CHRISTMAS AND THE SECOND COMMANDMENT

 

Nativity scene at Christ Cathedral, Indianapolis at night

Several years ago, I joined a Calvinistic FaceBook group late in the year. One of the rules was about not sharing photos that violate the Second Commandment, and the Administrator commented that Christmas time was when a lot of violations occur.

First, though: What is the Second Commandment? Some people will be thinking of Jesus' answer to the lawyer and wondering how Christmas disobeys the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. However, others will be thinking it refers to the second of the Ten Commandments.

But again, what is the Second Commandment? You see, Jews, Catholics, and Protestants break them up differently. For the Jews, the First Commandment is "I am the LORD your God who brought you up out of the house of bondage," and they combine "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me" and "Thou shalt not make any graven image." Catholics also combine what Protestants consider two separate commands, but consider it the First Commandment, thus making "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD in vain" as the Second Commandment and splitting the commandment "Thou shalt not covet" into two separate commandments.

I will admit: When I was young, I could easily see why those two commandments were combined. However, separating them into two separate commandments bring about a distinction. "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me" clearly means we should not worship gods other than Yahweh, the LORD, such as Molech and Baal and the Ashteroths. The commandment about graven images deals with false representations of the true God. Remember that both Aaron's and Jereboam's golden calves were images of Yahweh and were declared to be the God who brought them out of Egypt.

Some could interpret the Second Commandment to mean that we should not carve statues. Biblically, this doesn't fit, because God commanded the artists making the tabernacle to carve cherubim for the Ark of the Covenant and Moses to make a bronze serpent, and there also were the twelve oxen in the temple to represent not God but Israel. After all, the issue of the Commandment dealt with the purpose of the graven image, condemning the creation of objects to worship.

How about statues and for that matter paintings/drawings of God? This falls more into what the Commandment teaches. Remember that no one has seen God the Father at anytime (John 1:18; 4:24; 1 John 4:12). 

But this brings us to why Christmas is on a collision course with the Second Commandment: What about statues and paintings of Jesus? After all, Jesus is God come in the flesh. Yes, He was fully man but He was also fully God. So are we violating the Second Commandment when we set out a statue of a baby in a manger?

Once again, we need to look at the complete commandment. The activity commanded is making items to worship. Are we bowing down to the carved baby in the hay? Are we burning incense to paintings of Jesus with the children? I don't. 

No, we don't know what Jesus looked like, except we know He was a Middle Eastern Jew. Any drawing or sculpture is an artistic representation. I have no problem with that. Did Jesus look like a blonde haired European? No, but it doesn't bother me to see Him drawn that way. Likewise, I enjoy seeing how other cultures portray Him. Becky and I have several nativity scenes, and one of our favorites is one done by an African believer.

Reality? There are times we do carve Jesus in our image - maybe not as a statue but by how we perceive Him. We need to avoid and repent forcing our convictions on God. But does God condemn artists who love Him drawing scenes of Him in the manger or accepting the children or calling Matthew or talking to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection? I don't believe so.

As Jesus told the Samaritan woman, "The time is coming and now is when the true worshipers of the Father will worship Him in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." John 4:23-24