Question 1: Who is the first and chiefest being?
Answer: God is the first and chiefest being.
The Baptist catechism begins with God, because there is no knowledge of truth about the world or ourselves apart from knowledge of God and his character. The assumption of the Baptist catechism, like that of Holy Scripture, is that God exists. It makes no effort to prove God’s existence, but assumes that God is!
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Ge 1:1)
Jim Orrick, in his new commentary on the Baptist Catechism, helpfully elaborates on this point.
“Like the Bible, the Baptist Catechism does not attempt to prove that there is a God. God’s existence probably cannot be proven to satisfy someone who has become a skeptic, and HIs existence does not need to be proven to satisfy a person who is willing to believe the truth. We do not need to convince a newborn baby that there is oxygen in the air and that she needs to breathe it. She was designed to breathe it. She may grow up to be a stubborn person who denies oxygen exists, but as long as she lives, she lives breathing—and being kept alive by—the very thing that she denies. God is more essential than air. “In him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). God’s existence may not be recognized by a skeptic, but to the seeing eyes, we live in a world that is bursting with God.”
- God is the first being.
Thus says the LORD, the King of Israeland his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: “I am the first, and I am the last; besides me there is no god. (Is 44:6)
Before anything was, God eternally was, perfectly self-sufficient, having life in himself, being perfect love and in need of nothing. This is what God’s name reveals to us in Exodus 3:14.
13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. (Ex 3:13–14)
God is the only self-existing being, and as the first being, he is the creator of all things, including human beings. It is impossible to know ourselves rightly apart from the understanding that we are created in God’s image (Gen. 1:26-27)
Benjamin Beddome (1717-1795), in his study notes on the Baptist Catechism, elaborates on the different ways God being first is taught to us throughout Scripture.
Is he first in government? Yes.
Thy throne is established of old (Psalm 93:2)
Is he first in the world of grace? Yes.
All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself (2 Cor. 5:18)
Is he first to display his love? Yes.
We love him becasue he first loved us (1 John 4:19)
Should God then be first in our thoughts? Yes.
When I awake I am still with thee (139:18)
And first in our esteem? Yes.
Whom have I in heaven but thee (Psalm 72:25)
These are but a few examples, but they are a rich reminder that there is an abundance of edifying meditations to consider when thinking about God as the first being.
2. God is the chiefest being.
For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods (Ps 97:9)
“Above all beings that God created, God is the chiefest being. Angels may have great powers, but God is their chief. Demons may try to undermine God’s influence or even wish that they could overthrow God Himself, but he is the chiefest being, and His rule and reign remain unmoved.” – Jim Scott Orrick
“Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? (Ex 15:11)
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; 35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Da 4:34–35)
Let’s consider again how we might meditate on this truth with the help of Benjamin Beddome.
Should God then be chiefly loved? Yes.
Thou shall love the Lord thy God with thie heart (Luke 10:27)
And chiefly feared? Yes.
Rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell, (Matthew 10:28)
And are those happy who are interested in him? Yes.
Happy is that people whose God is the Lord, (Psalm 144:15)
Nathaniel R. Martin 