Defending Sacred Images

Extreme Humility Sacred Images
May Christians have them? May Christians revere them?

Opposition: Exodus 20:4-5 forbids making images of anything in heaven, on earth, or under the earth.

Defense: A passage of scripture must not be taken out of context. The proper understanding of Exodus 20:4-5 is made clear in verse 3, which says "You shall have no other gods besides Me." In addition to Exodus 20:3, verses 4-5 must be read in the larger context of the whole Bible. Other passages make it abundantly clear that images of heavenly and earthly creatures are not, as such, forbidden by God.

Turn to Exodus 25:17-22, part of God's instructions to Moses on how the ark of the covenant should be made. Two golden cherubim are supposed to be fastened on the ends of the lid. In Exodus 28:31-34, God instructs that Aaron's vestments should be decorated with pomegranates. In other words, God commands His people to make images of heavenly (cherubim) and earthly (pomegranates) things to use in His worship.

This biblical tradition was continued when Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem. Two cherubim, approximately fifteen feet high and wide and covered with gold, stood in the sanctuary with the ark (1Kings 6:23-28). Carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and flowers decorated walls (1Kings 6:29), doors (1Kings 6:32-35), and furniture (1Kings 7:36-37). Twelve statues of oxen supported the sea (1Kings 7:23-26). God consecrated all of these things for His worship (1Kings 9:1-3). We cannot conclude, therefore, that making images of heavenly and earthly things, even for places of worship, is forbidden by Exodus 20:4-5.

Making sacred art and having sacred art in places of worship is biblical.

Opposition: Aha. But Exodus 20:5, at least, prohibits "bowing down" to creatures, which includes showing reverence to those images.

Defense: This is another case where context comes into play. Neither making images nor "bowing down" before creatures constitutes idolatry, biblically speaking. Making images was covered above. But what of "bowing down"?

Look at 1Kings 18:7-8:

And as Obadi'ah was on the way, behold, Eli'jah met him; and Obadi'ah recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, "Is it you, my lord Eli'jah?" And he answered him, "It is I. Go, tell your lord, 'Behold, Eli'jah is here.'"

If any prophet opposed idolatry, surely it was Elijah, who slew hundreds of Baal's "prophets" (1Kings 18:17-40). If it was always idolatry to bow before a creature, surely Elijah would rebuke Obadiah? Yet Elijah did not rebuke him, because Elijah knew Obadiah revered the prophets because he feared the Lord (1Kings 18:3-4). This is proper reverence for creatures.

People may also bow before God's angels without rebuke:

The two angels came to Sodom in the evening; and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed himself with his face to the earth, and said, "My lords, turn aside, I pray you, to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise up early and go on your way." They said, "No; we will spend the night in the street." But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. (Genesis 19:1-3)

The angels, who certainly cannot be charged with a lack of zeal for the Lord, never told Lot not to bow before them nor rebuked him for this gesture. It was a sign of respect, not idolatry.

There are many examples in scripture of people bowing to prophets and angels of God without rebuke for the action. Indeed, it is clearly an acceptable sign of respect, even directed toward creatures.

Showing reverence to God's good creatures out of devotion to God is biblical.

Opposition: So people can bow before angels and men without committing idolatry. That doesn't show that they can bow before man-made objects without committing idolatry.

Defense: Although there are tremendous differences between angels and men and men and man-made objects, the only relevant issue is that none of them are God and none of them can be adored as God. Idolatry is the adoration of any creature or non-existent being as if it were God (e.g. Exodus 32:8). If it is possible, however, to revere one or more kinds of creatures (angels or humans) without committing idolatry, it is also possible to revere other kinds of creatures (including images) without committing idolatry.

There are examples from the Bible of righteous men bowing before and showing reverence to man-made objects in order to worship and pray to the one, true God. Turn to Joshua 7:6-8:

Then Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, "Alas, O Lord God, why hast Thou brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies!"

You and I know, of course, that Joshua was not adoring the ark as if it was God. He prostrated himself before the ark because it represented the Lord's presence among His people. Joshua was physically oriented toward the ark and spiritually oriented toward the Lord: the proper use of sacred images is to stay focused on God.

Showing reverence before sacred objects and art out of devotion to God is biblical.

The most important point in all this is that idolatry is not something visible to the eye. It is an act of the will, not of the knees. That is the real reason idolatry is not simply in making images or revering creatures.

An episode from the life of the prophet Elisha shows that a man faithful to the Lord can bow even before pagan idols without committing idolatry:

So Na'aman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the door of Eli'sha's house. And Eli'sha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean." ....So he [Naaman] went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. Then he returned to the man of God [Elisha], he and all his company, and he came and stood before him; and he [Naaman] said [to Elisha], "Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel.... henceforth your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the LORD. In this matter may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon your servant in this matter." He [Elisha] said to him [Naaman], "Go in peace." (2Kings 5:9-19)

If it is possible to bow before pagan idols without committing idolatry, how much more is it possible to bow before sacred images devoted to the worship of the one, true God!

Idolatry is not something visible, like making images or showing reverence to God's creatures. Idolatry is exchanging the Creator for a creature rather than treating both the Creator and His creatures with the appropriate respect due each.

Opposition: So we can make sacred images and revere them as long as we do not adore them as God. This still does not justify making and revering images of God Himself.

Defense: St. John of Damascus answered,

In former times (the Old Covenant) God, Who is without form or body could never be depicted. But now (the New Covenant) when God is seen in the flesh conversing with men, I make an image of the God Whom I see. I do not worship matter; I worship the Creator of matter Who became matter for my sake, Who willed to take His abode in matter; Who worked out my salvation through matter. Never will I cease honoring the matter which wrought my salvation! (First Apology Against Those Who Attack Divine Images, 16)

Likewise, the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

The sacred image, the liturgical icon, principally represents Christ. It cannot represent the invisible and incomprehensible God, but the incarnation of the Son of God has ushered in a new 'economy' of images.... Christian iconography expresses in images the same Gospel message that Scripture communicates by words. (paragraphs 1159 & 1160).

When Gabriel spoke to Mary, a new thing, beyond the wildest dreams of men, happened. God made Himself visible to men:

He [Christ Jesus, Son of God] is the image [Greek: eikon] of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us... we have beheld His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (John 1:1 & 14)
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life - the Life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal Life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us - that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. (1John 1:1-3)
He [God's Son] reflects the very glory of God and bears the very stamp of His nature (Hebrews 1:3)
He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? (John 14:9)

Christians have always believed, on the basis of God's Self-revelation, that "Christ our God can be represented in his humanity" in sacred images (the quote comes from the Seventh Ecumenical Council, which condemned the heresy of the iconoclasts). So too St. John of Damascus:

When the invisible One becomes visible to flesh, you may then draw His likeness. When He Who is bodiless and without form, immeasurable in the boundlessness of His Own nature, existing in the form of God, empties Himself and takes the form of a servant in substance and in nature and is found in a body of flesh, then you may draw His image and show it to anyone willing to gaze upon it. Depict His wonderful condescension, His birth from the Virgin, His baptism in the Jordan, His transfiguration on Tabor, His sufferings which have freed us from passion, His death, His miracles which are signs of His divine nature, since through divine power He worked them in the flesh! Show His saving Cross, the tomb, the Resurrection, the Ascension into the heavens! Use every kind of drawing, word, or color! (First Apology, 8)

Sts. Peter and Paul image from catacombs

You can see for yourself that the ancient Christians took the incarnation of God very seriously, and depicted Jesus Christ in their art from the earliest days (e.g. in the catacombs of Rome, where they hid from government persecution). Check out the links below.

For further reading

On the Divine Images by St. John of Damascus (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press) - ancient biblical arguments in defense of sacred images
Evangelical Is Not Enough: the Worship of God in Liturgy and Sacrament by Thomas Howard (Ignatius Press)