William Ames Marrow of Sacred Divinity, Book 2, ch. 5 § 1-8 & ch. 13 Natural Worship. 1. The parts of religion are two; natural worship, and voluntary or instituted worship. 2. This distinction is grounded on Exodus 20:6, those words of the second commandment: “who love me, and keep my commandments.” 3. Natural worship is that… Read More Natural Worship and Instituted Worship
It can be known from nature that we must worship God how he pleases rather than how we please (Acts 17:24-29), but we cannot know how God desires to be worshiped unless he reveals it to us through special revelation. Being the root of the second commandment, the Regulative Principle of Worship (RPW) itself is discernable from the light of nature as flowing from “that which may be known of God” (Rom. 1:19), while the parts and acts of God’s instituted worship is of divine positive law.… Read More The Second Commandment and the Light of Nature
Exodus 20:4-6 “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a… Read More An Historic Witness Against Images of Christ
Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, vol. 2. Whether not only the worship but also the formation and use of religious images in sacred places is prohibited by the second commandment. We affirm against the Lutherans. I. In the preceding question we treated of the worship of images. It remains to inquire further concerning their… Read More Images of Christ Are Unlawful, Even If Not Used For Worship
The first commandment teaches who the true God is and that He alone is to be worshiped. The second commandment teaches that God alone prescribes how He wants to be worshiped. To worship God however we would like is the very definition of idolatry. “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of… Read More Three Reasons Images of God are Idolatrous
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