Editorial November 12, 1938 Issue

The First Commandment

Duncan Sinclair

The First Commandment, stated in the twentieth chapter of Exodus (verse 3) reads, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." It was given by Moses to the children of Israel as a command from God to be obeyed, and Christians accept it as applying equally to themselves. And what an utterance is the First Commandment in its tremendous implications!

First of all, the First Commandment is a demand upon us that we shall believe in one God, in only one God. This means that we must be convinced that God exists as infinite Spirit or Mind. Then we must obey God, loving Him even as Moses commanded the Israelites when he addressed them after the manner recorded in Deuteronomy (6:5): "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." No divided allegiance, no half-hearted obedience, were they to bring to their worship of the living and true God; they were to love Him with the full measure of their love.

Now, to bestow such a love as the First Commandment demands, we must be convinced of the utter worthiness of God, His adorableness. And we become convinced of this through the understanding of Him which Christian Science gives. This Science reveals God as infinite and perfect Mind or Spirit, Life, Truth, Love, infinite good. Being infinite, God exists without an opposite. And here is a point of great significance. The fact of God's being infinite and perfect Mind or Spirit necessitates the conclusion that the seeming opposite of Spirit—matter—is unreal, and that the seeming opposite of good—evil—is also unreal. That was Mary Baker Eddy's discovery.

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