The Second Commandment

[Kerrick]

3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

I'm curious to hear y'all's thoughts on the second commandment, specifically the portion I highlighted in red above.  It seems to me that this is specifically in the context of making idols to worship, not necessarily applying to creating artistic representations of the Trinity through paintings, sculptures, or the like.  However, the wise folks who came up with many of the classic catechisms disagree:

Q109: What are the sins forbidden in the second commandment?
A109: The sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all devising,[1] counseling,[2] commanding,[3] using,[4] and anywise approving, any religious worship not instituted by God himself;[5] tolerating a false religion;[6] the making any representation of God, of all or of any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever;[7] all worshiping of it,[8] or God in it or by it;[9] the making of any representation of feigned deities,[10] and all worship of them, or service belonging to them;[11] all superstitious devices,[12] corrupting the worship of God,[13] adding to it, or taking from it,[14] whether invented and taken up of ourselves,[15] or received by tradition from others,[16] though under the title of antiquity,[17] custom,[18] devotion,[19] good intent, or any other pretense whatsoever;[20] simony;[21] sacrilege;[22] all neglect,[23] contempt,[24] hindering,[25] and opposing the worship and ordinances which God hath appointed.[26]

1. Num. 15:39
2. Deut. 13:6-8
3. Hosea 5:11; Micah 6:16
4. I Kings 11:33; 12:33
5. Deut. 12:30-32
6. Deut. 13:6-12; Zech. 13:2-3; Rev. 2:2, 14-15, 20, Rev. 17:12, 16-17
7. Deut. 4:15-19; Acts 17:29; Rom. 1:21-23, 25
8. Dan. 3:18; Gal. 4:8
9. Exod. 32:5
10. Exod. 32:8
11. I Kings 18:26, 28; Isa. 65:11
12. Acts 17:22; Col. 2:21-23
13. Mal. 1:7-8, 14
14. Deut. 4:2
15. Psa. 106:39
16. Matt. 15:9
17. I Peter 1:18
18. Jer. 44:17
19. Isa. 65:3-5; Gal. 1:13-14
20. I Sam. 13:11-12; 15:21
21. Acts 8:18
22. Rom. 2:22; Mal. 3:8
23. Exod. 4:24-26
24. Matt. 22:5; Mal. 1:7, 13
25. Matt. 23:13

This has been something on my mind for a while and I'm still wrestling with it.  I'd love to hear your thoughts too!

[CrimsonWarrior]

Yeah I definitely align with the Westminster Standards on this one. We ought not to attempt to picture the Creator using the creation, as we can never make something that fully represents all of His divine perfection, and we would be attempting to make God in our own image rather than recognizing that we are made in His. Idols were such a common vice among the Israelites throughout the OT and we should take care to observe this commandment. I think most Protestants (by which I mean people who accept the five solas - some who would call themselves Protestants do not) acknowledge to varying degrees that there is a problem with the use of icons in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, but we often overlook this command in the less obvious things, like pictures of Jesus as coloring pages for kids in Sunday school (which imo should be focused on learning about the Word and not making arts and crafts) or movies which depict the Messiah.

[Kerrick]

Thanks for the insightful response CW!  It's good to see you here. 

Something that's a bit of a hangup for me is how should this be read in terms of making images of "any creature whatsoever"?  In the same breath as "in heaven above" is "on earth beneath" which implies that creating an artistic representation of the Holy Spirit might be just as wrong/sinful as drawing a deer in the woods or a stick-figure family - if indeed it's the making of images that's inherently sinful, not only the worship of such images.

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