Westminster Shorter Catechism Q46

The Doctrinal Heading for this section of questions (Q43-62) is The Means of Grace: The Commandments: The First Table. (see Harmony Index)

WSC Q46. What is required in the first commandment?

We move forward in our catechism study to what is required in the first commandment. Words are fascinating things. If language and speech is the paintbrush of human thought and communication, then words are the colors of the pallet used to give shape and shading on the canvas of how we live and express ourselves. When a person asks a question, selecting a certain word or arranging a phrase in a certain way has an effect on what is conveyed and communicated. A different word or phrase could subtly change the question, yielding a different perspective and a different answer. For example, change the familiar word “required” in Q46, and a different mental picture may be drawn. The dictionary (or thesaurus) suggests synonyms such as these: requisite, needed, necessary, essential, vital, indispensable, not to be spared, called for, in demand, or wanted.

Part of the craft of devotional study is to give oneself to the consideration of the matter at hand, meditating upon the meaning and application of the instruction or word picture which is brought to mind. In this particular question, substitute the word “required” with various words listed above. How does the perspective change for you and your daily encounter with the One in whom you live and move and have your being? May the realities of our redemption deepen as we draw near to him who has called us out of the darkness and into the light, where all the beauties of life and its meaning in him are beheld in the joys of our salvation.

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Westminster Shorter Catechism Q46

Illustrations by John Whitecross – #3 of 5: Anthony Collins, the deist, met one day with a plain countryman going to church. He inquired where he was going. ‘To church, sir.’ ‘What to do there?’ ‘To worship God.’ ‘Pray, whether is your God a great or a little God?’ ‘He is both, sir.’ ‘How can He be both?’ ‘He is so great, sir, that the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him: and so little that He can dwell in my heart.’ Collins declared, that the simple answer by the countryman had more effect upon his mind, than all the volumes which the learned doctors had written against him.

John Whitecross – 1828
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WSC Q46. What is required in the first commandment?
Answer: The first commandment requireth us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify him accordingly[a].
[a] I Chron. 28:9; Is. 45:20-25; Matt. 4:10

Question 46 asks what the first commandment requires and answers that the first commandment requires us to know and recognize God as the only true God and our God, and to worship and glorify him accordingly.

Comments and considerations:
Notice the word accordingly; it means agreeably, correspondingly, or in natural sequence, consequently; it indicates a connection between two things, the latter of which is done on account of the former. When you look at this statement as to what is required in the first commandment, there is a logic and natural sequence in three corresponding parts.

“Why don’t they teach logic at these schools?” said the professor to the oldest Pevensie children in C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Well, maybe in Lewis’s time and ours, logic isn’t taught much; but it was certainly taught at the time in which our forefathers penned our Confessions. See the truth they gleaned from Scripture and the logical way in which they summarized it in the excellent arrangement of this catechism statement. The first commandment requires us to:

1. Know God as the only true God, and in rightly knowing him
2. Acknowledge him as the only true God, and
3. Be our God, and as such do what is next required
4. Worship him and thus
5. Glorify him accordingly

The root of accordingly is accord, which means “to reconcile, agree, be in harmony, make agree”; literally, it means “to be of one heart.” The first commandment is Thou shalt have no other gods before me, and thus it is required that he is to be known and acknowledged as God, the only true God, our God; worshipped and glorified accordingly. From start to end, he is God, our God, to be worshipped and glorified above all else.

Training Hearts and Teaching Minds Questions:

1. Read Jer. 9:23-24. What ought to be the first priority in our life? How does this relate to WSC Q1?
2. Read Is. 43:10-12. Take a moment to consider both the lessons of Scripture and your personal experience. What are some of those things that people choose to be their god rather than the one true God?
3. What does it mean when the catechism says that God is to be known and recognized as “our God”? See Ps. 63:1-4.
4. The English root to the word worship is the term worth. Think of those things in your life or possession that are of particular value to you. What is your attitude and involvement in those things? The worship of God is more than just an occasional prayer or offering of praise to God, more than the singing of hymns. It is demonstrating by word, thought, and deed the value of God in our speech, desires, and life. How does Paul speak concerning the worth of Christ in his life in Phil. 3:7-8?
5. How does Paul speak concerning our daily activities in 1 Cor. 10:31?
6. How serious does God consider our knowing and acknowledging him as “the only true God?” See Ps. 50:22-23.

Harmony of the Standards: WSC Q46and WLC Q104
WSC Q46. What is required in the first commandment?
A. The first commandment requireth us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify him accordingly[a].
[a] I Chron. 28:9; Is. 45:20-25; Matt. 4:10

WLC Q104. What are the duties required in the first commandment?
A. The duties required in the first commandment are, the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God, and our God[a]; and to worship and glorify him accordingly[b], by thinking[c], meditating[d], remembering[e], highly esteeming[f], honoring[g], adoring[h], choosing[i], loving[j], desiring[k], fearing of him[l]; believing him[m]; trusting[n], hoping[o], delighting[p], rejoicing in him[q]; being zealous for him[r]; calling upon him, giving all praise and thanks[s], and yielding all obedience and submission to him with the whole man[t]; being careful in all things to please him[u], and sorrowful when in any thing he is offended[v]; and walking humbly with him[w].
[a] 1Chron. 28:9; Deut. 26:17; Isa. 43:10; Jer. 14:22
[b] Ps. 95:6-7; Mat. 4:10; Ps. 29:2
[c] Mal. 3:16
[d] Ps. 63:6
[e] Ecc. 12:1
[f] Ps. 71:19
[g] Mal. 1:6
[h] Isa. 45:23
[i] Josh. 24:15, 22
[j] Deut. 6:5
[k] Ps. 73:25
[l] Isa. 8:13
[m] Exod. 14:31
[n] Isa. 26:4
[o] Ps. 130:7
[p] Ps. 37:4
[q] Ps. 32:11
[r] Rom. 12:11; Num. 25:11
[s] Phil. 4:6
[t] Jer. 7:23; Jam. 4:7
[u] 1John 3:22
[v] Jer. 31:18; Ps. 119:136
[w] Micah 6:8

Question(s) for further study:
WLC Q104 initially reads the same as WSC Q46, but than expanses at length the meaning of the fivefold requirements of the first commandment. How many qualifiers are listed in the expanded instruction, and how might they be listed under each requirement category?