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Are various types of religious iconography such as crosses, images of the Virgin Mary, statues, art, and other likenesses in violation of making idols? Did the Catholic Church omit the 2nd commandment? The answers.
“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:”
– Exodus 20:4 (KJV)
If we were only to read the above verse, we could understand that this is the complete commandment and that any religious image would be a violation.
But notice the colon after the word “earth:” Many newer translations other than the King James version place a period after the word earth, and that leads to confusion.
But that colon in the KJV indicates to us there is more associated with the complete thought and commandment.
“you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”
– Exodus 20:5-6
Now we get to a key phrase: “you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.”
When these two thoughts are put together and versus 4-6 are considered together in context, we realize that the whole meaning is not to make images worshiped like a god.
“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:”
– Exodus 20:4 (KJV) (*bold emphasis added above)
In the text that was bolded above, many people take this to mean that making an image of anything that exists in heaven (God, Jesus, angels Virgin Mary) is a violation of this commandment.
However, the Bible itself gives us an example that it is acceptable to make the images, as long as they are not worshiped as being gods, used to take the place of God.
“And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.”
– Exodus 25:18
In the above verse, God commands Moses to make two images of cherubim, a type of Angel and place them on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant. These angels had been the guardians of the Garden of Eden. We can assume God would not ask Moses to do something in violation of his own commandment.
“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.”
– Numbers 21:8-9
Again God asks Moses to make an image. And again…
“Inside the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high.”
– 1 Kings 6:23
The above examples should now be clear that there isn’t a prohibition against making images. The prohibition is against worshiping images as if they are God or a god.
A myth is a piece of disinformation sometimes used to discredit the Catholic Church, alleging that it omitted the second commandment. One argument in this fallacy is that it was done to allow the virgin Mary’s worship (another falsehood) and other idols, such as saints. The Catholic Church did not omit the second commandment.
The real answer is that there is confusion because various religious denominations number the Ten Commandments differently. It should be noted that none of these leave any part of the Old Testament text out. It is simply a matter of where they choose to place the numbers within the text, as the text itself is not numbered in the Bible (which is why this can be confusing).
Here are some examples from a few (but not all) denominations and how they differ. The verses will not be listed in their entirety to keep space limited, only the key concepts.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me, (Exodus 20:3).
I am the LORD thy God (Exodus 20:2); Thou shalt have no other gods before me, (Exodus 20:3); Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, (Exodus 20:4), (Exodus 20:5), (Exodus 20:6).
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image (Exodus 20:4), (Exodus 20:5), (Exodus 20:6).
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain (Exodus 20:7).
