Week of December 7th, 2025

Encouragement from God's Word

In a section of the Large Catechism that is at the end of the Ten Commandments, Martin Luther summarizes what God’s will is regarding the Commandments. While we may be tempted to think that the First Commandment (“You shall have no other gods”) is an easy one to keep if we don’t worship an idol, Luther reminds us that the First Commandment is the chief Commandment. Here is what he wrote that teaches us the importance of the First Commandment.

This is exactly the meaning and true interpretation of the first and chief commandment, from which all the others must flow and proceed. So this word, “You shall have no other gods before Me” [Exodus 20:3], in its simplest meaning states nothing other than this demand: You shall fear, love, and trust in Me as your only true God. For where there is a heart set in this way before God, that heart has fulfilled this commandment and all the other commandments. On the other hand, whoever fears and loves anything else in heaven and upon earth will keep neither this nor any of the commandments. So then all the Scriptures have everywhere preached and taught this commandment, aiming always at these two things: fear of God and trust in Him. The prophet David especially does this throughout the Psalms, as when he says “the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love” [Psalm 147:11]. He writes as if the entire commandment were explained by one verse, as if to say, “The Lord takes pleasure in those who have no other gods.”
Large Catechism, Part 1, paragraph 324-325