The Second Commandment
Over the course of the next few weeks I intend to tread controversial waters. Well, next week won’t be that controversial, but this week and 2 weeks from now will be. The interpretation of the Second and Fourth Commandment for today is discussed often and for good reason it is of great concern to faithful believers.
When I move into territory such as this I want to say that we don’t have all the answers and that is because I am fallen and do not yet have perfect knowledge. I may come face to face with my Lord some day and have to answer for my own intellectual failings and wrong things that I taught you (James 3:1). So, I don’t relish jumping into these sorts of things. Yet, I strive to teach the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27 NASB) and since this is part of that we will dive in.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Exodus 20:4-6 NASB
Last week, in the first command, God taught us that He alone is to be worshipped. Now He is going to tell us how we are to worship Him. There is a great emphasis in the Pentateuch on how God is to be worshipped, so there is a massive amount of material to wade through when discussing this. It is my hope that next time you try to read the passages of Scripture that discuss how God is to be worshipped.
What we will see today is that God has commanded how He should be worshipped, and that it is to be without the use of images.
Do Not Make Idols
This command is not just about the worship of other gods. That is certainly not to be done and to do so would also break the First Commandment. I am amazed at the foolishness of such a thing. Repeatedly in Scripture the idea is lampooned as such. It’s hard to imagine a person cutting down a tree, making an idol out of wood, and then worshiping it but that is what we see repeatedly. It is also what we see shortly after the giving of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 32. Shortly after the people pledge to follow the commands, they make a golden calf and credit it with having brought them out of Egypt. I would argue that this was breaking both the First and Second Commandment.
Do Not Worship Images
Historically, and I believe rightly, this command has not been primarily understood as a discussion about worshiping other gods, but how the one true God is to be worshipped. God is God and so He gets to tell everyone how He will be worshipped. And in the command He says that no images are to be made.
I want to look at some viewpoints on this text from different time periods and traditions. I think you’ll find that helpful when thinking through this commandment.
In his comments over this text John MacArthur writes,
“The mode or fashion of worship appropriate to only one Lord forbids any attempt to represent or caricature Him by use of anything He has made. Total censure of artistic expression was not the issue; the absolute censure of idolatry and false worship was the issue.”
John MacArthur, from his notes on this text in the MacArthur Study Bible
John Calvin discusses this text and says,
“The purport of the commandment, therefore, is, that He will not have His legitimate worship profaned by superstitious rites.”
John Calvin, from Calvin’s Institutes Book 2, Chapter 18:17
He also said,
“In the First Commandment, after He had taught who was the true God, He commanded that He alone should be worshipped; and now He defines what is His legitimate worship.”—John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentary on this passage
John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentary in his notes on this passage
Benjamin Keach wrote a catechism that is still used today in many churches that accompanies the 1689 London Baptist Confession. This was to be learned by families, both children and parents together. These are questions 56-57 of the catechism.
Q. 56: What is required in the Second Commandment?
A. The Second Commandment requires the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances, as God has appointed in His Word. (Deuteronomy 32:46; Matthew 28:20; Deuteronomy 12:32)
Q. 57: What is forbidden in the Second Commandment?
A. The Second Commandment forbids the worshipping of God by images, or any other way not appointed in His Word. (Romans 1:22-23; Deuteronomy 4:15-16; Matthew 15:19; Colossians 2:18)
If we examine the passages of Scripture in the Pentateuch that seem to spring out of this Commandment there are too many to even write down, but I did make a start of it.
Passages like Exodus 23:24 obviously point to the first idea. We are not to worship other gods by making some image to them. But the vast majority of these passages have more to do with how the people of God were to worship.
1 “You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 26:1 ESV
22 And the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.
Exodus 20:22-25 ESV
22 And you shall not set up a pillar, which the LORD your God hates.
Deuteronomy 16:22 ESV
24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.
Exodus 23:24 ESV
4 You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way. 5 But you shall seek the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, 6 and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7 And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the LORD your God has blessed you. 8 “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, 9 for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you. 10 But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, 11 then to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the LORD. 12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since he has no portion or inheritance with you. 13 Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see, 14 but at the place that the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you. 15 “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer. 16 Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. 17 You may not eat within your towns the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present, 18 but you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place that the LORD your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all that you undertake. … 26 But the holy things that are due from you, and your vow offerings, you shall take, and you shall go to the place that the LORD will choose, 27 and offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, but the flesh you may eat.
Deuteronomy 12:4-18, 26-27 ESV
In the above passage the point is that God stated how He was to be worshipped. And there is no usage of images. The idea is similar to what we find below. There are a lot of beautiful things here, but none of them are images of God.
23 “You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 24 You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it. 25 And you shall make a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and a molding of gold around the rim. 26 And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. 27 Close to the frame the rings shall lie, as holders for the poles to carry the table. 28 You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these. 29 And you shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold. 30 And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly. 31 “You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work: its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. 32 And there shall be six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it; 33 three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch–so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. 34 And on the lampstand itself there shall be four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers, 35 and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out from the lampstand. 36 Their calyxes and their branches shall be of one piece with it, the whole of it a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. 37 You shall make seven lamps for it. And the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it. 38 Its tongs and their trays shall be of pure gold. 39 It shall be made, with all these utensils, out of a talent of pure gold.
Exodus 25:23-29 ESV
1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly. 3 Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall arrange it from evening to morning before the LORD regularly. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 4 He shall arrange the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold before the LORD regularly.
Leviticus 24:1-4 ESV
1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and say to him, When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.” 3 And Aaron did so: he set up its lamps in front of the lampstand, as the LORD commanded Moses. 4 And this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was hammered work; according to the pattern that the LORD had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.
Numbers 8:1-4 ESV
There are many more passages than this that consist of great details in the matter of how God was to be worshipped. And what you don’t find is the use of images to worship Him.
Now, I want to ask a few questions that get to the heart of the matter.
Who gets to choose how He is worshipped, us or God? What does this tell us about our worship?
Now, I want to get to a sticky point for many people. And really this is the point that a lot of people discuss at great length. What about images of Jesus?
Is it okay to have images of Jesus up in our homes, churches, or during worship?
This topic is discussed and debated among different groups of believers. This was discussed in a major way during the Protestant Reformation because of how much images were used in the Roman Churches. Martin Luther was pretty friendly toward images of Jesus. Most of the other Protestant Reformers were not.
In fact, early Protestants, even the Pilgrims in America kept their churches very plain so as to make sure they did not break the Second Commandment. There were no pictures of Jesus allowed by them in any way, shape, or form. This is why there are no crucifixes in Protestant Churches, only empty crosses. It’s a tradition that has held for a long time. But, as mentioned earlier, not everyone agreed. Martin Luther was okay with images as long as they were not being worshipped.
But, all of them agreed that the Roman usage of imagery was forbidden by the Second Commandment.
So, here is my take on the matter. And I pray it’s correct.
God took on human flesh and dwelt among us in order to make what was only spirit flesh as well. At this point people were able to see and touch Jesus. He made God, whom we cannot see, seen. Therefore, I don’t see a problem with depictions of Jesus. But since we cannot know exactly what Jesus looked like I am much more comfortable with non-lifelike representations. Things like depictions in children’s books I see no problem with whatsoever.
But I want to make this abundantly clear. We are not to worship these images. They do not represent Jesus as He actually existed. We simply do not know what Jesus actually looked like.
I may be on the wrong side of this. I am certainly willing to hear and read arguments from the other side, but here I find myself in pretty close proximity to Martin Luther on images. And because I have read their arguments, I know that though they mean well the argument against images of Jesus in things like Storybook Bibles seems to fall flat and the reason is that worship seems to be the specific concern.
Why Is This Important?
This is important because God is Spirit and any representation of Him that is physical is a misrepresentation of Him. There is also no way for us to know what Jesus actually looked like. And even if we did worshipping Jesus as only human misses a large part of who He is. In effect any representation of God would make Him lesser in our thoughts. Therefore, to worship using any image would be wrong.
The Punishment And Reason For It
God is a jealous God. Every worship of an image is an act of worship of a false god. It is a misrepresentation of who He is that is being worshipped.
Here is what I hope is a helpful example. Imagine I came home one day and told my wife that I loved her beautiful blond hair and brown eyes. What would her response be? Well, those of you that can picture her now would know that she wouldn’t be happy, because that is not what she looks like.
Here is the reason God is not happy with the worship of images of Him. God is not happy when we worship a misrepresentation of Him.
And then the punishment was stated as “visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Worshipping an image of God is idolatrous, even if we did not intend for it to be so. Worshiping an image of God that we have made in our minds is not pleasing to Him. This kind of behavior has affects to generations of people that come after us. If a parent has an idolatrous view of God it will be passed down to their children. The parents will not be the only ones who have an idolatrous view of God, the kids, grandkids and others will as well. And, if a parent worships the One True God as He has directed this is a faithfulness that passes from generation to generation as well.
Here are some quotes from Thomas Watson on this.
“A godly parent does not invite God’s wrath, but helps to keep off wrath from his child. He prepares his child with pious principle and prays down a blessing on him. He is a magnet to draw his child to Christ by his good counsel and example. Oh, what a privilege it is to be born of godly, pious parents!”—Thomas Watson
Thomas Watson, from The Ten Commandments
“Wicked idolaters bring misery on their children, and God visits the iniquity of the fathers upon their children; but pious parents secure a blessing upon their children, and God reserves mercy for their children.”—Thomas Watson
Thomas Watson, from The Ten Commandments
And this is where I’d like to land this plane, with some questions of application.
How important does God believe the worship of Him to be?
How particular is He that we get it right?
Does this affect how we think about our worship?
How Then Are We To Think Of God?
This does bring about a legitimate question for us to answer. If we are not to be thinking in pictures of God, using images what are we to do? God has revealed Himself to us in Scripture. And we are to think of Him how He has revealed Himself in Scripture. As Thomas Watson states,
“We must conceive of Him in His attributes – His holiness, justice, and goodness – which are the beams by which His divine nature shines forth.”—Thomas Watson
Thomas Watson, from The Ten Commandments
Conclusion
I hope that this was a helpful look at the Second Commandment. I know that it is a somewhat controversial topic for some believers. But it is helpful to look at what has been stated through the ages and consider what the rest of Scripture says. And here we find that we are not to worship images, therefore images depicting God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit should not be used in worship. Though I do believe that it is okay to use images as tools for teaching.
R. Dwain Minor