The first commandment in Exodus 20:2 says “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” Remember, spiritually interpreted this refers to our ability to be released from bondage by means of our understanding of the Law.
The second “commandment” in Exodus 20:3 says “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” This commandment can also be understood spiritually for the internal man.
Earlier the concept of “Ye are God” was discussed. It may help to go back and read that. When man ate of the tree of Knowledge he became a “god”. But remember, when our eyes are “opened” we also became blind to the truth because the tree of Knowledge also breads the carnal mind. Also see the earlier discussions on the “Eye of God” and the double mind. “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:” (Genesis 3:22)
Psalm 82:5-7 “They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.”
Isaiah 41:23-24 “Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.”
Man is a “god” in himself via the tree of knowledge, however, the second commandment says that “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Remember, the law is spiritual and it should be understood spiritually. So how do we follow this second commandment of the Law?
Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Acts 16:17 “…These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.”
To serve the most High (Psalm 82) which is our “reasonable service” one has to stop serving themselves. We may be children of the most high and therefore gods in ourselves, but we must become like “little” children of God and soley dependent on God rather than unruly teenagers who represent the children of who are serving the god in themselves.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”
1 Corinthians 7:20-24 “Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.”
Remember from earlier discussions you use your knowledge to buy or sell “goods” which brings understanding to the mind. When your understanding is through the Holy Ghost you have “bought” into Christ and come to understand that you are under the Spiritual Laws. You are really not your own but a servant to God who’s laws control it all anyhow. So when we “buy into” God, we come to know that we are already subject to his Spiritual Laws, however, we just may not quite understand how they are already working in our life. But when you understand how the Laws work in your life, you become “free” through living through and serving the most High God rather than serving yourself.
So what is this set “price” talked about in both 1 Corinthians 6 and 7?
Matthew 16:24-26 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Remember from Romans 12:1 above, it says to “present your bodies a living sacrifice” to God. And Matthew 16 says that we have to lose our life to gain it.
So what is it that we exchange for our soul?
Romans 13:14 “…make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” “But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Luke 12:31)
When we serve ourselves we are actually doing ourselves an injustice because the laws of God tell us that to TRULY “live” we must give up our carnal ego mind’s ideals for ourselves and allow God to give us what he wants to give us. The world deceives us into serving it [rather than God] and makes us believe that when we are serving ourselves (fulfilling our “needs” and “wants”) we are fulling our purpose and doing what is best for ourselves. However, when you think you are your own, you are mistaken. That is the deception of this world and it gives us a delusion of freedom when really it is a trap. When you follow “your own” direction, which means to seek the things you think you need rather than seek the kingdom, you “sell your soul to the devil” which takes you away from your soul’s full potential. And you are then also missing the mark of the second commandment (Exodus 20:3). We deceive ourselves into thinking that if we serve ourselves we will find ourselves. However, we are not separate from God and so we must find that connection to the most high God to truly live our high called purpose. The set price we pay is our ego mind, our carnal knowledge and our ego’s needs. But when we give that up and give ourselves to God we are “bought with a price” and so that price we give is our ego mind and carnal life and carnal mind’s ways of getting what we need. When we “pay this price” we really gain true understanding or true treasures. As Christ’s life is handed over [to us] and so is dead in us while we are living through our own ideals we are bought with a price; where that price gives us a potential for real wisdom within us. And he is brought to life in us when we realize that life [our true life] is in us waiting to be resurrected. We follow the pattern of Christ, the example of Christ, when we hand over our life, lay down our life, and take up our cross to pay the same price back for what is given and accept the gift of true life. The Kingdom of God is a place where your mind accepts God’s rule and direction. This is how we serve the most High God.
Matthew 18:3 “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Luke 16:12 “And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?”
A little child is dependent on his parents for everything. The parents know what is best for the child and gives it to them, and the child knows no different; until it is old enough to look back and understand.
So if you do not understand or believe (not been faithful) in the understanding that you are not your own [but another man’s (i.e. Christ)] and allow your parent to provide what is best for you, how will you ever get what is best for you and rightfully yours? Be trusting and dependent on God for direction as a little child is for everything it needs; he knows best and sees the whole picture. A little child trusts his parents for everything, it is only when the child grows out of childhood he begins to question his parent’s advice and begins to go out on his own. So be faithful in that which is another man’s (Luke 16).
Romans 8:12-17 “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
Romans 8:24-25 “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”
Phil 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
In a roundabout way but yet also pretty direct, these verses are saying that we really do not know what we need or should want to fulfil our highest potential. The smaller the child (the more dependent on God) the less they really know about what they really need, so they depend on the parent for everything. It says to be converted to a “little child” to be released from bondage and fear and received into adoption and we cry to our “Father” to give us what we need. We are then saved by the hope in something we do not yet understand or see how it will be or work out (Romans 8:24-25). Only when we do this and stop living after our own “lusts” do we receive the adoption [from ourselves] and receive what is truly ours. We have to stop living after own thoughts and seeking what we think we need rather than seeking God’s advice. Doing this gives us the opportunity to become an heir to what God wants to give us rather than what we think we need and want which produces the bondage of continual thoughts of lack.
True life is not about living here through our “animal” needs, it is about receiving what God can plentifully provide as gifts through the power of the Spirit, through the power of the Spirit within us.
So “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;” (James 1:2) because each time we are tasked with a problem, we are given the opportunity to serve the most High God who works through us rather than through the carnal mind which fights against God. So be happy when you are given the opportunity to give a problem or a need to God.
Ephesians 3:20 “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”
Strive to serve the most High God and thou shalt have no other “gods” (i.e. the ego and carnal mind) before him.