Editorial May 2, 1994 Issue

Divine Love and the Second Commandment

Barbara M. Vining

The Ten Commandments have a purifying effect on human thought and action. They teach us to express the purity of God, whom they honor, keeping us on the path of progress and harmony.

There is no impurity in God, divine Love. And He sees no impurity in His children. "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity," the book of Habakkuk in the Bible says of God (1:13). God, Spirit, is pure by reason of His allness—the fact that He fills all space and is the only creator. In other words, God's purity excludes impurity. Since there is nothing outside the infinitude of God, nothing impure can enter His being. Therefore, God sees no sin or disease in us because we exist in His own pure consciousness as His image and likeness, man, not as fallible mortals. This spiritual truth underlies the Science of Christ, which Christ Jesus lived and proved through his divine sonship and obedience. And it is this same truth that Christian Science explains to us for our regeneration and healing. Christian Science aids us in understanding the spiritual intent of the Commandments, including certain aspects of them that are often overlooked or misunderstood. The Second Commandment is a case in point.

The first part of the Second Commandment is familiar to most people and enjoys a fair degree of understanding (though there is always room for further enlightenment): "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." But the second part is less familiar and can be troublesome until we begin to look at it from the standpoint of God's purity: "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" (Ex. 20:4–6).

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