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The Second'
Commandment
by Morton H. Smith
It has recently come to our attention that there' have been
several ministers from conservative Presbyterian churches,
who have gone into the Roman Catholic Church or into the
Greek Orthodox Church. It seems irrational for anyone who
is knowledgeable \If!he Reformation and the Reformed Faith
wanting to go to Rome.
The Reformation began with the rediscovery of !he Bible by
the Reformers. They then rediscovered the Gospel of the
Bible, namely, justification by faith alone. Forone to abandon
this understanding of the Gospel for the perverted message of
Romedefies understanding. For a person to makesucha move
indicaies that he has never embraced Jesus Christ as He is
presented in the Gospel as taughtin the hooks of Romans and
Galatians.
We call upon any who have made this step, and any who are
tempted to follow them to work through these hooks carefully
before abandoning the Gospel of the Bible for a perversion of
that Gospel, which as Paul says is no other Gospel.
, The Counsel of Cbalcedon FebruarylMarcb 1991 Page 4
In adciitionro the abandonment of the ptinciplesof Biblical
justification, embracing of the Greek OrthodOx
Church also involves the practice of idolaby. We want to
address this in particular because there is within conservative
Presbyterian churches such as !he Presbyterian Churoh in
Americaandin the OrthodoxPresbyterian Churcha great deal
ofloose thinking on thissubject. The present writer, when he
addressedtheConvocationofSessions thatledto the formation
of tbe PCA, stood in a Presbyterian Church before a stained
glass window allegedly portraying and said,
"Sad to say, itis also truethateven'conservativechurcheshave
pictures and crosses that are set as aicls to' worship, and ihus
represent a serious ,departuril from the Bible, and the
Confessional position of out Church. What 'is desperately
needed as a new chu:rch comes into being is a refoirtl of
worship. We need to be concerned that we worship according
to the Word of God. If this means the removal of things that
have become sacred to us,, because of tradition or usage, let
them be removed, if they cannot be justified by the Word of
God. Pure worship and orthodox' doctrine go together.
Orthodoxy in doctrine should be expressed in orthodoxy in
worship.'"
Despite thi&call for a reform in worship as weUas ateformin
the Church, very little evidence of such a reform in worship is
to be seen in the Presbyterian ChurohinAmerica. Ourfailure
in this area is a breach of the regulative principle of worship
as set forth by the Westminster Confession and Catechisms.
Such a reform has been viewed asUiUlecessary by those "large
and successful" churches where there is great external growth,
but little concern for proper worship. Such an atmosphere
leads to the kind ofciJmpromise and even abandOIubetitofthe
RefonnedFaithnowmanifestedinthe move of some ministers
from the PCA and OPC to Rome. These men have never
embraced the full implications of the Refonned Faith both
regarding salvation lII)d worship. Many a Protestant died
rather than receive me mass from a Roman priest, who
required that he bowto receive the wafer. TheProtestantknew
that in the eyes of Rome the elements of the Supper are
changed into the very body and blood of Christ, and thus it
mandated that the recipient bow to these elements as being
none other than Christ Himself. lhis view of the Sacrament
is idolatrous in character.
Sad to say, wehaveforgottenthethoroughnessoftheProtestant
refonns. Our Protestant forefathers saw pictures and statues
in the sanctuary as being idolatrous in character, and thus they
destroyed much of these in the cathedrals that fell into their
hands. People today lament this as destruction of arttreasures,
but the fact is that they did not belong in the place of worship,
and were thus properly subject to removal or destruction.
Today we see all too many Presbyterianchurches with crosses
or pictures of Jesus in the sanctuaries, in particular, behind the
pulpit lhis ought not to be, The Second Commandment is
quite explicit on this. We are forbidden from the making of
any graven image or any likeness of anything thatis inheaven
above, in the earth beneath, or in'the waters under the earth.
Specifically we are not to bow down to them nor worship
them. To place a picture of Christ or a cross behind the pulpit
is to encourage the bowing of people to these objects. (It
would be appropriate to point out that the Second Command-
ment also forbids in the worship of God the use of ornate
veSlments, nnbiblicalliturgical fonns, and extra-bibical rires
or ceremonies--editor).
When a friend of the writer wanted to place a cross on the
steeple of the chapel atRefonned Seminary inJackson,he was
asked why he wanted to do this. His simple answer was, "To
remember Jesus by." Whenasked whatJesus gave toremember
Him by, ru; saw the poillt immediately, and agreed that it was
not appropriate to place such a symbol on the steeple. Would
thatall of God 's people were as sensitive to the teaching of the
Word of God as that man. Ifwe are to experience a God-given
awakening, we need to see refonn in worship as well in
doctrine. A failure to do so will result in a diluted church, and
an inconsistent teaching of the Gospel.
Rome is clearly involved in idolatry in her use of images and
pictures as worship centers, to which people bow in their
prayers. Further, her view of the Sacrament as being changed
into the body and blood of Christ, also involves herinidolatry
as men bow to these elements. She seeks to avoid the clear
teaching of the Law on this subject by subsuming the Second
Commandment under the First, and splitting the Tenth
Commandment to make up ten. Anyone who moves to Rome
from Protestantism is moving into idolatry.
Howcanweexpectourpeop1e to be clearabouttheimplications
of the Second Commandment, if We do not seek to manifest
in our places of worship our obedience to its demands. Jesus
taught the woman at the well that God is a Spirit, and they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. It is this
truth that lies behind the Second Commandment. God is a
Spirit, and He cannot be represented by anything in heaven, or
earth or sea. We are to worship Him without any visual
representations or aids, other than' those that He has given us
in the Sacraments.
Are Presbyterians, who have forgotten theirProtestantheritage
with regard to the,Second Commandment guilty of leading
some into the sin of idolatry, and thus guilty of making it easy
for them to abandon the Faith by going to Rome?
1. Haw is theGoldBecomeDim,AMessageto the Convocation
of Sessions, Atlanta, Georgia, May 18, 1973, in The Historical
Birth cif the Presbyterian Church in America, John Edwards
Richards, Liberty Press, Liberty Hill, South Carolina, 1987,
pp.244-245. Q
Correction
ncar Sir:
In tl1l' ;\!o\'('mht.'r 1991) is ... u/.' of 9), yuurnpurll'r mi'liluotcd
('nmml'nt" that I made at the ren'nl ml'eling ufthe ('unfi'rclIl'c
In rdmlld AUll'ril'a,
I w:,,, a"kl'ft III rl'pnrl un Gn'l'n\-'illc Pn'"hylcrian Thl'HIHj!IGtl Semi
nar)', I indil'aled that (;('t'l'nville is the only I \\'.'0; am.lre lit
whit-h <;t:mdsfor and teal'he" till' ""trid" or full slIhM'riptiun tulht, \Vt'slmin"tcr
St:lnda('tl'i. Ihi"i:lsthuugh I m''isaying Ihallhcl':U'ultic"
ofothl'r ""mlnarie" donut sub'icriheto thc Stand<lnl .. , u 'hirh \'t'a"
a mi ... nf what J "ll)'in/.!,
The t';,ld i'i all til' the const'n 'ath'c Presbyh'rlom ('t'quire their
facuUic'i ttl subscribe to Ihl' Wc\tminstcr St'lIIdards. This hdnJ.: Ih(' l'ase, I
fnmkly do not understand why they all du nul It'lu.:h the full SUbscription to
the Cunf'es'ilon and CalCl:hl'ims 10 Ihl'ir sturtt'nls, hut judginJ,: by the Jarf,:c
numher "f J,:rutJuatcs ut uther scrninari<!s \\hu lake to dntirinl's
taught hy the Standard .... th('y nut thllt their sUho;criptiun
slwuld be 10 the wlmle III' lIw Standards. (;rl'l'nvillc holds ofit'i faculty tu
thel'ullsuhscriptinn tn thc Westminstcr StlUidards, and in turo.t'Xpt((o; thcm
lutl'al'h tlw Siandards,wiilmllt ,IllY cqlli"'I)l'atioll. Thio; is wh:lt I w:ls:llluding
to in my rl' m:lrks, which wcrcmi<;Uffderstoud hy your repurter,
;\:ly til all ul' Seminaric'i which do rcquirl' thdr j'lIculty 10
tn the Westminslt'r Shmdards.
Sinl'crely,
"1nrton n, SmUh, Oelln ul' lhe F:lculI,)'
Grcl'nvilll' Presbytcri:m Tht'ulugical Seminary
The Counsel of Chalcedon FehruBTyiMaTch 1991 Page 5