To Whom Will You Liken Me? The Biblical Prohibition of Images (Part 1)

To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?

Isaiah 40:18 NKJV

The history of the visible church is fraught with temptation to know God through images made by human hands. During the Reformation and for most of the 500 years following, the use of images would be an obvious differentiator between Reformed Protestants[1] and Roman Catholics. In recent decades, images “of all or of any of the three persons”[2] have been introduced to Reformed churches. This two part series of articles first lays out the positive Biblical view of the second commandment in the Old and New Testament. Relying heavily on the 1981 Reformed Presbyterian Church Evangelical Synod (RPCES) report “On Images of Christ”[3] the second article proceeds to lay out three arguments commonly used in favor of images. Responding to the modern arguments, these articles find that the Bible rejects images “of all or of any of the three persons,” and calls all people to worship God in Spirit and in Truth.   

The Return of Images

The history of the visible church is filled with examples of image making and idolatry. The Israelites had not left Sinai before they made a golden calf and called it their God who delivered them from Egypt (Exodus 32). From the time of the judges through the exile, idol worship was a regular sin among the people of the God.[4] The New Testament church was susceptible to idolatry through the superstitions of the Jews and the idolatry of the nations surrounding them.[5]

God did not leave men to wonder concerning images, idolatry, and worship but rather revealed His will by speaking in His Word. God gave the second commandment at Mt. Sinai in Exodus 20 to direct the pure worship of God and forbid all idolatry.^[6]  God asked questions concerning images to which no one could respond.[7] As John concluded his first epistle he did so with this positive command, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”

Nevertheless, 500 years after the Reformation, images of the second person of the Trinity have found resurgence in Reformed churches and homes. For example, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Florida displays a stone statue of Jesus in front of the church building with the words, “Come Unto Me.”[8] Sunday School materials are filled with images of Christ and Christians now widely accept their use.[9] The Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (RPCES) position report “On Images of Christ” gave encouragement to the use of images of Christ in certain contexts.[10] Many professing Christians give little thought to movies and popular tv shows with actors pretending to be Jesus.

Should images of Christ be used in any context? Prior to addressing some contemporary arguments for images of Christ from the Reformed tradition, it is helpful to consider the second commandment from Scripture.

Biblical Overview of the Second Commandment

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything 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

What Is Required?

The second commandment builds on the first by addressing the manner of God’s worship. In the first commandment God gives instruction concerning the object of men’s worship.[11] In the second commandment, God gives instruction concerning the practice of men’s worship.[12]

Whereas God gives the second commandment in a negative form, “thou shalt not make… thou shalt not bow,” a positive duty is required.[13] The Psalmist cries out, “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker (Psalm 95:6). Jesus said, “The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24).

God requires all His worship and ordinances to be pure and complete as instituted in His Word alone.[14] The Scripture gives positive commands for prayer; reading and especially the hearing of the Scripture preached; praising God with psalms, hymns, and spiritual psalms; and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.[15] G.I. Williamson argues that God in Scripture commands only that worship which is positively set forth in the Scriptures and forbids all other.[16] This doctrine is known as the regulative principal of worship, for it is worship regulated by God in Scripture.[17]

In contrast with the regulative principle of worship is the normative principle. Anglicans and Lutherans in the Protestant tradition are proponents of the normative whereby all elements of worship are allowed so long as not expressly forbidden in Scripture.[18] Scripture refutes this practice with warnings like these given in I Samuel 15:22 by Samuel to Saul as well as by the Lord who warns of worshipping according to the commandments of men (Matthew 15:9).

The third petition of the Lord’s prayer is “Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven.” In Heaven the angels, elders, and saints of God, worship Him (Rev. 4-5). On Earth Christians must do the same thing – Worship God in truth.

What Is Forbidden?

The second commandment forbiddeth the worshipping of God by images or any other way not appointed in His Word.

Westminster Shorter Catechism A. 51

The major focus of the commandment is God’s forbidding images in the worship of Jehovah. Images are properly divided into two categories. God said, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images… Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them” (Exodus 20:4-8). Turretin argues that there are two parts to the question on images: 1) the question of their worship; and 2) the question of their being made.[19]Calvin, Henry, Packer, and the Westminster Divines all agree in separating the forbidding of images into the two categories of making and worshipping.[20]

Consider the making of images. First, God does not forbid the making of all images in all situations. Using the same Biblical grounds as Charles Hodge, we deny the second commandment always forbids all images.[21] God positively commanded certain images in Scripture and therefore we cannot deny all images.[22]

Second, God does forbid the making of any image of “all or of any of the three persons” of the Godhead at all times (WLC #109). God told Israel they saw no form of Him when He spoke to them and they ought not make any image of Him (Deut. 4:15-19). The same teaching is throughout the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.[23] Turretin builds on the argument with the being of God: “God, being boundless and invisible, can be represented by no image: ‘To whom will ye liken God?’”[24]  

Third, God forbids the making and using of all images in the context of worship. Here the second part of the second commandment is introduced concerning worship. God forbids any graven images of the Creator or the creature in the context of worship. In Exodus 32 the people made a golden calf and worshipped it, receiving the swift wrath of God. The primary issue was not the making of an ox so much as the worshipping the graven image they had made.[25]

God made a distinction between the Creator and the creature in the second commandment. God is “the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy” (Isaiah 57:15). “Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You” (I Kings 8:27). “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (I Timothy 1:17). The creature is never spoken of in such lofty terms in Scripture. To elevate the creature in worship is idolatry and to bring God down to the level of a created image is idolatry.[26] Packer summarizes the Biblical testimony in two ways: 1) “Images dishonor God, for they obscure His glory”; and 2) “Images mislead us, for they convey false ideas about God.”[27]  

In Numbers 21 and II Kings 18:4 the Lord provides an example to discern the teaching of the second commandment regarding images of the creature. In the first text, the Israelites sinned against God, were bitten by fiery serpents, and God told Moses to make a bronze serpent. When the people obeyed God and looked at the bronze serpent they were healed. In the latter text during the days of Hezekiah the people abused the image of the bronze serpent and worshiped it. In the former they obeyed God’s command. In the latter they broke the second commandment.  

The second commandment forbids the making any image of any or of all the persons of the Godhead and the worshipping of God by any graven image.

Reasons Annexed

The reasons annexed to the second commandment are God’s sovereignty over us, His propriety in us, and the zeal He hath to His own worship.

Westminster Shorter Catechism A. 52

The first reason God attaches to the second commandment is His sovereignty over us. This is affirmed in Exodus 20:5, “For I, the LORD….” He is the Mighty King, the Creator of all things both visible and invisible. All things were created through Him and for Him. He holds all things together by the word of His power.[28] Because He is sovereign, He is free to speak, govern, and ordain as He pleases. He has commanded that we should not make any graven images or bow down to them.

The second reason God attaches to the second commandment is His propriety or ownership over us. He has made us and not we ourselves (Psalm 100:3). “We belong to the Lord, therefore we ought to keep close to him and his appointments, and take heed especially of idolatry and superstition, which do alienate the heart from him.”[29]

The third reason God attaches to the second commandment is the zeal He has for His own worship. God declared His name, glory, and grace in Exodus 34:6-7. He also declared His zeal and jealousy for His own name, “by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 34:7). He is just and jealous and will not allow those who worship Him falsely to go unpunished (I Samuel 15:28).

God is also full of grace and mercy. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we behld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The idolater who repents of his sin and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation will be saved.[30]

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NEXT – PART 2 – MODERN ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF IMAGES

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[1] While condemning the worship of images, Lutherans have accepted the use of images in worship and are not included in the term “Reformed Protestants.” See Turretin, F. Institutes of Elenctic Theology Vol. 2 (1994). p. 62 – 64.

[2] See The Confession of Faith and Catechisms of the OPC (2018). WLC Q. 109.

[3] See https://www.pcahistory.org/rgo/rpces/docsynod/332.html for full text.

[4] See Numbers 25:1-9 and the Israelites turning to Baal of Peor; in Judges 6:25-32, the Lord told Gideon to destroy the altar of Baal; Judges 17 and the idolatry of Micah; I Kings 11 and Solomon’s turning with Israel to many false gods; I Kings 16:29-34, Ahab did far worse than all the kings before him as he married Jezebel and served Baal; Jeremiah 44 and the worship of the Queen of Heaven; Ezekiel 8 and the worship of Tammus and the sun; Malachi 2:11 and Judah’s intermarriages with idolaters.

[5] See Matthew 23:15-26; Acts 15:24-29; 17:16-34; 19:21-34; Romans 1:18-25.

[6] See Exodus 20:4-6; Westminster Shorter Catechism #49 – #52; and Vincent, T. The Shorter Catechism Explained from Scripture, 1980. p. 141.

[7] See Isaiah 40:18 and Isaiah 46:5.

[8]  https://crpc.org/sunday/ – The front architecture of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church.

[9] See Williamson, The Westminster Shorter Catechism, 2003.p.213 “Pictures of Jesus first came in through the pages of the Sunday school materials. Little by little the children became accustomed to them. They grew up with the feeling that these pictures of Jesus were good. Now, these same people – in adult life – are bringing these pictures into the worship services.”

[10] See Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, 1981 as published in the Presbyterian Church of America historical documents. https://www.pcahistory.org/rgo/rpces/docsynod/332.html.

[11] See Exodus 20:3, “Thou shalt have no have no other gods before me.”

[12] See Exodus 20:4-6, “Thou shalt not make… thou shalt not bow down.” See also Vincent, T. The Shorter Catechism Explained From Scripture, p. 141. Q. 2.

[13] See Westminster Larger Catechism #99 item 4, “Where a sin is forbidden, the contrary duty is commanded…”

[14] See Deuteronomy 12:32, 46-47; Matthew 28:20. See also Westminster Larger Catechism #108 and Westminster Shorter Catechism #50.

[15] Ibid. See also, Vincent, T. The Shorter Catechism Explained from Scripture, 2021. pp. 141-143. Westminster Larger Catechism #108. Ephesians 5:20; Matthew 6:6; 2 Timothy 4:2; Psalm 149:1; John 4:23-24.

[16] See Williamson, The Westminster Shorter Catechism, 2003. pp. 206 – 207.

[17] See Westminster Confession of Faith 21.1; Payne, Jon D. In the Splendor of Holiness, 2008. p. 15 – 20; Hart, D.G., and John R. Muether. With Reverence and Awe: Returning to the Basics of Reformed Worship, 2022. Chapter 5 discusses the normative principle and the regulative principle.

[18] Hart, D.G., and John R. Muether, With Reverence and Awe, 2008. p. 78

[19] See Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Volume 2 page 51.

[20] See Calvin, Sermons on Deuteronomy 4:15-20. p. 289-309; Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, 2006. Exodus 20:4-6. p. 283; Packer, Knowing God, 1993. p. 45; Westminster Larger Catechism #109.

[21] See Hodge, Systematic Theology. Vol. III p.290

[22] See the making of the cherubim, golden lampstand, and mercy seat in Exodus 37. See also the palm trees and cherubim in Solomon’s temple in 1 Kings 6:29.

[23] See examples in Leviticus 26:1; Deuteronomy 5:8-10; Acts 17:27-30.

[24] Turretin, p. 63

[25] See Psalm 106:19-20; Isaiah 46:6-7; Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, 2006. Exodus 32:1-6.

[26] See Romans 1: 18-25 for a Biblical summary of the elevation of the creature over the Creator.

[27] Packer, Knowing God. P. 45-46

[28] See Isaiah 45:7-9; Lamentations 3:37-39; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:3; WCF Chapter 2.

[29] Vincent, 2008. p. 151.

[30] See Exodus 34:6-7; Psalm 136; I John 1:9; 2:1-2.

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