The Second Commandment
(Shorter Catechisms 49-52)

‘The second commandment requires the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath appointed in his word.’ (A.50).

The first Commandment is about who we worship, the second commandment is about how we should worship the true God. Worship must not be by our ideas but by God’s design.

‘The second commandment forbids the worshiping of God by images, or any other way not appointed in his word.’ (A.51). The problem with images is that they bring God down in people’s thinking to be much less than the infinite and glorious God that He is.

In our worship we must remember that we worship the Sovereign God and we must think of this awesome God in a proper way. We must remember that God is jealous for His worship and never takes it lightly (A.52).

Worship of our heavenly Father should be a wonderfully joyful experience, but we must never approach it in a light hearted way and we must always remember God’s holiness and glory as we come to worship Him.