The Sins Forbidden in the Second Commandment: Worshiping God His Way
The second commandment teaches us that sincere worship is not necessarily faithful worship. God alone determines how he is to be honored. The Westminster Larger Catechism asks, “What are the sins forbidden in the second commandment?”
It answers,
“The sins forbidden in the second commandment are the following:
all devising, counseling, commanding, using, and otherwise approving any religious worship not instituted by God himself;
tolerating a false religion;
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 at all;
all worshipping of any kind of image, or God in it or through it;
making any representation of pretended deities and all worship of them or service belonging to them;
all superstitious activities;
corrupting the worship of God, adding to it, or taking from it, whether invented and taken up on our own or received by tradition from others, whether under the title of antiquity, custom, devotion, good intent, or any other pretense;
buying or selling religious privileges;
sacrilege;
and all neglect, contempt, hindering, and opposing the worship and ordinances that God has appointed.”
This is a long answer because there are many ways to corrupt God's worship. Yet its central message is simple: we must worship the true God only as he has appointed.
The Second Commandment Forbids Invented Worship
Human beings naturally want to worship God according to their own wisdom. We assume that if an act feels meaningful, looks beautiful, or comes from a sincere heart, God must accept it. Scripture teaches otherwise.
Moses warned Israel about adopting the worship practices of the surrounding nations: “You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way” (Deuteronomy 12:31). He then commanded, “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it” (Deuteronomy 12:32).
King Jeroboam illustrates this danger. He established a feast “in the month that he had devised from his own heart” (1 Kings 12:33). His worship was not rejected because it lacked religious enthusiasm. God rejected it because it came from Jeroboam’s imagination rather than His command.
The sins forbidden in the second commandment therefore include inventing new forms of worship and approving practices that God has not instituted. Our intentions do not possess the authority to determine what pleases God. He has revealed his will in his Word.
The Second Commandment Forbids Images of God
The second commandment also forbids making images or representations of God. Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them that when God spoke at Sinai, “you saw no form” (Deuteronomy 4:15). Therefore, they were to guard themselves carefully against making an image intended to represent him.
God cannot be reduced to the likeness of something he created. Paul told the Athenians, “We ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man” (Acts 17:29). Every physical representation of God necessarily misrepresents his infinite glory.
The same danger exists within our minds. We may imagine God as a kinder version of ourselves, an indulgent grandfather, an impersonal force, or an angry ruler we must persuade to love us. But God is not whatever we imagine him to be. We must know him as he has revealed himself in Scripture and, supremely, in Jesus Christ.
The Second Commandment Forbids Worship Through Images
Israel’s golden calf shows that idolatry can hide beneath familiar religious language. Aaron built the calf and announced, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD” (Exodus 32:5). The people did not necessarily believe they were abandoning the Lord entirely. They attempted to worship him through an image.
God nevertheless said, “They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them” (Exodus 32:8). They had exchanged the glory of the invisible God for something they could see, control, and carry.
Romans 1 describes this as humanity’s great exchange: sinful people “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images” and “worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:23, 25).
An image may appear to make worship easier, but it directs our attention away from God’s revelation and toward human invention. True worship rests upon God’s Word, not upon a visible object meant to bring him within our reach.
The Second Commandment Forbids Adding Human Traditions
Religious traditions are not automatically sinful. Traditions can help churches act in an orderly and consistent manner. They become dangerous, however, when they are treated as divine commands or allowed to reshape the worship God has appointed.
Jesus confronted religious leaders who elevated human tradition above God’s Word. Quoting Isaiah, he said, “In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9).
Age does not give a practice divine authority. Neither do custom, popularity, devotion, or good intentions. Peter reminded believers that they had been delivered from “the futile ways inherited from your forefathers” (1 Peter 1:18). Even an ancient tradition must be examined by Scripture.
This calls for humility. We should be willing to ask whether our worship comes from God’s Word or merely from what feels familiar. The proper question is not simply, “Have we always done it this way?” but, “Has God directed us to worship him this way?”
The Second Commandment Forbids Exploiting Holy Things
The catechism also mentions buying and selling religious privileges and committing sacrilege. These sins treat sacred things as tools for personal advantage.
Simon Magus offered money for the power to give the Holy Spirit. Peter rebuked him: “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!” (Acts 8:20). God’s grace, spiritual authority, and church offices are not merchandise.
Sacrilege occurs whenever what belongs to God is stolen, dishonored, or used carelessly. Through Malachi, God accused Israel of robbing him by withholding what he had commanded them to give (Malachi 3:8). The deeper problem was that they no longer regarded God as worthy of their best.
We must never use worship, ministry, or spiritual influence as a way to gain money, status, control, or praise. We must handle holy things with reverence because they belong to a holy God.
The Second Commandment Forbids Neglecting Worship
We might assume that the second commandment concerns only obviously false worship. The catechism brings the matter much closer to home by including “all neglect, contempt, hindering, and opposing the worship and ordinances that God has appointed.”
We can break this commandment by adding to worship, but we can also break it by refusing worship. In Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast, those invited “paid no attention and went off” to their farms and businesses (Matthew 22:5). They did not openly declare war against the king. They simply considered other things more important than his invitation.
We must ask whether we neglect prayer, the preaching of the Word, the sacraments, fellowship, and gathered worship. We should also consider whether our choices hinder others—especially our families—from participating in the worship of God.
Neglect communicates contempt. When we continually push worship aside for convenience, recreation, work, or comfort, we reveal what we treasure.
Worshiping God According to His Word
The sins forbidden in the second commandment reveal how easily worship can become centered on us. We want worship shaped by our preferences, imagination, traditions, convenience, and ambitions. God graciously calls us away from ourselves and back to His Word.
This commandment is not intended to make worship lifeless. It protects the church from manipulation, superstition, idolatry, and spiritual exploitation. It directs us to sincere worship because it is grounded in truth.
Our hope is not found in performing worship perfectly. We come through Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, whose obedience covers our failures and whose sacrifice gives us access to the Father. Because we have been received through Christ, we should desire to honor God as he has commanded.
Faithful worship asks more than, “What do I enjoy?” or, “What seems meaningful to me?” It asks, “What has God revealed?” The God who alone deserves our worship also has the authority to tell us how to offer that worship. He is worthy of worship that is pure, reverent, joyful, and governed by his Word.
Soli Deo Gloria
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