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“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” — Luke 23:42

Second Commandment

“You shall not make for yourself an idol” (Ex. 20:4; Deut. 5:8).

 

Heidelberg Catechism

Heidelberg Catechism Question 96. What does God require in the second commandment? That we should not represent him or worship him in any other manner than he has commanded in his word.

Heidelberg Catechism Question 97. Should we, then, not make any images at all? God cannot and should not be pictured in any way. As for creatures, although they may indeed be portrayed, God forbids making or having any likeness of them in order to worship them, or to use them to serve him.

Heidelberg Catechism Question 98. But may not pictures be tolerated in churches in place of books for unlearned people? No, for we must not try to be wiser than God who does not want his people to be taught by means of lifeless idols, but through the living preaching of his Word.

Westminster Shorter Catechism

Shorter Catechism Question 50. What is required in the Second Commandment? The Second Commandment requireth the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath appointed in his Word.

  • Deut. 12:32 “You must diligently observe everything that I command you; do not add to it or take anything from it.”
  • Deut. 32:46 “he said to them: ‘Take to heart all the words that I am giving in witness against you today; give them as a command to your children, so that they may diligently observe all the words of this law.’”
  • Matt. 28:20 “and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”


Shorter Catechism Question 51. What is forbidden in the Second Commandment? The Second Commandment forbiddeth the worshiping of God by images, or any other way not appointed in his Word.

  • Deut. 4:15–16 “Since you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire, take care and watch yourselves closely, so that you do not act corruptly by making an idol for yourselves, in the form of any figure—the likeness of male or female.”
  • Acts 17:29 “Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals.”
  • Deut. 12:30-32 “take care that you are not snared into imitating them, after they have been destroyed before you: do not inquire concerning their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations worship their gods? I also want to do the same.’ You must not do the same for the LORD your God, because every abhorrent thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods. They would even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. You must diligently observe everything that I command you; do not add to it or take anything from it.”


Shorter Catechism Question 52. What are the reasons annexed to the Second Commandment? The reasons annexed to the Second Commandment are: God’s sovereignty over us, his propriety in us, and the zeal he hath to his own worship.

  • Ps. 95:2-3 “Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.”
  • Ps. 45:11 “and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him.”
  • Ex. 34:14 “for you shall worship no other god, because the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

Study Catechism

Study Catechism Question 96. What do you learn from this commandment? First, when I treat anything other than God as though it were God, I practice idolatry. Second, when I assume that my own interests are more important than anything else, I make them into idols, and in effect make an idol of myself.

  • Deut. 6:14 “Do not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who are all around you.”
  • 1 John 5:21 “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
  • Ex. 34:14 “For you shall worship no other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”
  • 1 Chron. 16:26 “For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.”
  • Rom. 1:22-23 “Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.”
  • Phil. 2:4 “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”


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