Second Commandment

I started a series on the 10 Commandments by looking at the First Commandment – You shall have no other Gods before me (Exodus 20:3).  Now, we will look at the Second Commandment – 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 (Exodus 3:4).  In other words do not worship idols of any kind.  It sounds a lot like the First Commandment but there is a difference.

In the First Commandment God tells us it’s wrong to allow anything created to become more important to us than He.  The Second Commandment is saying that in our worship we must not reduce God to a likeness of anything else.  Our Creator is a living God.  He is not an inanimate statue or figurine.  To make any representation of Him distorts and limits our perception of what He is really like and so damages our relationship with Him. Of all things on earth or in the heavens, only living human beings realistically reflect a reasonable likeness of God. In the same way, as a human, Jesus Christ was in the image of His Father. Not only did God make humans in His image, He created us to become even more like Him. Being like God and developing His own character in us is what our existence is all about. That is why a clear understanding of the purpose of the Second Commandment is so important.

A physical image of a deity doesn’t have life or power. Even if we knew exactly what God looks like, we could not design idols that would portray the many facets of His character revealed to us through His Word. At some times God acts with gentleness and mercy and at others with great wrath and power. He does not want us to perceive Him as frozen in one trait of personality or character to the exclusion of His many other traits. He asks that we read about Him, learn what He is like and emulate Him. 

As humans we are a long ways from being like Him. Our character tends toward weakness. Our relationships with each other leave much to be desired. Our spiritual understanding is limited and often flawed and distorted. Our perceptions are often inaccurate. We are biased in our opinions. We harbor prejudices and are quick to engage in conflicts. In all these spiritual areas, we fall far short of being like God. Though God has given us limited abilities and characteristics similar to his own, we need a lot of development and fine tuning before we become like Him in nature and character.  Knowledge and understanding of the truth of God are essential for developing the holy, righteous character He desires to create in us. That means that we have to learn and grow. 

The Second Commandment is a constant reminder that it is humans, of all created things, that are made in the image of God. Only we can be transformed into the spiritual image of Christ who came in the flesh as the perfect spiritual image of our heavenly Father. This Commandment protects our special relationship with our Creator who made us in His likeness and is still molding us into His spiritual image. The Second Commandment reminds us that God is far greater than anything we can see or imagine. We must never let that knowledge be pushed aside by the use of some image or likeness in our worship of God.

By Ed Olson

 

Genesis 1:27 (TNIV) – So God created humans in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female created he them.

John 4:23 (TNIV): - Yet a time has coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth: for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.