The Ten Commandments

34 The Ten Commandments 
The Thirty-fourth Lord’s Day 
Exodus 20:1-3
And God spoke 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.”
In these words are contained the preface of the Moral Law, and the first precept of it. In this preface is contained the definition, division, and confirmation of the Law. The definition is pointed at by circumstances which are, as it were, the specificative or differencing notions of it, whereby this Law is distinguished from all others. Of which the first is, 1. That God himself spoke it, or immediately by himself pronounced the words of this Law. 2. That thenhe spoke it; that is, after such a singular preparation of the people, as had never been used in the giving of any other Law. The division of it is contained in these words, that God is said to have spoken all the words of it; that is, of both Tablets, or all ten words,1 where respect to the whole and to its parts is plainly pointed at. The confirmation, or the persuasion used to confirm it, is verse 2, where a most strong argument is brought to induce an obedience suitable to this Law; and this is twofold: 1. In general from the Covenant, I am your God. 2. From a special benefit bestowed upon them by virtue of that Covenant. The first precept itself is verse 3, whereby we are enjoined to have Jehovah for our God, or Jehovah alone.2 So that in this two points together enjoin us: 1. That we acknowledge Jehovah to be the true God, and none else. 2. That with all religious honour and worship, we worship him, and do that with all our heart, etc. For that is to have Jehovah for our God. It is not to be understood speculatively only, but practically, effectively, and really.
Doctrine 1. This Law of God contained in the Decalogue, or ten words (that is, brief sentences), is the most perfect rule for directing the life of man.
This is gathered from the definition which, as we said before, was pointed out in two circumstances; because it not only has God for its author, but it is also given with singular majesty in the most perfect manner, as after extraordinary preparation. What is to be found in this, is that we may understand all the perfection that can be desired in any law.
Reason 1. Because it prescribes all the duties of man, whether they look at God himself directly, as in the first Tablet; or at our neighbour, as in the second Tablet.3
Reason 2 . Because in all those duties, it not only requires the works themselves, but also the most perfect way of working them; namely, that they come from the whole heart, and from the bottom of the heart; that is, from the entire strength of the whole man, and with perfect purity and sincerity; and that they be directed to the glory of God.
1 That is, all ten commandments. “Words” can mean sayings, teachings, or statements, as in the Greek logos. 
2 LORD in capital letters indicates the original Hebrew tetragrammaton: Yahweh, or Jehovah.
3 The two stone tablets (or “tables”) that Moses brought down off the Mount with the Ten Commandments on them. The commandments are traditionally divided into two groups: commandments 1-4 on the first tablet governing our relationship with God, and 5-10 on the second tablet, governing our relationship with others.
Reason 3 . Because it contains in itself a delineation or draft1 of that perfection to which man in his first or innocent nature was created, according to the image of God. And therefore it is also called the Law of Nature, because that rule of life which was written in the heart of man, according to its primitive and pure nature, is explained in this Law.
Reason 4 . Because it belongs not only to one Nation, as the Judicial Law did; nor to some certain time only, as the Ceremonial Law did; but it is the Common-Law of all Nations, Times, and Persons.
Use 1 . Of Information: that we esteem this Law of God as we ought to; that is, that we think of it in no other way than as the will of God omnipotent, and as that will of his which most intimately belongs to us as the only rule of our life; and as such a rule that is has no defect, but it is both perfect in itself, and it requires all perfection in us.
Use 2. Of Admonition: that with all reverence we give heed to this Law, and beware all neglect and contempt of it, as we would shun death.
Doctrine 2. The Moral Law is divided into various words or precepts.
It is gathered from this, in that God is said to have spoken all these words. They are called words because they are short and as it were, spoken summarily, or in one word. The chief division of them is into two Tablets; the next into ten Precepts, or Commands.
Reason 1 . That we might more easily understand the will of God delivered by parts; which if delivered wholly together and all at once — declared in heaps as it were — we could not understand them so well. For the parts in a distribution or division, greatly help the declaration and illustration of any whole.
Reason 2. That by this means our memory may be helped, because naturally our memory is strengthened from the order of the parts among themselves.
Reason 3. That in every part and act of our conversation, we may have the light of singular direction from some part of this Law.
Use . Of Admonition: that we do not neglect or contemn any word of this Law, because they are all parts of one and the same Law, and have the same sanction of authority; so that whoever stumbles against any one of them, is guilty of them all, James 2:10.
Doctrine 3. Whatever is commanded in any part of the Law, we are bound for many reasons to perform it to God. 
This is gathered from that confirmation of the Law, I am Jehovah, etc.
Reason 1 . Because God commands nothing that he may not with very good right require from us, by reason of his absolute power and dominion, as well as our dependence on him, by which we need to be supplied and upheld by him in all things.
Reason 2. Because he requires nothing from us, the observance of which he did not deserve at our hands before, by spiritual benefits and blessings, as well as temporal and bodily blessings, in regard to which, out of thankfulness, we owe him all obedience, as is plain in the Text, I brought you out of the Land, etc.
1 That is, a blueprint.
Reason 3. Because God is ready to reward our obedience most abundantly, in every point.
Use . Of Direction: that by meditating often on the manifold obligations by which we are bound to perform our obedience to God, we may more and more stir up our minds to care to observe him in all things.
Doctrine 4. Every command of the Law requires the whole obedience of the whole man.
That is, inward as well as outward; of the heart as well as the mouth, and of the hand, or work: You shall have no other, etc. Do not make for yourself, etc. These are forms of speaking by which such a universal obedience is formally required.
Reason 1. Because God, the giver of this Law, ought to be glorified with the obedience of the whole man, of soul as well as body — both these parts of man.
Reason 2 . Because this is the excellent perfection of the Law of God, whereby it goes beyond all human Laws, in that it subjects to itself the heart and reins,1 and the most inward retirement of men, as God himself alone — who is the author of this Law — knows what is in man.
Reason 3. Because this Law is the rule of spiritual life, and so it ought to pierce even to our spirits themselves. 
Use 1. Of Information: that for the right understanding of this Law, we look not only to such things, or think that only these are contained under the Law, as contained there in express words; but also all such things that belong to such a topic of obedience, whether they are outward or inward. For in every command, as is certainly meant by the sum of entire and whole obedience, the words are to be taken not according to the bare letter, but in such a modification of various tropes, or borrowed ways of speaking, as agree with the perfection of such a Law of nature.
The trope of Synecdoche, which puts the special for the general which is to be understood by it, is frequently used here — as when abstinence from some one vice that is named is put for the whole obedience. By this trope, we not only abstain from all faults of that kind, but we are also bound to perform the contrary affirmative good — and when some action is put for all of its kind, and which have an affinity of nature with it.
The trope of Metonymy is everywhere in these commands, whereby all the adjuncts are understood under the name of their objects; the effects are understood in their causes, and also contrarily. This is complicated with the trope of Metaphor in some way; so that the entire Decalogue is Metaleptic,3 or it is to be understood by Transumption.4 These rules must of necessity be understood in the explication of every precept, as our Saviour’s expositions of them and other Scriptures make clear.
1 It denotes the kidneys or loins; but as used here, it refers to the seat of the affections and passions. 
2 John 2:25; 1 Corinthians 2:11.
3 Figurative substitutions in which a concept is described by a word that is distanced from that concept by multiple, usually metonymical, links (e.g. “I spent the evening with Shakespeare” actually means his works). Most figures of speech involve a single link between word and concept, e.g. a single link can be followed from the metonym ‘crown' to the concept to which it refers, ‘king'. But a metalepsis involves multiple such links, each of which must be mentally followed until the intended concept is reached.
4 Metaphorical transference.
Use 2 . Of Admonition: that we do not rest, nor please ourselves in just any sort of obedience to the Law; but that we may aspire to the entire and perfect observance of it; and that we ever acknowledge that we are justly humbled in this: that we are so far from that perfection which it requires.
Doctrine 5. The first and greatest command is that which contains our duty to God. 
Hence it is, that it is both put in the first position, and it also has the express testimony of Christ in Matthew 22:38.1
Reason 1. Because God himself is the object of this duty, from him a sort of nobleness and dignity is derived to the duty itself.
Reason 2 . Because more and greater things are contained in our duty to God than either can or may be used in duties to man; as is clear by that form, With the whole mind, and the whole heart, etc.
Reason 3 . Because this duty is the Foundation and principle of all others, in as much as in God, and for God only, we ought to perform all other duties; and so the duties of the second Tablet are thus virtually contained in the first Commandment.
Use. Of Direction: that our first and chief care may be taken up in those duties that belong to God. 
Doctrine 6. The principal duty to God is that we have only him for our God. And to have God for our God is in general, to give God that honour which is due Him for his excellent Majesty. And to this are required,
1. That we seek true knowledge of him with all care, as he has revealed himself in his word; because we cannot rightly honour him whose nature and will we are ignorant of: John 4:12; Romans 10:14.2
2. That from a most humble reverence, we subject ourselves to him, because the honour that we give to God, as to our God, is the honour of a Creature towards its Creator; of a Son towards his Father; of a Servant towards his Master; and he is such a Master that he has power of life and death over us; not only of the body, but of the soul, or that which is eternal.
3. That we believe all that he witnesses and proposes to us, and rest in them by true faith; because otherwise we cannot give him the glory of his omniscience, truth, etc.
4. That with certain hope we look for all that he has promised; because we cannot give him the honour of the truth of his promises unless with belief of them, we are so affected with them, as to desire and hope for their accomplishment. 
5. That with greatest love we cling to him as the chief good; because the quintessential notion of God does of itself denote the Fountain and Author (and so the possessor) of all highest and most perfect goodness; and so the honour due unto God contains in it that affection which is raised up by the meditation and apprehension of the chief good — which is pure and perfect love.
1 Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus said to him, " ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' "This is the first and great commandment.
2 John 4:12 "Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"; Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
6. That we express all these duties, and exercise them by a devout hearing of his Word, and calling upon his name with a similar exercise of divine worship; because we cannot be powerfully affected about the honour of God without those operations in which such affections are put forth; nor is the honour we owe God contained within the bounds of individual disposition or affection; nor lastly, can a lively affection of honouring God be cherished or kept in our minds without those means by which it is begotten in us, as well as preserved and improved.
Use 1. Of Reproof: against those who think they have God for their God, and think they keep this command well enough if they do not deny God with their mouths, even though they never rouse themselves to give God this honour spoken of before. This sort of men are all those who 1. Do not deny themselves so as to be wholly subject to God and his will. 2. All those who rest in their ignorance. 3. Those who do not endeavor to build themselves up in true Faith, Hope, and Love. 4. Those who contemn or neglect the exercise of Piety, public or private. Of all these it may truly be affirmed that as long as they do not endeavor to thus give God his due honour, they do not really have him for their God.
Use 2 . Of Exhortation: that by such considerations we stir ourselves up to a greater care for Piety — unless we want to be like those who are without God in this world, and so can look for nothing else than to be separated from God in the world to come.
Doctrine 7. Whoever gives this honour or any part of it to any other than God, they set up a false god for themselves, and so they are Idolaters.
It is gathered from this, You shall have no other God. That is, do not give this honour to another, that is not true God by nature or essence. For men sin against this command in three ways. 1. If we do not give this honour to God. 2. If we give this honour to another that is not God. 3. If we fight or dispute against God, or this honour of his. Whoever sins against God in the first way, they are profane; in the second way, they are Idolaters; in the third way, they are enemies to God.
Use 1. Of Refutation: against Papists who give a great part of this honour to creatures. Use 2. Of Condemnation: against those who have their minds so fastened to worldly things, that it may truly be said of them, that they have their affiance, hope, and love chiefly placed in them. Concerning them the Apostle warns us that they have their belly for their god, and their substance, riches, and the like.1
1 Php_3:19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame-- who set their mind on earthly things.