8. Do not Destroy Objects Associated with His Name - Pt. 1

The eighth commandment in Mosaic Law is to not destroy objects associated with His name.

Where in scripture?

Deuteronomy 12:4

That is not how you are to worship the LORD, your God.

Discussion:

This is the most interesting commandment that I’ve analyzed thus far. It raises two key issues that are not cut and dried. The first is the nature of the law itself. The second is its applicability toward Christians. I will therefore split up this analysis into two posts, and probably add a third post at a later date.

The scriptural origin of the eighth commandment of the Mitzvot, as stated by Jewish resources, is Deuteronomy 12:4. In order to make sense of it, the verse needs to be read in context.

Deuteronomy 12:2-4 (New American Bible)

2  Destroy without fail every place on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every leafy tree where the nations you are to dispossess worship their gods.

3  Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, destroy by fire their sacred poles, and shatter the idols of their gods, that you may stamp out the remembrance of them in any such place.

4  That is not how you are to worship the LORD, your God.  12:2-4

A plain reading of the passage suggests that the LORD is commanding the Israelites to tear down the places of worship of Canaanites. A plain reading suggests the LORD does not which to be worshipped in the same manner as the Canaanite gods– with sacred pillars and poles. Deuteronomy 12:4 of the NAB translation does not say to not destroy objects associated with His name. The Bible passage seemingly differs from the Mosaic Law.

According to the Douay Rheims translation, Deuteronomy 12:4 says: “You shall not do so to the Lord your God.”  That is closer to the Mitzvot, but not quite the same. Other English translations are as follows:

·        King James: Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.

·        New International Version: You must not worship the LORD your God in their way.

·        New American Standard: You shall not act like this toward the LORD your God.

Jewish sources don’t seem to translate the verse differently. This site uses the King James translation: Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.

It seems that the short verse of scripture in Deuteronomy is not self-interpreting. For thousands of years, Jews have relied on Tradition as the authority as to how this how this commandment should be interpreted. Non-biblical literature and the Oral Law are of great prominence in Judaism and Jewish interpretation of Deuteronomy 12:4 is fairly consistent - to not destroy objects associated with His name.

Though Jewish Tradition is consistent, Christian sources are all over the board on their interpretations of the verse.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes say that the verse means to “not worship Him in several places, mountains, and groves.”

The Matthew Henry Commentary relies upon the plain reading of the verse and says, “The Israelites are charged not to bring the rites and usages of idolaters into the worship of God; not under color of making it better. We cannot serve God and mammon; nor worship the true God and idols; nor depend upon Christ Jesus and upon superstitious or self-righteous confidences.”

This site says it means, “In their desire to be more accepted they adopted some or all of the practices of their neighbors. They did not listen to the law or the prophets.”

This site says, “This verse provides a foundation for how to observe what can be confusing ways of worship to our modern times. Worship is absolutely something done in God’s way not the way of the world around us, and it clearly involves sacrifice.”

This site rather vaguely states, “What does Deuteronomy 12:4 teach us about worshipping God? Answer: There is a right way and there are many wrong ways. Read the context to understand this a bit more.”

This site says, “We have been showing the Jews that the Messiah changed God’s appointed Feasts to Easter and Christmas (This is a false teaching that Yeshua (Jesus) NEVER instituted and would have been a sin if He did. We cannot find these man-made holidays anywhere in Scripture. Matter of fact, God even tells us that we are NOT to take another god’s celebration and make it His.”

This site, in a rambling discourse, asserts that the Catholic Church is the “Whore of Christmas,” and lists the verse among many as claimed support for its contention.

This site poses the question: “The ‘Vestal Virgins’ of pagan Rome and the ‘Nuns’ of Catholic Rome - What is the Connection?” It tries to make the connection and uses the verse as support.

 This site says the verse means, “We must resist attempts by atheists and Jewish traitors who hate their own religion and seek to uproot it. In the USA attempts to remove the Ten Commandments etc from court houses should be resisted. We need to protect all aspects of our Hebraic heritage that our ancestors consciously or subconsciously managed to incorporate into our civil affairs.” 

This poster says, “The Roman church is not considered Christian in my opinion because they do not follow the Christ or obey His Father in their worship. …The ancient Romans were pagans (many still are in their worship) and worshiped their gods/goddesses with their own worship system that unfortunately they kept when they infiltrated the Church started by the Christ and guided by His Apostles. [Deuteronomy 12:4 tells the followers of the LORD to never worship Him the way the pagans worship their gods/goddesses]

The many different interpretations of Deuteronomy 12:4 seem to demonstrate how different people can read the same thing in scripture and believe that it means different things.

Nowadays, many people feel that they have license to interpret scripture in any manner that they see fit. For the first 1,500 years of Christianity, however, no one suggested that this was a wise practice. However, in the early1500s, Martin Luther introduced the concept of Sola Scriptura.

The term Sola Sciptura means "by scripture alone." The concept suggests that the Bible contains all knowledge that is necessary for salvation and holiness.

I want to emphasize that the older mainline Protestant denominations do not deny the value of Tradition. They only posit that all other authorities are subordinate to, and are to be corrected by, scripture. At the same time, however, the doctrine also states that scripture is “governed by the discernible excellence of the text as well as the personal witness of the Holy Spirit to the heart of each man.”

Sola Scriptura asserts that every man is able to interpret scripture on his own, as he is guided by the Holy Spirit. This sounds “good,” as it is consistent with our American ideals – no one should be subordinate to anyone else and we should be free to do or believe whatever we desire.

However, the various interpretations of Deuteronomy 12:4 suggest a problem with Sola Scriptura.

Before Christianity ever existed there was a single meaning of Deuteronomy 12:4. It remained in place for thousands of years. It is the definitive explanation - not destroy objects associated with His name. It cannot be disputed. Other explanations are in error.

Trying to interpret scripture without researching the 2,000 years of Christian writings and wisdom is like trying to write a term paper without doing any research. It is just asking for erroneous conclusions.

Though the concept of sola scriptura seems intuitive at first blush, it unravels when one understands that sola scriptura is contrary to scripture itself.

Scripture regarding Sola Scriptura (every man interpreting scripture on his own with the help of the Holy Spirit)

2 Peter 3:15-16

And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you, speaking of these things as he does in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures.

Acts 8:30–31

Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He replied, "How can I, unless someone instructs me?" So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.

Early Church Fathers on the Concept of Sola Scriptura

The concept of Sola Scriptura was foreign to the first Christian. The early Christians relied exclusively on Oral Tradition since there were no New Testament scriptures that had even been written for the first generation of Christians. There wasn’t even a New Testament as we know it until the list of Scripture was compiled by the Church only at Hippo in 393 and Carthage in 397, and then it was sent to Rome for confirmation in 419.

The early church fathers emphatically rejected Sola Scriptura.

Irenaeus Iv. 26,5

Where then the gifts of God have been set, there we must learn the truth from them with whom is the succession from the apostles. . . . For these guard our faith, . . . and they expound the scriptures to us without peril."

Tertullian De Praescrip. 19

They who affirm that the truth is with them must say that the corruptions in the scriptures and the falsities in the expositions of them have been rather introduced by us. To the scriptures, therefore, we must not appeal. . . . For the order of things would require that this question should be first proposed: ‘To whom belongeth the very faith; whose are the scriptures; by whom, and through whom, and when, and to whom was that rule delivered whereby men became Christians?’ For wherever both the true Christian rule and faith shall be shown to be, there will be the true scriptures and the true expositions and all the true Christian traditions

Vincent of Lerins Commonitor2

Here, perhaps, some will inquire: ‘Since the canon of the scriptures is perfect and more than suffices to itself for all things, what need is there to join with it the authority of the Church’s mind?’ And he answers: ‘Because on account of its depth, all do not take the Scripture according to one and the same sense, but this man and that man interpret it severally in their own fashion.’ . . . Therefore, it is exceedingly necessary, because of such great deviations of so varying an error, that the line of prophetic and apostolic interpretation should be guided by the rule of ecclesiastical and Catholic sense.

...In the next post, I’ll provide the "conclusion" and discuss how Tradition, and not scripture, primarily determines the applicability of this Mosaic Law to Christians.

7. Do not profane His Name

The seventh commandment in Mosaic Law is to not profane His name.

Where in scripture?

Leviticus 22:32

…and do not profane my holy name

Discussion:

This law is seemingly the same as the 26th law - Not to blaspheme. However, per Wikipedia, Jews interpret this law as a commandment not to bring dishonor or shame to God's name by any act or failure to act. Any behavior or act that disgraces, harms, or shames God and his law is regarded as a desecration of God's name.

Also per Wikipedia, Isaac of the School of Rabbi Jannai said that it would profane God’s Name if a person's bad reputation caused colleagues to become ashamed. Rav Nahman bar Isaac said that an example of this would be where people felt the need to call on God to forgive the transgressor.

It would seem that this law requires people, as representatives of their faith, to comport themselves in a manner that does not cause scandal nor cause others to question the faith, its adherents, or the God they worship.

An example of this came in the form of a question in the Ask an Apologist section of Catholic.com. The poster asked why, if the Catholic Church was established by Jesus, aren't there more "good" Catholics. (In Fr. Serpa's answer, he pointed to the many saints of the Church.)

The New Testament and Tradition emphasize the wrong that can result from an individual who acts in such a way as to profane God's holy name.

New Testament references

Matthew 18:6-7 

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.  Woe to the world because of things that cause sin! Such things must come, but woe to the one through whom they come!  

Catechism of the Catholic Church

2811 In spite of the holy Law that again and again their Holy God gives them - "You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy" - and although the Lord shows patience for the sake of his name, the people turn away from the Holy One of Israel and profane his name among the nations. For this reason the just ones of the old covenant, the poor survivors returned from exile, and the prophets burned with passion for the name.

Respect for the souls of others: scandal

2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.

2285 Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. …Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep's clothing.

Early Church Fathers

St. Thomas Aquinas (on scandal)

It is not the physical cause of a neighbor's sin, but only the moral cause, or occasion; …as when a person without being directly concerned in the sin nevertheless exercises a certain influence on the sin of his neighbor, e.g. by committing such a sin in his presence (this is inductive scandal in a broad sense). For scandal to exist it is therefore essential and sufficient, with regard to the nature of the act and the circumstances under which it takes place, that it be of a nature to induce sin in another; consequently it is not necessary that the neighbor should actually fall into sin …Hence scandal is in itself an evil act, at least in appearance, and as such it exercises on the will of another an influence more or less great which induces to sin.

Conclusion

Binding on Christians

Email from Sen. Dick Durbin

October 28, 2010

Dear Mr. XXXX:

"Thank you for contacting me regarding amendments to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 National Defense Authorization Act. I appreciate hearing from you. ...I understand your concerns about the conscience rights of providers and others who might be affected by an amendment such as the one proposed by Senator Burris. It is important to keep in mind that military abortions will not be paid for by taxpayers. Payment for these services must be provided privately, without the assistance of federal funds. While abortion is an issue that divides Americans, we can acknowledge women's rights and still work together to reduce the number of abortions. It is a decision best left to a woman, her family, her doctor, and her conscience.

...Thank you again for sharing your views with me. Please feel free to stay in touch.

Sincerely,

Richard J. Durbin

United States Senator

6. Sanctify His Name

The sixth commandment in Mosaic Law is to sanctify His name.

Where in scripture?

Leviticus 22:32

…and do not profane my holy name; in the midst of the Israelites I, the LORD, must be held as sacred.

New Testament references

Matthew 6:9 

"This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name"

Catechism of the Catholic Church

I. "HALLOWED BE THY NAME"

2807 The term "to hallow" is to be understood here not primarily in its causative sense (only God hallows, makes holy), but above all in an evaluative sense: to recognize as holy, to treat in a holy way. And so, in adoration, this invocation is sometimes understood as praise and thanksgiving (Ps 111:9; Lk 1:49). But this petition is here taught to us by Jesus as an optative: a petition, a desire, and an expectation in which God and man are involved. Beginning with this first petition to our Father, we are immersed in the innermost mystery of his Godhead and the drama of the salvation of our humanity. Asking the Father that his name be made holy draws us into his plan of loving kindness for the fullness of time, "according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ," that we might "be holy and blameless before him in love ( Eph 1:9,4)."

2808 In the decisive moments of his economy God reveals his name, but he does so by accomplishing his work. This work, then, is realized for us and in us only if his name is hallowed by us and in us.

2813 In the waters of Baptism, we have been "washed . . . sanctified . . . justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God (2 Cor 6:11)". Our Father calls us to holiness in the whole of our life, and since "he is the source of [our] life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and . . .sanctification, (1 Cor 1:30; cf. 1 Thess 4:7)" both his glory and our life depend on the hallowing of his name in us and by us. Such is the urgency of our first petition.

Early Church Fathers

St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 71,4:PL 52:402A

We ask God to hallow his name, which by its own holiness saves and makes holy all creation . . . . It is this name that gives salvation to a lost world. But we ask that this name of God should be hallowed in us through our actions. For God's name is blessed when we live well, but is blasphemed when we live wickedly. As the Apostle says: "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." We ask then that, just as the name of God is holy, so we may obtain his holiness in our souls.

Tertullian, De orat. 3:PL 1:1157A

When we say "hallowed be thy name," we ask that it should be hallowed in us, who are in him; but also in others whom God's grace still awaits, that we may obey the precept that obliges us to pray for everyone, even our enemies. That is why we do not say expressly "hallowed be thy name 'in us,"' for we ask that it be so in all men.

Discussion

When we text message or blurt out OMG, we are probably not sanctifying His name.

Conclusion

Binding on Christians

5. Fear the Lord

The fifth commandment in Mosaic Law is to fear Him.

Where in scripture?

Deuteronomy  10:20

The LORD, your God, shall you fear, and him shall you serve; hold fast to him and swear by his name.

New Testament references

Luke 1:50

His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him.

2 Corinthians 7:1

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God.

1 Peter 2:17

Give honor to all, love the community, fear God, honor the king.

Revelation 14:7

He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, for his time has come to sit in judgment. Worship him who made heaven and earth and sea and springs of water."

Catechism of the Catholic Church

1041 The message of the Last Judgment calls men to conversion while God is still giving them "the acceptable time, …the day of salvation." It inspires a holy fear of God and commits them to the justice of the Kingdom of God. It proclaims the "blessed hope" of the Lord's return, when he will come "to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all who have believed."

1831 The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.

Early Church Fathers

St. Augustine, De civ Dei 10,6:PL 41,283

Every action done so as to cling to God in communion of holiness, and thus achieve blessedness, is a true sacrifice.

Conclusion

Binding on Christians

4. Love God

The fourth commandment in Mosaic Law is to love Him.

Where in scripture?

Deuteronomy  6:5

 Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.

New Testament references

Matthew 12:28-30

One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, "Which is the first of all the commandments?"

Jesus replied, "The first is this: 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'

Catechism of the Catholic Church

2083 Jesus summed up man's duties toward God in this saying: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." This immediately echoes the solemn call: "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD."

God has loved us first. The love of the One God is recalled in the first of the "ten words." The commandments then make explicit the response of love that man is called to give to his God.

2096 Adoration is the first act of the virtue of religion. To adore God is to acknowledge him as God, as the Creator and Savior, the Lord and Master of everything that exists, as infinite and merciful Love. "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve," says Jesus, citing Deuteronomy.

2097 To adore God is to acknowledge, in respect and absolute submission, the "nothingness of the creature" who would not exist but for God. To adore God is to praise and exalt him and to humble oneself, as Mary did in the Magnificat, confessing with gratitude that he has done great things and holy is his name. The worship of the one God sets man free from turning in on himself, from the slavery of sin and the idolatry of the world.

Early Church Fathers

St. Augustine, De civ Dei 10,6:PL 41,283

Every action done so as to cling to God in communion of holiness, and thus achieve blessedness, is a true sacrifice.

Conclusion

Binding on Christians

3. Know that He is one

The third commandment in Mosaic Law is to know that He is One.

Where in scripture?

Deuteronomy  6:4

 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!"

New Testament references

1 Corinthians 8:6 

"…yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are and through whom we exist." 

2 Corinthians 13:13

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Spirit be with all of you.

1 Timothy 2:5-6

For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all."

Matthew 28:19

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit"

Catechism of the Catholic Church

234 The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the "hierarchy of the truths of faith". The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men "and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin".

237 The Trinity is a mystery of faith in the strict sense, one of the "mysteries that are hidden in God, which can never be known unless they are revealed by God". To be sure, God has left traces of his Trinitarian being in his work of creation and in his Revelation throughout the Old Testament. But his inmost Being as Holy Trinity is a mystery that is inaccessible to reason alone or even to Israel's faith before the Incarnation of God's Son and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

242 Following this apostolic tradition, the Church confessed at the first ecumenical council at Nicaea (325) that the Son is "consubstantial" with the Father, that is, one only God with him. The second ecumenical council, held at Constantinople in 381, kept this expression in its formulation of the Nicene Creed and confessed "the only-begotten Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father".

245 The apostolic faith concerning the Spirit was confessed by the second ecumenical council at Constantinople (381): "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father." By this confession, the Church recognizes the Father as "the source and origin of the whole divinity". But the eternal origin of the Spirit is not unconnected with the Son's origin: "The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is God, one and equal with the Father and the Son, of the same substance and also of the same nature. . . Yet he is not called the Spirit of the Father alone,. . . but the Spirit of both the Father and the Son." The Creed of the Church from the Council of Constantinople confesses: "With the Father and the Son, he is worshipped and glorified."

253 The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the "consubstantial Trinity". The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire: "The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, i.e. by nature one God." In the words of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), "Each of the persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature."

261 The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of Christian life. God alone can make it known to us by revealing himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

262 The Incarnation of God's Son reveals that God is the eternal Father and that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, which means that, in the Father and with the Father the Son is one and the same God.

266 "Now this is the Catholic faith: We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance; for the person of the Father is one, the Son's is another, the Holy Spirit's another; but the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal" (Athanasian Creed: DS 75; ND 16).

Early Church Fathers

St. Augustine, De Trin. 15, 26, 47: PL 42, 1095

"The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father as the first principle and, by the eternal gift of this to the Son, from the communion of both the Father and the Son."

St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 40,41: PG 36,417

"'O blessed light, O Trinity and first Unity!' God is eternal blessedness, undying life, unfading light. God is love: Father, Son and Holy Spirit… I give you but one divinity and power, existing one in three, and containing the three in a distinct way."

Conclusion

Binding on Christians

2. Do not think there are other gods besides Him

The second commandment of Mosaic Law is to not even think that there are other gods besides Him.  

Where in scripture?

Exodus 20:3

"You shall not have other gods besides me."

New Testament references

Matthew 4:10 

"'The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.'" 

Romans 16:26-27

"…according to the command of the eternal God, made known to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith, to the only wise God…"

From From the Catechism of the Catholic Church

2084 God's first call and just demand is that man accept him and worship him.

2087 Our moral life has its source in faith in God who reveals his love to us. Our duty toward God is to believe in him and to bear witness to him.

2088 The first commandment requires us to nourish and protect our faith with prudence and vigilance, and to reject everything that is opposed to it. There are various ways of sinning against faith:

Voluntary doubt about the faith disregards or refuses to hold as true what God has revealed and the Church proposes for belief. Involuntary doubt refers to hesitation in believing, difficulty in overcoming objections connected with the faith, or also anxiety aroused by its obscurity. If deliberately cultivated doubt can lead to spiritual blindness.

2091 The first commandment is also concerned with sins against hope, namely, despair and presumption:

By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God, for help in attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is contrary to God's goodness, to his justice - for the Lord is faithful to his promises - and to his mercy.

2092 There are two kinds of presumption. Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or he presumes upon God's almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit).

2093 Faith in God's love encompasses the call and the obligation to respond with sincere love to divine charity. The first commandment enjoins us to love God above everything and all creatures for him and because of him. (Deut 6:4-5)

2097 To adore God is to acknowledge, in respect and absolute submission, the "nothingness of the creature" who would not exist but for God. To adore God is to praise and exalt him and to humble oneself… The worship of the one God sets man free from turning in on himself, from the slavery of sin and the idolatry of the world.

2099 It is right to offer sacrifice to God as a sign of adoration and gratitude, supplication and communion: "Every action done so as to cling to God in communion of holiness, and thus achieve blessedness, is a true sacrifice." (St. Augustine, De civ Dei 10,6:PL 41,283)

2100 Outward sacrifice, to be genuine, must be the expression of spiritual sacrifice: "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit. . . . " (Ps 51:17) The prophets of the Old Covenant often denounced sacrifices that were not from the heart or not coupled with love of neighbor. (Am 5:21-25; Isa 1:10-20) Jesus recalls the words of the prophet Hosea: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice." (Mt 9:13; 12:7; Hos 6:6) The only perfect sacrifice is the one that Christ offered on the cross as a total offering to the Father's love and for our salvation. (Heb 9:13-14) By uniting ourselves with his sacrifice we can make our lives a sacrifice to God.

2133 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength" (Deut 6:5).

2134 The first commandment summons man to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him above all else.

Early Church Fathers

St. Justin, Dial. cum Tryphone Judaeo 11,1:PG 6,497

We do not place our hope in some other god, for there is none, but in the same God as you do: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Discussion

Christians combine the first two commandments of Mosaic Law into the first commandment of the Ten Commandments. 

Conclusion

Binding on Christians

1. Know There is a God

The first commandment of Mosaic Law is to know there is a God.

Where in scripture?

From Exodus 20:2

"I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery."

New Testament references

Matthew 4:10 

"The Lord, your God, shall you worship" 

Catechism of the Catholic Church

2084 God makes himself known by recalling his all-powerful loving, and liberating action in the history of the one he addresses: "I brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

2085 The one and true God first reveals his glory to Israel. The revelation of the vocation and truth of man is linked to the revelation of God. Man's vocation is to make God manifest by acting in conformity with his creation "in the image and likeness of God":

2086 "The first commandment embraces faith, hope, and charity. When we say 'God' we confess a constant, unchangeable being, always the same, faithful and just, without any evil.

Atheism

2131 "Many . . . of our contemporaries either do not at all perceive, or explicitly reject, this intimate and vital bond of man to God. Atheism must therefore be regarded as one of the most serious problems of our time."

2124 The name "atheism" covers many very different phenomena. One common form is the practical materialism which restricts its needs and aspirations to space and time. Atheistic humanism falsely considers man to be "an end to himself, and the sole maker, with supreme control, of his own history." Another form of contemporary atheism looks for the liberation of man through economic and social liberation. "It holds that religion, of its very nature, thwarts such emancipation by raising man's hopes in a future life, thus both deceiving him and discouraging him from working for a better form of life on earth."

2126 Atheism is often based on a false conception of human autonomy, exaggerated to the point of refusing any dependence on God. Yet, "to acknowledge God is in no way to oppose the dignity of man, since such dignity is grounded and brought to perfection in God…"

Early Church Fathers

St. Justin, Dial. cum Tryphone Judaeo 11,1:PG 6,497

There will never be another God, Trypho, and there has been no other since the world began . . . than he who made and ordered the universe. We do not think that our God is different from yours. He is the same who brought your fathers out of Egypt "by his powerful hand and his outstretched arm."

Natural Law

Albert Einstein

"A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man."

Conclusion

Binding on Christians