The Second Commandment does not merely forbid private acts of idolatry; it teaches us how to think about all false worship. Christians are called to preserve and strengthen right worship first in our homes and in the church, confessing where we have lacked conviction or courage, and praying that civil leaders would honor their responsibility before God.
False worship should not be treated as a harmless feature of religious pluralism, but as something God’s people must disapprove, detest, oppose, and — according to each person’s place and calling — remove. Repentance begins where God has given us responsibility: teaching our households, strengthening the church, speaking truth courageously, and preparing ourselves to act faithfully when God gives opportunity.
"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. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." —Exodus 20:4–6
