Westminster Shorter Catechism Question for the Week
Q.51. What does the second commandment forbid?
A. The second commandment forbids our worshiping God with images or in any other way not established in His word.
We must only worship God in the ways He has given in scriptures. We are not free to do whatever seems right in our own eyes, but we are constrained by the commands in God’s word.
I find the Heidelberg Catechism to be useful on this point.
Q.97. May we then not make any image at all?
A. God can not and may not be visibly portrayed in any way.
Although creatures may be portrayed, yet God forbids making or having such images if one’s intention is to worship them or to serve God through them.
Q.98. But may not images be permitted in the churches as teaching aids for the unlearned?
A. No, we shouldn’t try to be wiser than God. He wants his people instructed by the living preaching of his Word–not by idols that cannot even talk.
September 26th, 2005 at 1:48 pm
We talked recently (and briefly) about the difference between a moralistic sermon and an expostory sermon, based on a person or persons mentioned in Scripture. Colossians 4:14 comes to mind. I think your readers might enjoy a fleshing out of your thoughts on this.
October 2nd, 2005 at 5:21 pm
Thanks for the suggestion, Vinnie. I know it is easy to fall into the trap of always moralizing when trying to draw insights from the scriptures. If a pastor isn’t careful, all his sermons are pointing out where a Biblical character did something right, and then encouraging the congregation to be like that character.
I run into that problem over on meditatio mea. In order to force myself to not just moralize, I have a standing section where I write about how the passage for the day points us to Christ. Sometimes, it is difficult to do that well, but it forces me to not just always say that we should “be like Daniel” or “be like David”.
Best regards,
Knilram