Topical Studies
Second Commandment
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Exodus 20:4-6 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
The second commandment teaches that He wants no one to be concerned about what He looks like. He has purposefully hidden this knowledge except to tell us that we generally look like Him. However, we do not know specifics. He has done this because physical attributes can be misleading about character. In our relationship with Him, He wants us to emphasize the spiritual—His character, the qualities of His spiritual attributes, and His purpose. The second commandment, then, involves the way we are to worship Him—in spirit and in truth, always aware that man does not live by bread alone.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fifth Commandment
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Exodus 32:2-10 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
The Israelites' lack of faith while Moses was on Mt. Sinai made them feel insecure. Moses was gone less than 40 days when the Israelites fashioned a calf of molded gold to substitute for the invisible Creator God. In their own minds, they had reduced God to something they could control and call upon when convenient. Those who repented were ashamed at what they had done.
Martin G. Collins
The Second Commandment
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Isaiah 40:12-31 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Making and worshipping an idol is foolishness and a lie, because a manmade image can never truthfully represent the Eternal God. For a son of God, worshipping idols is irrational (Acts 17:29); to look to something physical as important or more important than God defies all wisdom. The way the world looks to physical objects is superstition (e.g., good luck charms, religious crosses, shrines).
Martin G. Collins
The Second Commandment
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Jeremiah 17:9 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
A person breaks the second commandment when he exalts himself against God by trusting in his own or another's reasoning and lives that way rather than the way God ordained and commanded. Too often, the heart is easily led to satisfy its own desires rather than follow revealed knowledge. But God faithfully searches and tests our hearts to rid us of all idolatries so we will follow His way as closely as possible.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Second Commandment (1997)
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Matthew 6:21 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
He implies money, but the principle includes anything of such importance—apart from the Kingdom of God and His righteousness—that achieving it dominates our thinking, planning, and conduct. If it shapes our existence, we have a false god. The desire to "get" this thing replaces the devotion we should give to God and forces us into sins in other areas. Thus, we become idolaters.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Second Commandment (1997)
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Mark 7:7-9 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
People keep the traditional holidays in God's name, but He is not pleased with them or in them. The Pharisees' outward appearance of piety was a lie because it was not accompanied by total commitment to the true God's way. Their traditions distorted the law of God—and thus the very image of God because the law is a description of God's character. God's true holy and righteous character is the image of Him He wants us to bear and follow. Thus, Christ repudiates every addition, subtraction, and distortion men elevate to a specious "divine" authority. Their use breaks the second commandment because they are not part of the way God instructs us to worship Him.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Second Commandment (1997)
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John 4:24 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
The second commandment deals with how we worship. The worship of God involves the totality of life, and thus it cannot be confined to a particular location or concentrated in a mere hour or two on a given day. Our focus in worship is to be on imitating Him in the totality of life. We are to use no material aids in doing this because no one can capture in a work of art what God is. God wants us to concentrate on what He is, not on what He looks like. However, given human nature's strong attraction to the physical, it is not easy for a person to surrender the dominance of the physical over his life. A person's first step backward from conversion is usually to become grudgingly willing to share time and energy that should go to God with someone or something else. When asked what the first and great commandment of the law is, Jesus replied, quoting Deuteronomy 6:5, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37). Anything less will affect the quality of our worship. This is a high pinnacle to reach for, requiring a lifetime of growth in wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and character built by overcoming the world, the flesh, and the Devil.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fourth Commandment
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Romans 1:22-23 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
God wants us to worship Him directly—not through an idol. When we set up an idol, we are in fact sacrificing to one or more demons! God wants us to worship Him humbly rather than the way the world worships idols. It is degrading to worship an idol. Conversely, God calls us into His own spiritual presence to worship Him directly. Whenever we stop short of our face-to-face relationship and worship of our sovereign God by placing a visible entity before Him, we break the second commandment. God looks to those who worship Him in humility and respectful fear and despises those who choose their own ways.
Martin G. Collins
The Second Commandment
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Romans 1:28 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
From the Revised English Bible: "Thus, because they have not seen fit to acknowledge God, He has given them up to their own depraved way of thinking, and this leads them to break all rules of conduct."
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Second Commandment (1997)
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1 Corinthians 1:10-13 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Dictionaries define an idol as "any object of ardent or excessive devotion or admiration." If we obey the dictates of a person, church, or some other group contrary to the direct commands of God, we are guilty of idolatry. The individual or group becomes the idol, replacing God.
Martin G. Collins
The Second Commandment
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Ephesians 5:5 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Covetousness is a strong desire for and a seeking after material things that become objects of our worship if we hold them as more important than God. Someone else's house or car can be an idol if we covet them. This attitude is identified with idolatry because it replaces God with self-interest and visible things.
Martin G. Collins
The Second Commandment
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