The Second Commandment: “You Shall Not Make Any Images To Worship”

Two Questions:

(1) What does this commandment teach me about God?

(2) What does this commandment teach me about our Christian response?

<Exodus 20>
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

2 ways to commit idolatry:

• Worship something else besides the one true God.
• Worship the one true God by means which are not instructed nor endorsed by Him.
• First command is about the object of worship; Second command is about the means of worship.

 Heidelberg Catechism

• Q 96.  What does God require in the second commandment?
  That we in no wise represent God by images, nor worship Him in any other way than He has commanded in His Word.
• Q 97.  Are images then not at all to be made?
  God neither can nor may be represented by any means. But as to creatures, though they may be represented, yet God forbids to make or have any resemblance of them either in order to worship them or to serve God by them.

What’s wrong with using images as a means of worship?

1) Even making images representing the one true God can become idolatrous.

• Biblical examples:
  • The golden calf <Ex 32>.
  • The ark of the covenant <1 Sam 4>.
  • The bronze serpent <Num 21:4-9; 2 Ki 18:4>.
    • <2 Ki 18:4b> He (king Hezekiah) broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)

2) No image is a fair and accurate representation of God.

• What is created will always be inferior to the Creator.
• Danger of having images: We may start to ascribe power to those images which don’t actually have power. 

3) Having images goes against the “by faith not by sight” principle.

• “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” <Heb 11:1>
• Images are contrary to the nature of faith.
• When Moses the great servant of God died, God hid Moses’ body <Deut 34:5-6>.
• Jesus said, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” <Jn 4:24>
• <Deut 4> 12 Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.

15 You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, 16 so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, 17 or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, 18 or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below.

• Don’t need a physical image, <Mt 5:8> tells us “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

We must only worship God based on what His Word says.

• Heidelberg Catechism: That we in no wise represent God by images, nor worship Him in any other way than He has commanded in His Word.
• To worship God without images means to know God and worship God based on what He tells us in His word alone.
• Reformers: “Regulative Principle of Worship” – Worship of God should be based on specific directions of Scripture.
• If we do not worship God according to how He reveals Himself in His Word, then we are committing idolatry.
• Yet, humans are always trying to make God in our own images (physical or mental).
• Grave consequences of worshipping God not based on His instructions.
  • E.g. of Uzzah <2 Sam 6:1-10>.

But are all images prohibited in the church?

• Heidelberg Catechism, Q 98.  But may not images be tolerated in the churches as books to the laity?

1. No; for we must not pretend to be wiser than God, who will have His people taught, not by dumb images, but by the lively preaching of His Word.

• Even if images are used, they must not supersede, or be used in place of the Word of God to teach people.
• Controversial and divided topic.
• God also commanded the making of images of cherubim in the tabernacle of God <Ex 25:17–22>.
• The issue is not so much images but the “worship” of images.
• When something is “misused”, doesn’t mean it must be “disused”.
• Images become problematic only when the heart is not right.
• Christ is the image of God, through whom we can worship God.

• <Heb 1> 1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son… 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word…
• We cannot worship God in a pleasing way, unless we come to Him through Christ.
• <Col. 1:15> The Son is the imageof the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.