The Second Commandment raises questions that don't always yield easy answers—and Lesson 32 of Christian Ethics and the Old Testament leans into that tension honestly. Dave Rich picks up where he left off, first addressing mental images of God, then turning to one of the more genuinely contested questions in Reformed ethics: may Christians use images of Jesus?

Rich walks through the relevant biblical and theological foundations, establishing what is beyond dispute—images of any kind may not be worshiped—before working through six arguments commonly raised against pictures of Jesus in artistic or instructional contexts. He engages each argument carefully, drawing on Calvin, Packer, Frame, Grudem, Douma, and others, neither dismissing the concerns nor accepting every conclusion. The key turning point is the Incarnation itself: the biblical rationale for prohibiting images of God rested on the fact that Israel saw no form at Horeb. Jesus, as the depictable God who took on genuine human flesh, changes that calculus.

Rich distinguishes between portraits designed for devotion—which he views with serious caution—and historically grounded artistic or instructional depictions, which he finds less clearly prohibited. He closes by reading Matthew 4 and Revelation 1 aloud and asking whether the mental images those texts inevitably produce are themselves a problem—and what that means for the broader question.

What's actually prohibited in "you shall not make for yourself an idol"? Dave Rich works through the Second Commandment verse by verse, and the answer is more precise than most people assume.

Lesson 31 in this verse-by-verse study examines Exodus 20:4-6, comparing it carefully against its restatement in Deuteronomy 5. Rich breaks down the Hebrew terms behind "idol" and "likeness," then makes a case from the tabernacle's own furnishings (the lampstand, the cherubim) that images of created things were never the problem. The real prohibition, he argues, is worship and service directed at an image, whether of a false god or of Yahweh himself.

From there, Rich traces the pattern through Aaron's golden calf, Jeroboam's calves at Bethel and Dan, and the worship of an ephod during the judges, before tackling the harder question of why Israel specifically couldn't picture God the Father. His answer rests on a simple historical fact: at Sinai, they saw no form. He also takes on what "visiting the iniquity of the fathers" really means, clearing up a phrase many readers misunderstand.

This lecture sets up next week's harder question: what about images of Jesus?

Charles Spurgeon hated controversy. He spent nearly forty years fighting it anyway.

In this second installment on the life and legacy of the "Prince of Preachers," Phil Johnson, executive director of Grace to You, traces Spurgeon's place in what he calls the Truth War: the long, reluctant fight against error that defined Spurgeon's ministry far more than most modern admirers realize.

Johnson walks through Spurgeon's battles one by one, from the baptismal regeneration controversy to his outspoken stand against American slavery, through the Rivulet hymnal dispute, and into the Downgrade Controversy that consumed his final years and ultimately cost him his denomination. Along the way, he exposes a strange irony: many who praise Spurgeon today stand against nearly everything he actually preached.

Drawing on Spurgeon's own words, Ian Murray's The Forgotten Spurgeon, and even a German theologian's begrudging tribute, Johnson shows why Spurgeon's example as a defender of doctrine may matter more for the church now than his example as a preacher.

This episode challenges listeners to ask whether they truly stand where Spurgeon stood, or simply admire him from a safe historical distance.