The Preface to the Ten Commandments: Grace Before Obedience

The Ten Commandments do not begin with a list of demands. They begin with a declaration of who God is and what He has done for His people. The Westminster Larger Catechism asks, “What is the preface to the Ten Commandments?” It answers: “The preface to the Ten Commandments is, ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.’ In this, God manifests his sovereignty as being I AM, the eternal, immutable, and almighty God, having his being in and of himself and giving being to all his words and works, and manifests that he is a God in covenant, as with Israel of old, and so with all his people. As he brought them out of their slavery in Egypt, so he delivers us from our spiritual slavery, and therefore we are bound to take him as our God alone and to keep all his commandments.”

The preface to the Ten Commandments teaches us how to hear every command that follows. God does not tell His people to earn deliverance by obedience. He first reminds them that He has rescued them. His law comes from the God who saves, and it calls His redeemed people to live as those who belong to Him.

The Preface to the Ten Commandments Reveals the LORD

The first words of the preface are weighty: “I am the LORD your God” (Exodus 20:2). The name LORD translates the covenant name Yahweh—the name God revealed to Moses at the burning bush. When Moses asked for God’s name, God answered, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14).

God is not dependent on anyone or anything. He does not receive His life, power, wisdom, or purpose from another. He simply is. He is eternal, unchanging, and almighty. Isaiah records the Lord’s own declaration: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god” (Isaiah 44:6).

This matters when we come to the Ten Commandments. The One giving these commands is not a tribal deity, a human ruler, or a mere religious idea. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. Paul told the Athenians that “the God who made the world and everything in it” is Lord of heaven and earth, and that in Him “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:24, 28).

Because God is the great I AM, His words are certain. His commands are not suggestions to be revised according to the whim of a culture or the feelings of an individual. Yet His unchanging nature is also a comfort. The God who spoke at Sinai is faithful today. His holiness has not weakened, His promises have not failed, and His mercy toward His people has not run dry.

The Preface to the Ten Commandments Declares Covenant Grace

The Lord does not merely say, “I am the LORD.” He says, “I am the LORD your God.” These words reveal a covenant relationship. The holy God has freely bound Himself to a people and calls them His own.

This was His promise to Abraham: “I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you… to be God to you and to your offspring after you” (Genesis 17:7). Israel did not create this relationship by moral effort. God established it by grace. He chose Abraham, preserved Isaac and Jacob, remembered His covenant, and delivered their descendants from Egypt.

The same truth extends beyond Israel according to the flesh. Paul asks, “Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also” (Romans 3:29). Through Christ, people from every nation are brought near to God. Those who trust in Christ are not strangers trying to gain the attention of a distant deity. They are received as the people of God.

This is the proper setting for obedience. Christians do not keep God’s commandments in order to become His children. We obey because, through Christ, we have been brought into His family. The gospel does not weaken God’s law; it gives us the right motivation for it. We serve not as slaves trying to purchase acceptance, but as beloved children responding to grace.

The Preface to the Ten Commandments Remembers Deliverance

The Lord continues: “who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exodus 20:2). Before God gave Israel commands for holy living, He reminded them of the mighty salvation they had already received.

Israel had been powerless in Egypt. They could not free themselves from Pharaoh’s oppression. God saw their affliction, heard their cries, and acted in faithfulness to His promise. He redeemed them by His power and brought them out to be His people.

Their physical slavery points us to an even deeper bondage: slavery to sin. Sin does not merely produce isolated mistakes; apart from Christ, it rules the heart. We may imagine ourselves free while being held captive by pride, lust, bitterness, fear, greed, or the desire for human approval.

But Jesus Christ is the greater Deliverer. He came to save His people from sin and its judgment. Zechariah praised God because He had visited and redeemed His people, delivering them so that they “might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days” (Luke 1:74–75). Peter likewise reminds believers that they were redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18–19).

The preface to the Ten Commandments therefore calls us to remember our redemption. We do not obey in order to escape spiritual slavery. Christ has already paid the price for His people. We obey because we have been set free to serve the One who rescued us.

The Preface to the Ten Commandments Calls for Exclusive Devotion

If the Lord is our God and Deliverer, then He alone deserves our worship and obedience. The first commandment follows naturally: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Redemption creates obligation—not the harsh obligation of a master who exploits his servants, but the fitting devotion owed to the gracious King who has saved them.

Every commandment belongs in this relationship. We honor God because He is our God. We worship Him alone because He delivered us. We honor parents, protect life, pursue purity, speak truth, and reject covetousness because our lives are no longer our own.

This is why Leviticus repeatedly joins God’s identity to His commands: “You shall keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:37). His authority gives weight to His commands. His redeeming love gives warmth to our obedience.

The preface to the Ten Commandments also exposes the danger of divided hearts. We may not bow before carved images, yet we can still look to money, comfort, success, politics, family, or personal freedom for the security and identity that belong to God alone. The Lord who redeemed us from slavery will not share His rightful place with idols.

The Preface to the Ten Commandments Leads Us to Grateful Obedience

The Ten Commandments are not a ladder by which sinners climb their way to heaven. They are the good path for a redeemed people. God’s grace comes first; obedience follows.

That pattern should shape our daily lives. When we fail, we do not run from God as though our hope rests on a perfect record. We run to Christ, our Redeemer, confess our sin, and ask for renewed strength to walk in His ways. When obedience feels difficult, we remember whose commandments these are: the commandments of the eternal Lord who has made Himself our God through grace.

The preface to the Ten Commandments teaches us to begin with God—His character, His covenant, and His deliverance. He is the great I AM. He is our God. He has brought His people out of slavery through the saving work of Jesus Christ. Therefore, let us gladly take Him as our God alone and seek, by His grace, to keep all His commandments.

Soli Deo Gloria