Q56. What is the reason attached to the third commandment?
The reason attached to the third commandment is that however much the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from people, yet the Lord our God will not allow them to escape his righteous judgment.
Scripture Proofs — King James Version
1 Samuel 2:12, 17, 22, 29
“Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD. … Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD. … Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. … Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?”
1 Samuel 3:13
“For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.”
Deuteronomy 28:58–59
“If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.”