Knowing God by J. I. Packer - "The Only True God" (Chapter 4)

Knowing God by J. I. Packer

"The Only True God" (Chapter 4)

Idolatry

• What does the word idolatry suggest to your mind?
• The Second Commandment

“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” –Exodus 20:4-5

• What is the second commandment referring to?

“idolatry consists not only in the worship of false gods, but also in the worship of the true God by images.” –Charles Hodge

The Dangers in Images

• Images are not a matter of personal taste or preference or whether or not they are helpful.
• The Bible forbids the use of images in the worship of the one true God.
• No statues, images, or pictures of God or of Christ are to be used in worship (public or private).

Why such a strong prohibition against the use of images?

• Images dishonor God, for they obscure his glory.

"A true image of God is not to be found in all the world; and hence . . . His glory is defiled, and His truth corrupted by the lie, whenever He is set before our eyes in a visible form. . . . Therefore, to devise any image of God is itself impious; because by this corruption His majesty is adulterated, and He is figured to be other than He is.” –John Calvin

“To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to?” –Isaiah 40:18

• Images mislead us, for they convey false ideas about God.

 Molten Images & Mental Images

• The second commandment also prohibits false mental images of God.

"Imagining God in our heads can be just as real a breach of the second commandment as imagining him by the work of our hands." –J. I. Packer

• How often do we hear:
  
  • "I like to think of God as..."
  • "I don't think God is like..."
• Often remarks of this kind serve as the prelude to a denial of something that the Bible tells us about God.

"...those who hold themselves free to think of God as they like are breaking the second commandment... We were made in his image, but we must not think of him as existing in ours." –J. I. Packer

Purpose of the Second Commandment

• Negatively, it is a warning against ways of worship and religious practice that lead us to dishonor God and to falsify his truth.
• Positively, it is a summons to us to recognize that God the Creator is transcendent, mysterious and inscrutable, beyond the range of any imagining or philosophical guesswork of which we are capable...

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD."As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. –Isaiah 55:8-9

"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" –Romans 11:33-34

"Through this revelation, which is made available to us in holy Scripture, we may form a true notion of God; without it we never can. Thus it appears that the positive force of the second commandment is that it compels us to take our thoughts of God from his own holy Word, and from no other source whatsoever." –J. I. Packer

"The mind that takes up with images is a mind that has not yet learned to love and attend to God’s Word. Those who look to manmade images, material or mental, to lead them to God are not likely to take any part of his revelation as seriously as they should." –J. I. Packer

"God did not show them a visible symbol of himself, but spoke to them; therefore they are not now to seek visible symbols of God, but simply to obey his Word." –J. I. Packer

Looking to the True God

• How far are we keeping the second commandment?
• Are we sure that the God whom we seek to worship is the God of the Bible, the triune Jehovah? Do we worship the one true God in truth?
• How can I tell if I am worshiping the one true God?
  
  • The God of the Bible has spoken in his Son. The light of the knowledge of his glory is given to us in the face of Jesus Christ.
  • Do I look habitually to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ as showing me the final truth about the nature and the grace of God? Do I see all the purposes of God as centering upon him?

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” –John 17:3