Westminster Larger Catechism (Q 107-110)

Dear Church Family,

This past Sunday, we continued our Sunday school lessons in the Westminster Larger Catechism (WLC) in questions 107-110. Here is a brief review.

WLC 107  Which is the second commandment?
A. The second commandment is, 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, not serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

The second command which relates to graven images and worship in general is found in Exodus 20:4-6. While pastoring a church in Georgia, I had a friend and fellow minister who would conclude both his emails and voicemail messages with these words of encouragement: “Worship Him well!” That’s what the second commandment is about: how we may worship the Lord well.

In the first part of 2022, I wrote a series of sixteen articles in which I sought to explain why we worship the way we do, along with the meaning and purpose of each of the elements of worship in our service. The first article, “Corporate Worship: Principles,” is an introduction to that series and provides five principles of corporate worship: biblical (the regulative principle of worship), spiritual, Trinitarian, dialogical, and covenant renewal. You may find this first article online here: https://hillcountrypca.org/corporate-worship-principles/.

WLC 108  What are the duties required in the second commandment?
A. The duties required in the second commandment are, the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath instituted in his word; particularly prayer and thanksgiving in the name of Christ; the reading, preaching, and hearing of the word; the administration and receiving of the sacraments; church government and discipline; the ministry and maintenance thereof; religious fasting; swearing by the name of God, and vowing unto him: as also the disapproving, detesting, opposing, all false worship; and, according to each one’s place and calling, removing it, and all monuments of idolatry.

There are basically three sets of duties required in the second commandment:

(1) Receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all religious worship and ordinances as God hath instituted in his word.

To keep all religious worship and ordinances of God “pure and entire” means that God expects His people to pay special attention how we worship Him, seeking to keep our worship services and practices perfect, unadulterated, and unmixed, and not lacking in anything. The way that Reformed Christians have spoken about this attention to God’s worship is under the nomenclature of the regulative principle of worship (RPW): God requires that nothing be added or taken away from His commands (Deuteronomy 12:32), and the danger of turning the precepts of men into the doctrines of Scripture (Matthew 15:7-9).

The Westminster Confession of Faith speaks of this RPW as God’s requiring that He not be worship in any way “not prescribed in the Holy Scripture” (WCF 21.1). Derek Thomas provides a succinct definition the RPW, “Stated succinctly, the regulative principle of worship, as historically understood, can be defined this way: nothing must be required as essential to public worship except that which is commanded by the word of God” (Derek W.H. Thomas, “The Regulative Principle: Responding to Recent Criticism” in Give Praise to God: A Vision for Reforming Worship, eds. Philip Graham Ryken, Derek W.H. Thomas, and J. Ligon Duncan III (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2003), 75).

WLC 108 also lists out most of the elements of worship (interesting, “singing” is included in the list found in WCF 21.5, but is absent here):

– Prayer and thanksgiving in the name of Christ.
– Reading, preaching, and hearing of the word.
– Administration and receiving of the sacraments.
– Church government and discipline, and the ministry and maintenance thereof.
– Religious fasting
– Swearing by the name of God (oaths).
– Vowing unto him.

(2) Disapproving, detesting, opposing, all false worship

To disapprove, detest, and oppose all false worship means to be zealous and hate idolatry, inwardly and outwardly.

(3) According to each one’s place and calling, removing it [false worship], and all monuments of idolatry.

This duty to remove false worship and all monuments of idolatry is given to those who are in a position and calling of authority to do so. For instance, parents in the home and ecclesial authorities in the church have a special authority and responsibility to seek to maintain purity in worship.

WLC 109  What are the sins forbidden in the second commandment?
A. The sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all devising, counselling, commanding, using, and any wise approving, any religious worship not instituted by God himself; tolerating a false religion; the making any representation of God, of all or of any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever; all worshipping of it, or God in it or by it; the making of any representation of feigned deities, and all worship of them, or service belonging to them; all superstitious devices, corrupting the worship of God, adding to it, or taking from it, whether invented and taken up of ourselves, or received by tradition from others, though under the title of antiquity, custom, devotion, good intent, or any other pretence whatsoever; simony; sacrilege; all neglect, contempt, hindering, and opposing the worship and ordinances which God hath appointed.

Textual Note: There are several American revisions to the Westminster Confession of Faith (https://opc.org/documents/WCF_orig.html), but as s far as I know, WLC 109 contains the only revision of the Westminster Larger Catechism wherein the phrase “tolerating a false religion” was removed. This phrase was deleted by the Presbyterian Church in the United States in 1788, and this deletion is maintained by both the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) and the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). For a brief explanation as to why this phrase was removed, see “Why was LC 109 changed?” – https://opc.org/qa.html?question_id=484)

The sins forbidden in the second commandment may be summarized under four headings:

(1) Violating the RPW – Participating or approving of non-prescribed worship

(2) Images of God – Making representations of any of the three Persons of the Trinity

(3) Images of false gods – Making representations of false gods

(4) Superstitions & Corruptions – Superstitious devices and corrupting worship

Sometimes, the Westminster Standards contain words that have fallen out of common use in the English language or which are uncommon today. Here, in WLC 109, one such word is “simony” which means “the buying or selling of ecclesiastical privileges.” The word comes from Simon in Samaria (Acts 8:18-24) who offered money to the Apostles so that he too might be able to bring down the Holy Spirit.

In addition to making representations of any of the three Persons of the Trinity, perhaps the two most common ways in which churches tend to violate this second commandment are with regard to “superstitious devices” and “sacrilege” the term “sacrilege.” The tendency to violate the second commandment through the use of superstitious devices (charms, amulets, relics, holy water, incense, etc.) is more commonly found in high churches. The tendency to violate the second commandment by way of sacrilege (making common that which the Lord has set apart as holy) is more commonly found in low churches.

WLC 110  What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment, the more to enforce it?
A. The reasons annexed to the second commandment. the more to enforce it, contained in these words, For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments; are, besides God’s sovereignty over us, and propriety in us, his fervent zeal for his own worship, and his revengeful indignation against all false worship as being a spiritual whoredom; accounting the breakers of this commandment such as hate him, and threatening to punish them unto divers generations; and esteeming the observers of it such as love him and keep his commandments, and promising mercy to them unto many generations.

From the reasons annexed to the second commandment, we learn three general truths:

(1) God is sovereign and He owns us

(2) God is zealous for His own worship

(3) God punishes those who hate Him and shows mercy to those that love Him

The fourth commandment speaks of God will visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Him. I have sometimes heard this colloquially referred to as the “generational curse,” and there is much confusion surrounding this teaching. The so-called “generational curse” has less to do with some kind of mystical inheritance and more to do with the natural consequences of sin and idolatry: children tend to walk in the sins that their fathers did before them. As Bruce Waltke notes, “Children tend to grow up in the sins of their parents, for they copy the attitudes and behavior of their parents…God’s punishment is on the line that continues the sin of the father. It is visited upon the children both for their sin as well as to show to the father the consequences of his actions” (An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach, Bruce K. Waltke (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), 418).

So, rather than worrying about what your father, grandfather, or great-grandfather did, consider this: Do I love God and keep His commandments? Or, do I hate God and do as I please? That is the question that flows from understanding the warning and promise of God’s jealousy in the second commandment.

A good summary verse of the second commandment is found in Revelation 15:3-4 –

“And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, ‘Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.”

Conclusion

As we read and study the required duties and forbidden sins of the ten commandments, we all are certainly convicted of the innumerable ways in which we do not conform to God’s law and the innumerable ways in which we transgress God’s law every day in thought, word, and deed. And, as we are convicted of our sin, we are also reminded of the two special uses of God’s law for the regenerate which we learned in WLC 97.

First, we grow in our assurance of salvation through faith in the Person and work of Christ. The law of God shows us how much we are bound to Christ for His fulfilling the law and enduring the curse of the law in our stead, and for our good. Second, we learn better how to love the Lord and to love our neighbor. The law of God provokes us to thankful obedience, to endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ.

Join us on Sunday mornings at 9:15 am as we learn how we may offer up our thankful obedience to our Savior in all that we think, say, and do.

The Lord be with you!
Pastor Peter M. Dietsch