The 2nd Commandment does not apply to Icons

The most common objection that Protestants use against Catholics for venerating images of God and of the Saints is for Protestants to appeal to the Ten Commandments [1], specifically the 2nd Commandment (Exodus 20:4-5), which seems to plainly prohibit the making and venerating of any religious images. While this Biblical appeal might seem to be an open and shut, slam dunk against Catholicism, it actually contains a very problematic and erroneous approach to the Old Testament, which Saint Paul termed "Judaizing" in Greek (Gal 2:14). The reason why people fail to recognize this is because Protestantism was founded upon an erroneous, even Judaizing, approach to the Mosaic Law. I think it is worth bringing this up because too many times I've seen Catholics basically accept this very Protestant Judaizing premise behind their use of the 2nd Commandment, which is the real issue that needs to be exposed.

Before we can even look at the 2nd Commandment itself, the first critical thing to know is that the term "Law" for Paul absolutely means the Mosaic Law, whereas Protestants erroneously think "Law" means anything man is ever told to do (e.g. any work a man does). I have exposed this many times in past blog posts and in discussions, particularly how the Protestants failing to define "Law" properly is a main reason they completely misunderstand Paul and salvation. (e.g. HERE). 

To build in this point, it is critical to know that the Mosaic Law was also known as the Mosaic Covenant (what Christians call the "Old Covenant"), and that the Ten Commandments were literally the very core of the Old Covenant. I think Hebrews 9:5 captures this very well, practically calling these basic truths everyone already knows: 

1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2 For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. 5 Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. 

Note how the Ten Commandments were called "the tablets of the covenant" and thus were put inside the Ark of the Covenant. Knowing this basic theological truth is critical. I show this plainly elsewhere as well (e.g. HERE with Deut 9:9). Once a person recognizes this solid link between the Mosaic Law and Ten Commandments as the Old Covenant, it sets us up to be forced to admit that when the Old Covenant was done away with at the death of Christ on the Cross, that also means the Ten Commandments as a Binding Legal Code-Covenant was also done away with as a strict "letter of the law" requirement for Christians.

Before we can go after the Protestant appeal to the 2nd Commandment, let us first use the Seventh Day Adventists (SDA) as an example for an equivalent Judaizing appeal to the Ten Commandments. The SDA teaching is that the Ten Commandments were not done away with at the Cross and instead are part of eternal moral laws of God, and since they include the Command to Keep the Sabbath, then this is an eternal command for all mankind. While this logic sounds very appealing, it is plainly a completely unbiblical, Judaizing reading of the Old Testament, as I showed above. 

All that said, the Christian tradition, including important Catholic documents, say that the Ten Commandments are a informal useful summary of the moral law, so in that sense the Ten Commandments are a very handy guideline to determine morals. The critical detail to keep in mind is that as they are originally written and issued as a legal code for a specific time and people (ie Israelites living in the Promised Land), and outside of that context do not legally apply any longer. Thus, the Sabbath Command points to a more generic natural law command to set aside a day and time to worship God, but not literally Saturday, and not literally to celebrate our liberation from Egypt since we were never slaves in Egypt (Deut 5:15). 

With the above in mind, we can see that the Protestant appeal to the 2nd Commandment is instantly on shaky (Judaizing) grounds if it is used too strictly when applying it to the Christian era. It also shows a complete inconsistency with the same Protestants saying the Sabbath Command is no longer binding despite being literally the next sentences after the No Idols statements. What this means is that when we read Exodus 20:4-5 against making any images, we can only take this is a general prohibition and not as a strict "letter of the law" manner. Thus, the Church absolutely has a sort of liberty to officially define what does and does not constitute violation of the 2nd Commandment, including making images or statues of Jesus, the Cross, the Saints, etc. 

Protestants show they implicitly accept the Catholic logic because the "strict reading" of Exodus 20:5-6 would at face value exclude images of anything, just read this and see for yourself: "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." That reads as a categorical forbidding of literally an image of anything. It is said this is why we have the popularizing of "modern art" where the canvas is just a bunch of paint splotches, because the Rabbinic tradition says we cannot have any images, and thus they must only make "art" as only smears of paint. The moment a Protestant begins to "make exceptions" for why certain art forms are allowed, they have basically taken the role of Catholic Magisterium. Protestants might think images of the Cross or picture books of the Apostles, or showing the Holy Spirit as a Dove, etc, are all not violating the 2nd Commandment, but the strict "letter of the law" reading would say that Yes, it is a violation. 

In conclusion, you can easily see that this mean and harsh anti-Catholic desperate attack by Protestant attack on Catholics ultimately backfires in so many ways. It is especially ironic considering that all Protestants believe in the Lord's Supper, where the Eucharist is literally an image representation of Jesus, even if you think it is only a symbolic. Similarly, the Ark of the Covenant which contained the Ten Commandments was an Ark topped with not just angels but the Mercy Seat, symbolizing God, used for religious worship ceremonies (see Heb 9:5 earlier). Because of this and other similar issues, we can truly say that Protestantism in so many ways is just a rehashing of Judaizing.

Old Testament High Priest uses carved images
in the proper worship of God, on top of the 
Ark of the Covenant holding in it the 2nd Command