manner, but briefly and with the greatest simplicity, so as to enter
the mind readily and be fixed in the memory. Therefore we shall now
take up the above mentioned articles one by one and in the plainest
manner possible say about them as much as is necessary.



Part First. The Ten Commandments.


The First Commandment.


Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.


That is: Thou shalt have [and worship] Me alone as thy God. What is the
force of this, and how is it to be understood? What does it mean to
have a god? or, what is God? Answer: A god means that from which we are
to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress,
so that to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe Him
from the [whole] heart; as I have often said that the confidence and
faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. If your faith and
trust be right, then is your god also true; and, on the other hand, if
your trust be false and wrong, then you have not the true God; for
these two belong together faith and God. That now, I say, upon which
you set your heart and put your trust is properly your god.

Therefore it is the intent of this commandment to require true faith
and trust of the heart which settles upon the only true God and clings