What is the second commandment?
You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything 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 nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments (Exodus 20:4-6).
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like you to PLEASE open your Bibles and read Exodus 20:3-17. Oh go for broke, read the commandments in Deuteronomy 5:6-21 too. I’ll wait. Now would someone please show me where in that passage of scripture that the Lord Our God numbers those commandments? I’ll wait. That’s right. Those commandments are NOT numbered in Sacred Scripture. We call them the 10 Commandments because of….tradition….not because they are numbered in Sacred Scripture. So could we PLEASE stop saying that Catholics have eliminated the Second Commandment? (Ok I know that this article didn’t actually SAY that but it’s a pretty common accusation made against the Catholic Church and I really just wanted an opportunity to say that.) And just in case you’d like proof that the Catholic Church specifically teaches the faithful not to worship graven images here it is in the catechism. And if you are averse to clicking on links in strange blogs, here is paragraph 2129 of the CCC “The divine injunction included the prohibition of every representation of God by the hand of man. Deuteronomy explains: “Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves, in the form of any figure. . . . ” It is the absolutely transcendent God who revealed himself to Israel. “He is the all,” but at the same time “he is greater than all his works.” He is “the author of beauty.”“
How is the second commandment different from the first?
The first commandment (You shall have no other gods before Me) forbids the worship of false gods, whereas the second forbids the false worship of God. The first tells us whom to worship; the second tells us how to worship him.What is required in the second commandment?
The commandment forbids us to make and worship images of God. We are called to know God as he revealed himself, and to serve him according to his ordinances, not in any other way devised by human wisdom. “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it” (Deuteronomy 12:32).
Does the second commandment prohibit the making or use of all images?
The second commandment does not prohibit paintings and sculptures which are not intended to be used in the worship of God. This is clear from the words “you shall not bow down to them nor serve them”. Moreover, shortly afterwards giving the Ten Commandments, God instructed Israel to make two cherubims of gold for the Ark of the Covenant, and later on, a bronze serpent (Exodus 25:28; Numbers 21:9). Solomon decorated the temple with twelve oxen, and its walls with carved images of cherubims (1 Kings 7:25; 6:29). In all these instances, the Israelites were not called to “bow down” or “serve” the images. When the Israelites began to burn incense to the bronze serpent, the godly king Hezekiah broke it to pieces.
EXACTLY!! The OT clearly records images being used not as objects of worship but as aids to worship. And guess what? This is EXACTLY what the Catechism sets forth as official Catholic teaching. “2130 Nevertheless, already in the Old Testament, God ordained or permitted the making of images that pointed symbolically toward salvation by the incarnate Word: so it was with the bronze serpent, the ark of the covenant, and the cherubim.“
Can we make an image of God?
We should not make any image of God. When God made a covenant with Israel, the Lord spoke to the people, and they heard the sound of his voice, but they did not see any form. God did so on purpose. “Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female…” (Deuteronomy 4:15, 16). Elsewhere the Scripture reproves us, “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?” (Isaiah 40:18).Can we make an image of Christ since he was made flesh?
No, not least because we do not know how he looked like. The hundreds of different pictures of Jesus testify against each other that they are false images. What is called a picture or a statue of Christ is not his true likeness. Like the idols of old, the modern portrayal of the Lord is “a teacher of lies” (Habakkuk 2:18). Moreover, Jesus is the true God, and therefore the only appropriate response to seeing his image is worship and adoration. Sadly, the “Jesus” imprinted on the mind by artistic creations is “another Jesus” – an idol. False images lead to false worship.
Sorry but this idea is completely mistaken, since we are never to worship the image itself. Ever. Ever Ever. First, on what basis is the claim made that the “only appropriate response to seeing an image of Jesus is worship and adoration”? Is that a scriptural command? Citation please? By what authority are we told that this this is the “only appropriate response”? That’s like saying the only appropriate response to seeing a picture of my husband is to kiss it and treat it as if it was really him, since that is what I would do to him in person. I assure you one and all, that I can tell the difference between a picture of my husband and the real thing. I also understand the difference between kissing a picture of my husband because I am thinking of the real thing and what really happens between the two of us when we are truly together. Next, how does an image that may not portray an exact likeness of Jesus, lead to false worship? The pupose of the image is to call to mind what is portrayed by the image. Kind of like the way people who write about matters of faith use words to call to mind things of the Divine. That’s what the writers of Sacred Scripture did with their words even before these words were singled out as scripture. Is it wrong to call to mind the things of God by speaking of Him, by meditating on Him, by teaching of Him? That’s what words do you know. Is calling Jesus to mind because I have read about Him in Sacred Scripture, or read about Him in the words of a faithful teacher of the Gospel, or lifted my voice in song about Him essentially different than calling Jesus to mind because a statue was the impetus for the thought? A picture or a statue or other image is simply a different form of communication and is fraught with the same sort of peril as written communication. It can be uplifting. It can be false. It can be deceiving or instructive. We must prayerfully discern an appropriate response to everything that is communicated to us whether the message is communicated with words or images! We must examine not only what is present, but what is not and by what authority the message is given.
It is important to remember that John 1 tells us that The Word of God is a person and not a book. That person is Jesus. Certainly the Bible contains the words of God and it is authoritative and infallible and useful for teaching, reproof, study etc., it still does not contain the fullness of God’s revelation. Jesus is that fullness and we do not yet see Him face to face. We have what we need, but the picture is still incomplete. As the writer of the Gospel of John said “There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25) And even though public revelation is complete, I think that most Christians would agree that Jesus continues to communicate to us in a personal way and He reaches out to us and as we reach out to Him. Miracles communicate to us. The heavens declare the Glory of God. How many of us would ever have even picked up a Bible to begin with if God had not reached out and communicated to us with the images of life and creation that surround us daily!? Yes, certain forms of Divine Revelation bear the stamp of God-given authority and thus, provide the anchor as we lift our minds and hearts to God. Authoritative Divine Revelation protects us from error as we search for Him and find Him in our finite lives. In the words that God gave us in Sacred Scripture. In the fabric of our families. In those we serve. And those who serve us. And in images that call us to think of Him and hold in our minds those snapshots of His life that we have been given and use those images to consider what He wants to be for us and what He would have us to do.
Are these images “false”? Sure they are! We do not behold Him face to face. We do not know Him now as we will. They are “false” because they are incomplete. They are “false” because we can’t know exactly who was upstage or downstage at the crucifixion and who had a haircut that week. But as I pointed out, even Sacred Scripture records that it isn’t possible to tell the whole story. We certainly can’t hold the whole story in our finite minds at once. In the words of Sacred Scripture we must meditate and study one piece at a time with one word picture after another. One gospel leaves out parts of the story another gospel tells. The writer of the Gospel of Luke tells the story of the feeding of the 5,000 slightly differently that the writer of the Gospel of John. And none of them tell of the birth and death of Jesus at the same time. God the Eternal Being exists in completeness and any attempt to communicate the fullness of that completeness in our finite words will be incomplete and false and images suffer from the same limitations that words do. The pieta calls to mind His death and the anguish of His mother and leaves out the 12 year old Jesus sitting with the teachers in the Temple. A statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, calls to mind His loving mercy and leaves out the image of Jesus that drove the money changers from the Temple. A painting of Jesus granting mercy to the woman caught in adultery leaves out His Resurrection. These images are then “false” in the sense that they are incomplete and Jesus being Divine is all of those things eternally. They are “false” in the sense that we don’t know what Mary wore to the Temple….presumably NOT the latest 13th century fashions….or the facial features of Jesus. But in another sense these images are true in that they are an invitation to meditate on the words of Sacred Scripture and more importantly on the Word Himself and on what He did, what He promised, and what He calls us to be for Him. I have never once looked at a statue of Jesus and meditated on His clothes or the length of His nose. Or are we going to say that the external characteristics of Jesus such as his hair color and length and facial features (the “false” parts of the image) are somehow the most important attributes of Jesus? That if we imagine Jesus speaking to the woman at the well with medium length hair and he really had long hair that our “false image” leads to “false worship”? If it is true that a false (inaccurate) physical perception/image of Jesus leads to “false worship” even if the image accurately brings to mind the attributes and/or actions of Jesus then what implications does that have for us? That what we look like is more important than our character and our actions? Well then, if it be blasphemy to believe that Jesus’ character and actions are more important than His looks then I am guilty. And unrepentantly so I might add. What Jesus looked like has nothing to do with True Worship or my decision to worship Him and so I have a very hard time understanding a possibly innacurate portrayal of Jesus’ physiognomy should have ANY bearing whatsoever on worship.
False image indeed…..
Did God give us an image of himself?
God has revealed himself in his Son; “He is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). Christ is the perfect icon of God. But then, how can we know Christ in truth? The Lord himself answers, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). We know Christ in Scripture, not in the imaginations of sculptors. During our pilgrimage on earth, we are called to live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). The apostle Peter reminds us that we believe and rejoice in him even though “now you do not see him”(1 Peter 1:8). Yet we have a living hope. Eagerly we await that glorious day when “we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Then our joy will be complete.
And for those who are illiterate (and that would be MOST of the Christians who lived in the last 2,000 years)? Or those in the last 2000 years of Christianity who couldn’t afford books? Movable type has only been around for the last 500 years or so, that leaves 1500 years of outrageously expensive books. How about the presently illiterate Christians or those who do not have a Bible? How about the dyslexic? Or the blind before braille and books on tape? Does the prohibition against images of Jesus extend to painted pictures in a preschooler’s collection of Bible stories? (And if not, why not? Wouldn’t they be the most susceptible to “false images”?) And do “you” really manage to read the Bible without forming a mental image of the people it portrays? Like sculptors have a lock on imagining such things? My children tell me ALL the time you know that a character in a movie did (or didn’t) look like I imagine him/her when they were reading the book. Is sculpting an imagined image somehow worse then imagining it in the first place? We are called to live by faith and not my sight, but I don’t see even the slighest suggestion in the context of Sacred Scripture that this verse was to be applied to images of Jesus. Unless, you are equating an image of Jesus with the reality? I honestly don’t know anyone Protestant or Catholic over the age of two that thinks a painting, icon, statute or other image of Jesus is the reality. We are STILL walking by faith because we do not see Jesus as the Apostles did or as Thomas did and they did not see Him as He is in Eternity. We do not see heaven and the place Our Lord is preparing for us. We imagine such things but I don’t know anyone who thinks that they can come close to the reality in ANY form. I am left to wonder if “you” Mr. Mizzi, think that Catholics DO think that they are beholding a reality and you do not, which leads me to wonder why you have such a poor opinion of the mental capacities of Catholics? Or do you think that such images portray a reality and you personally are afraid you will be confused by it and you think Catholics suffer the same difficulties with reality and the imaginary images that you do?
Jesus is the Incarnate Word of God. He was fully human and we can portray Him so. Iconoclasm was condemned as heresy in the seventh ecumenical council of Nicea:
“We define that the holy icons, whether in color, mosaic, or some other material, should be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on the sacred vessels and liturgical vestments, on the walls, furnishings, and in houses and along the roads, namely the icons of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, that of our Lady the Theotokos, those of the venerable angels and those of all saintly people. Whenever these representations are contemplated, they will cause those who look at them to commemorate and love their prototype. We define also that they should be kissed and that they are an object of veneration and honor (timitiki proskynisis), but not of real worship (latreia), which is reserved for Him Who is the subject of our faith and is proper for the divine nature, … which is in effect transmitted to the prototype; he who venerates the icon, venerated in it the reality for which it stands.”
Of course, Mr. Mizzi you are free to believe that those scriptures you quoted above really do apply to images but I have to wonder why it is that your interpretation should be considered authoritative when the near unanimity of Christian opinion in all times and places disagrees with you? Did the Christian men who were so full of the Holy Spirit that they could infallibly determine what was and was not Sacred Scripture at the Councils of Carthage and Hippo believe that those verse were to be interpreted that way? Did the men who taught them? What was the practice of the early church before the canon of the NT was established?
Why should we obey the second commandment?
God threatens severe punishments on those who disobey and promises great blessings on the obedient. If we love God, let us worship him as he has commanded. If however we attempt to worship him by graven images, contrary to his commandment, we are found to be haters of God and worthy of his wrath.Copyright Dr Joseph Mizzi
www.justforcatholics.org
Used by permission
Yes God does threaten severe punishments to those who disobey. Actually, it is those of us who do not embrace sola fide that have the theology to match the above statement and believe that Our Lord meant it when He said in Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” You can’t separate good works and faith.
Jesus said to His Apostles that those who listened to them (and their successors) listened to Him. We should all be listening to what the men who set the canon of the NT believed those same scriptures to mean, and just for starters they were most assuredly not iconoclasts.
1 response so far ↓
1 AlexM // Aug 16, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!
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