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Heidelberg Catechism, Question 96

Question 96

What doth God require in the second command?

That we in no wise represent God by images (Deut. 4;23, 24), nor worship him in any other way than he has commanded in his word (Deut. 12;32).

Scripture references for paragraph 1

Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.

Deuteronomy 4:23

23Be careful that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that He made with you; do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything He has forbidden you.

Deuteronomy 4:24

24For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Romans 1:22

22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,

Romans 1:23

23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Acts 17:29

29Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.

Isaiah 40:18

18To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him?

Deuteronomy 12:32

32See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it.

Deuteronomy 4:2

2You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you.

John 4:24

24God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

Source and edition

Heidelberg Catechism. RCA English, E. R. Good & Bro., Tiffin, 1879. RCA English, E. R. Good & Bro., Tiffin, 1879

Public Domain (historic text); CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikisource transcription). Source transcription.

Transcription licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.

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