The Roman Catholic Church On The Second Commandment

• Defining The Issues:

          -Roman Catholic and Protestant churches have divided the numbering of the Ten Commandments differently. While non-Catholic churches have traditionally listed the second commandment as being a prohibition against worshiping carved images, Rome has omitted this reference and split the last commandment which condemns coveting into two separate, specific prohibitions against lusting after other people's spouses and material possessions. In short, both sides uphold different renderings of the same Ten Commandments that were originally given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. This is a cause for concern, considering that Roman Catholics do indeed rely heavily upon religious iconography in their worship. Due to the fact that the ancient Israelites constantly struggled with idolatry, one would think it wise to leave a clear condemnation of worshiping objects in the listing of the Ten Commandments.

• Was Icon Veneration Accepted Within First Century Christianity?

          -While it is true that the numbering of the Ten Commandments is peripheral in nature, it remains true that a statue-infested environment where saints are incessantly venerated is not a spiritually safe place to be. History bears witness to the fact that human beings have a natural desire to create for themselves images of deities they imagine and serve them. Judaism by the timing of the first century had purified itself of any such kind of worship. The earliest Christians, who came from that sort of background, would have been mortified had they known beforehand that masses who call themselves followers of Christ in future generations would prostrate themselves before images of "saints" or worship bread and wine as God Himself. They were all too familiar with Old Testament history, which records peoples of foreign nations worshiping their gods in exactly that way.

• The Iconoclastic Controversy:

          -In the early Christian church, there was consistent opposition to creating and venerating portraits of Christ and the saints. Despite this, the use of icons grew in popularity, particularly in the eastern regions of the Roman Empire. By the late 6th and early 7th centuries, icons became central to an officially promoted cult, often associated with superstitious beliefs about their animation. This practice faced strong opposition, especially in Asia Minor. In 726, Byzantine Emperor Leo III publicly opposed the worship of icons, and by 730, their use was officially banned. This led to severe persecution of icon supporters during the reign of Leo’s successor, Constantine V (741–775). However, in 787, Empress Irene convened the seventh ecumenical council at Nicaea, which condemned Iconoclasm and reinstated the use of images. The Iconoclasts regained power in 814 after Leo V's accession, and icons were banned again at a council in 815. The second period of Iconoclasm ended with Emperor Theophilus's death in 842. In 843, his widow restored the veneration of icons, an event still celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Feast of Orthodoxy.

• How Did The Apostles View The Commandment Against Coveting?:

          -"What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” (Romans 7:7)
          -"The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Romans 13:9)
             *Notice that the Apostle Paul, in his quoting of the commandment against coveting, does not split it in half (i.e. coveting a neighbor's wife and coveting a neighbor's goods). The Catholic rendering of the Ten Commandments here is redundant. It is suspicious because their devotion to statues so closely resembles worship.

• Roman Catholic Saintly Veneration In The Context Of Biblical Languages:

          -Interestingly, the Hebrew language does not provide a distinction in the word for worship, which is encapsulated by the term "avad." This implies that in the original Old Testament, the concepts later differentiated in Greek as "latria" and "dulia" would have been understood as a single form of worship or service, which is rightfully directed to God alone. In translating the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, the Septuagint renders "avad" variously as "dulia" and "latria." This lack of distinction in the original Hebrew text underlines that all forms of worship and veneration are to be directed exclusively to God. Therefore, the Roman Catholic practice of distinguishing between "latria," the worship due to God, and "dulia", the veneration of saints, can be seen as inconsistent with the Old Testament's original theological framework. In a religious context, our service and worship are owed solely to God, and this fundamental principle was uniformly understood in the Hebrew tradition.