“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:”
You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. The prohibition on images is the second commandment's first clause. The comprehensiveness of the prohibition — heaven above, earth beneath, waters below — covers the entire created order. No creature, however majestic or beautiful, is an appropriate representation of the Creator. Isaiah 40:18–19 asks: who then is God's equal? To whom will you compare him? Isaiah's rhetorical question assumes the answer that the second commandment requires: nothing. Romans 1:23 describes the fall into idolatry as exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being, birds, animals, and reptiles — the exact categories the second commandment prohibits.
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