Intellectual Defenestration

Teaching Notes for Tomorrow Night

These are my notes for the young marrieds/singles bible study tomorrow night on the 2nd commandment. It's geared for discussion, which is why the ending is abrupt.

Exodus 20:4-6 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or 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. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands1 of those who love me and keep my commandments.

This particular commandment might possibly be the most difficult commandment to study. To most, it might seem rather esoteric and abstract; how many here, for example, have been tempted regularly in the last week to chop down a tree, carve out a cow, set it up in the living room, and begin bowing down to it? The other commandments look either more practical (#'s 5-10) or more controversial (such as the 4th). This commandment looks more like a leftover commandment, a prohibition given to an ancient nation in an ancient culture that dealt with a distinctly different set of sins and failings than we do.

Some of that is undeniably true. We don't live in a blatantly carved-image-worshipping society. We are separated from the nation of Israel by multiple millennia and continents. The closest thing we might be able to think of this is the Protestant/Roman Catholic controversy over relics and icons.

At the same time, perhaps its not so far-fetched after all (The Gladiator ? wherein Russell Crowe worships his ancestors). At the very least, this commandment was given and we should trust that God is wise enough to create commandments that transcend time and culture. Because of that, I do think there are some very important things we learn and things we are to do because of this commandment.

We'll begin by looking at what exactly this forbids. It tells us, in short, to not make images of created things so that we might worship them. Two things appear to be in view by this. The first was the common practice of pagan idolatry where the surrounding nations would make images of cows, stars, phalluses, and so on. This is quite clearly verboten. God is telling Israel to not follow the practices of the pagans in the nations they were about to enter.

The second thing forbidden, and perhaps the more pointed target, is making any image of God. This was the sin of the golden calf. Israel was not at fault because it decided to come up with another deity instead of God; it sinned because it decided to create an idol that would represent God. In the absence of the commanding presence of Moses, Israel searched for something tangible and real to lead them. That practice is condemned by this commandment.

While this passage has the first possibility in mind, the second seems to be the center focus. God had already commanded Israel to worship "no other Gods." Now he was telling them to worship him in the way that he commanded. Given the context of the rest of Scripture, this seems to be what this commandment is addressing. God, since he is the sovereign creator and sustainer of all, commands that he be worshipped in the right and proper way, with a right and proper heart.

This can be seen, briefly, in the story of Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10:1,2), Aaron's sons who decided to worship God with "unauthorized fire," and were consequently consumed by fire. In that case, they were not trying to worship a Baal or Ashtoreth; they were going before the right God, but in the wrong way. Because they had decided to establish with their own worship patterns, God judged them.

As a side note, it should be quite obvious that pictures and images in general are not forbidden by this commandment. Both the tabernacle and the temple used a tremendous amount of imagery and art to convey the majesty of God. What is forbidden here is the creating of an image for the sake of serving it.

We have seen, briefly, the what within this passage; now let us see the why. This is the first of four commandments that attach reasons for obeying next to the commandment. The commandment gives a specific reason for obedience: God is a just but loving God, punishing those who deserve it, but rewarding those that love him.

It should be noted that the implicit motivation given with the command itself is love. God is calling us to do this as a means for loving him. Calvin said that, when this commandment is given "the fountain and origin of true righteousness is expressed; for the external observation of the Law would be of no avail unless it flowed from hence. And praise is given to love rather than to fear, because God is delighted with none but voluntary obedience, but He rejects that which is forced and servile." To seek to obey this commandment by any other means and motivation than love, Calvin is saying, is to miss the whole point of the law. God is not interested in those that are only concerned with having the correct appearances, but unloving hearts. Instead, "God is delighted" with those that genuinely love God and seek to obey him.

This commandment also states something about God's character as a means for motivation. This says that we are to not make graven images because God is "jealous." The imagery given is almost marital; God is jealous of Israel's obedience as a husband is jealous of his bride's full and undivided affections (Charles Hodge).

So, we've now looked at the reasons, but that may still not clear anything up. We understand, then, that God is just, that he desires our love, that he is jealous, and that he visits appropriate blessings and curses upon those that love or hate him. Why then do we not create graven images?

One possible answer is that, to create a graven image is to speak of God falsely. God is a spirit, therefore a physical representation will be a lie. To create an idol is to lie about God, which would not appear to be consistent with a heart that loves God.

Another possibility can be found in the nature of idol-worship. Even the ancient pagans were well aware that the carved image they were bowing before was not the real god. The image was a representation of the true god, a means of contact between the worshipper and the worshipped. Even more than that, the image was a means to manipulate the god. Hab. 2:18, in its rebukes of false idols asks "What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols!" An idol was a way for the worshipper to do something for the god so the god would in turn do something for him. Push button A and receive blessing X.

Another possibility is that idol-worship destroys the relationship man has with God. In Genesis, it was man who was made imago Dei and then made over all of creation. Deut 4:19 warns Israel to "beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven." Oddly, here, God is commanding his people to not worship the hosts of heaven because the hosts of heaven do not rule mankind, but, rather, mankind rules the hosts of heaven. Since man was made to be imago Dei, he was to be above creation. The order was to be God -> Man -> Creation. Idolatry comes and changes that to God -> Creation -> Man. Man then becomes dependent on a false mediator to approach God.

And the ultimate reason why idol-worship destroys the man-God relationship is because it is Jesus who is the image of God. Col 1:8 declares that "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." We do not make idols because Jesus is the ultimate image and it is he who is our mediator and none other. To create another image is to create another messiah. Only through Christ may we have access to God. Image-worship is man's attempt to manipulate God; Christ is God's gracious gift to man to cleanse him and make him worthy to appear before God and worship.

So, what does all of this mean? I believe the first implication is to continue to remind ourselves that only through Christ may we approach God. All other things we might create are woefully inadequate. We do not fashion sculptures and paintings to approach God, we trust in the finished work of Christ and that alone.

Another implication is that we must worship God in the manner that he proscribes. Worship that is primarily geared towards entertainment, that is "cutesy" rather than scriptural, or that is even being "seeker-sensitive", is trying to worship God in a way that makes man happy rather than glorifies God. This is just as much a violation of this commandment as is creating a sculpture of a bull and worshipping it. We must constantly be checking Scripture to see if our worship is inline with what will glorify God and will enable God's people to correctly worship.

As a means of further discussion, here is a case study: The Passion of the Christ. Was it a violation of this commandment? If not, could it have been? What if it was more of a "religious experience" than Church service? What then?

May 1, 2004 05:30 PM