Q. 14. What does God teach us in the preface to the Ten Commandments, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery”?

• WSC 44
• Luther’s Small Catechism

The Lord. “Because God is the Lord, Jehovah, self-existent, independent, eternal, and the fountain of all being and power; therefore he has an incontestable right to command us” (Wesley). Jesus is “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36); “to him shall be the obedience of the peoples” (Genesis 49:10).

Our God. The law was first given to God’s chosen people Israel. God took them for his own, and they joyfully consented to his covenant. God is not a cruel taskmaster who gives us his law to control or enslave us. God is a caring father and loving bridegroom who knows what is best for us and gives us his law for our good. He is worthy of our grateful obedience and loving service. For those who love God and desire to please him, the law of the Lord is “sweeter than honey” (Psalm 119:72) and “better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces” (Psalm 119:103).

Redeemer. God redeemed Israel from slavery in Egypt before giving them his law (Exodus 6:6). God’s people were “bound in gratitude to obey him, because he had brought them out of a grievous slavery into a glorious liberty” (Wesley). We obey God because he has redeemed us, not in order to earn our redemption. God has saved us from the slavery of sin through Jesus Christ, and it is right that we should offer him new obedience (see Q. 51).

Bound. To openly break or disregard any of God’s commandments is to deny his Lordship, reject him as one’s God, and spurn his gracious and glorious redemption.

All his commandments. The law is an interconnected unit. “Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (James 2:10).