the same time we

Page 12 June 1990 The Counsel

of

Chalcedon

are to guard ourselves from evil

influences in the world

as

well

as

from Satan himself (John 17:15).

Presbyterian Heritage

Publications has done the

Christian community a great

service in reprinting this short

work on Forbidden Alliances. It

is

taken from

the

1846 edition

of

The Works of Mr. Georee

Gi11esPie

and was originally

published in

1649 Do

not think

this material is dated

or

written in

language that is

of

a bygone day.

Indeed; the need for material on

this subject is perhaps greater

today than when it was first

written. Also, the work

has

been

well edited and is written in a

style and print that will attract

today's reader.

The author begins on this

premise: The Christian is allied

to

Christ, frrst and foremost. This

alliance must govern all out other

alliances. Within the framework

of

Scripture, Mr. Gillespie shows

the Chrisitan how

his

chief

'Friend' has laid out principles

and warnings that are to guide us

regarding whom we should

many, join in close business

partnerships and ventures, or join

in

denominational affiliation. He

looks honestly at Scripture and

provides a wealth

of

Scripture

verses that allows the reader to

study

and

apply to his own life.

Mr. Gillespie wrote this book

against the background of a

historical period (the English

Civil War) when Christians were

extremely o n e m e d about this

very issue. The author is familiar

with the arguments that

opponents

raised

He deals with

the arguments clearly, concisely,

and above all,

Scripturally .Naturally, the author

does not believe the Christian is

to move into a monastery and

separate himself from the world.

Where he believes the line

to

be

drawn

I will let you discover

as

you read the

book

Con t, page 21