What is the second commandment?
The second commandment forbids making and worshiping images of God or anything else as God. It guards God’s uniqueness — and protects us from confusing our pictures of him with him.
Exodus 20:4 says, "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above…" — combined with the warning not to bow down to them.
The point is not banning all art (Solomon’s temple had cherubim) but banning images intended to represent or replace God. The unseen God cannot be captured.
Our age does not often carve idols, but it constantly imagines a god more manageable than the real one. The second commandment still says: bow only to the God who has revealed himself — supremely in Christ.
Original BibleDawn answer · reviewed 2026-06. Drafted with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy.