As an artist, my field does not often overlap with theological issues but has caused me to evaluate what it means to live in light of the second commandment.
You shall not make for yourself a carved 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. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God (Exodus 20:4-6, ESV)
Too often, believers skim over the ten commandments, moving onto other more niche theological issues to study and pick apart, thinking, “I haven’t murdered anyone, check! I haven’t cheated on my spouse, check! I was pretty nice to my mom this week, check!” so on and so forth. We think, even if not consciously, that the ten commandments are fairly easy to keep if you are by the world’s standards a “good person.”
In my experience, however, very few people in wider evangelical circles consider how the second commandment should practically play out in their lives. For many, a cursory reading seems like a simple enough command to follow, “Well I haven’t carved an idol of God (or anything else ever for that matter), check!” But what does carving mean in our modern context? What is making a ‘likeness of anything that is in heaven above’ and why does it matter?
To Address The Word Carving
I do not believe that God was so offended by woodworking that he made an entire commandment to ban the creation of his face only in wood, as many take the wording of carved to mean. The carved image of Christ is everywhere: In movies, television shows, t-shirts, nativity scenes, in books (including some Bibles!), magazines, children’s Sunday School material, and the list goes on.
Even though carved is the explicit word used, we should understand that at the time of the commandments being written it was the way in which images were created. Rather, we should understand the spirit of what God said, knowing that even though it doesn’t say “don’t draw a picture of Jesus on your iPad” or “don’t paint a giant mural of Jesus’ face on the side of a building,” we understand that the commandment applies to modern ways of carving as well.
For those that try to skirt the issue and say, “well it only says carving,” what if the commandment had said “do not make a printed image of God” wouldn’t you understand that it would be entirely inappropriate to create one digitally and not print it? We have to respect the spirit of the message, which is a principle that holds true throughout all of God’s Word.
How Does the Second Commandment Apply To Christians?
We then reach the question, why does it matter? How does the Second Commandment apply to Christians, and especially those who are Reformed Christians?
Aside from the fact that Christians should abide by God’s law, which should be obvious to any Christian, we should recognize the importance of why this law has been set in place. The Lord did not tell us not to murder, steal, or cheat on our spouse because they were just arbitrary rules that sounded good. No, they are put in place to protect us, guard us from evil, help us grow in Christ, and help us love Him more deeply. We set rules in place for our children out of love and the second commandment is put in place for that reason as well.
When I first started to become convicted of what the second commandment entails, I wasn’t thinking about it as a loving thing but how much of an obstacle it was in my life. How would I remove images of God? I love and studied art history and now there was a lot of art I could no longer view in good conscience, how would I teach young children about God, and could I never see another nativity play in my life? It seemed almost impossible to live in Christian culture without being confronted with images of God or Jesus in some way. Nonetheless, I realized that my concerns were entirely inwardly focused. What was God trying to teach me about Himself through making this commandment?
For starters, God makes a clear distinction between Himself and His creation in this commandment. We are created, finite, visible beings. He is the infinite, invisible God with no beginning – having never been created. Why should I as a created, finite, visible being feel that my lowly skills could capture an uncreated, infinite, and invisible God.
For many, they seek to create images of God to be able to honor Him in some way, saying that they are not worshiping the created image itself but it would point them to worship God. On the other hand, is it not more honoring and reverence inducing to recognize the fact that God is in fact “uncreatable” simply nothing that my hands or mind could ever wrap themselves around or fully express? Why would I reduce the God of the universe to what my Crayola colored pencil could create? Shouldn’t the ordinary means of grace be enough to know, love, and honor my God without visual prompts?
Again, for those that try to skirt around the spirit of the message, this issue includes images of Jesus, not just the Father. We may feel that we have more liberty over what a man would look like, but, even though he was fully man, Jesus was also fully God.
In our attempt to create an image of Jesus, we are also attempting to create an image of God. They are not separable.
Several years ago, my husband preached on this topic and talked about the ways in which people try to use an image of Jesus as a way of honoring Him and keeping it in their homes as a reminder to keep their minds on Him. My husband, Harrison, used an example saying that imagine your mother calls you and tells you that she has had a giant picture of you commissioned to hang over her mantel and every time she looks at it, she is reminded about how much she loves you. First off, you might think this is kind of an odd way to be remembered and thought of. Secondly, you go over to visit because you have to see this picture, only to find that there is a picture of someone of a different race, hair color, face shape, eyes, etc. that looks absolutely nothing like you.
This example points us to what should be the glaringly obvious fact that we have no idea what Jesus looked like, meaning that the image that the modern world has created is completely fabricated, offensive, looking nothing like what our Lord and Savior. Since the Christian life is about looking ahead and longing for the day in which we meet our Savior face-to-face, why do we try to diminish that moment now by cherishing a second rate, inaccurate version of Him now.
The absence of a picture of what God looks like should drive us all the more to long to see his real and accurate face, driving us to love Him more and seek our future in heaven all the more.
Jesus could have easily come to earth during a time of cameras and more advanced art supplies but did not. He chose the time in which he came, and I for one am thankful. My sinful heart would probably have scrolled past him on a TikTok video without giving Him proper regard, letting the thousands of videos and pictures of Him diminish his glory.
Is It Acceptable To Use Images Of Jesus In Sunday School?
Some have argued that images are acceptable in educational circumstances, usually for teaching young children about the story of Christ. Most holding this objection would be adamant that they are not subscribing any sort of value to these images that they are there to simply point the child to Christ. However, what if one of the young students scribbled all over the image and cut it into pieces? Wouldn’t your initial gut reaction be that of horror, thinking, why on earth are they doing that to God?
It is impossible to create an image of anyone in the Godhead without subscribing some sort of value to it, even on a subconscious level. After all, how can you show God to me and not expect me to worship? ALL images of God are some sort of idol, which is in direct violation to the commandment that is so clearly laid out.
My question to those that believe that showing images of an inaccurate portrayal of God to children is, why should we insult the intelligence of our children? Why do we believe that they can only understand the Word of God with these visual prompts?
The Westminster Shorter Catechism was written for children to memorize and understand. Children are wonderfully capable of reaching the bar wherever you set it, let us make sure to not set it too low and rob them of the opportunity to engage with the Word of God in a deep and meaningful way through the means of grace that have been laid out in Scripture. All the more, why should we underestimate the power of God’s Word to be able to teach our children too without the help of commandment-breaking images? Faith comes by hearing for people of all ages.
When we reflect on what the second commandment means and why it matters, let us not be tripped up on our own feelings about how it may mildly inconvenience our life to cut out these images but recognize and enjoy that we serve a God that is so large and powerful that no image could contain Him but that one day on the day of God’s choosing for those that are in Him we shall see His face in all of His glory that will look nothing like any meagre attempts that our sinful hands could create.
This essay appeared originally on After Darkness, Light in 2022
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Sarah Perkins
Sarah Perkins (MSc Business and Management, University of Essex; BA Art, University of Montevallo) is a pastor’s wife, married to Harrison, and artist based out of Michigan. She recently changed from full-time work in education management to being a full-time mom to their son Scott. She is the artist behind Illustrated Theology, also doing all the art for The New Geneva, and enjoys reading, travelling, and remembering and reciting useless trivia.
More by Sarah Perkins ›
I understand the Second Commandment issues. I spent most of my adult life in the theological tradition of Oliver Cromwell and the New England Puritans, iconoclasts if there ever were any. I understand the smashing of the stained glass windows of England, burning the crucifixes, etc. I’ve spent years advocating for whitewashed “sanctuaries” (I hate the word), maintaining central pulpits, and avoiding all ecclesiastical art and imagery in churches (better called “meetinghouses”) on the grounds that even when not biblically forbidden, it is not helpful and can quickly lead to art that actually is forbidden by the Second Commandment.
I do, however, think there’s a difference — not necessarily one of principle but of prudence — between smashing an heirloom nativity set handed down from Lutheran ancestors and dealing with medieval Roman Catholic statuary and iconography. Luther was many things, but he was not a compromiser with Roman Catholicism. He had Scripture-based reasons for maintaining things we in the Reformed world would not. We disagree with those reasons, and we believe Luther misread the Bible on those points, and I certainly would strongly oppose the desire of Lutherans from earlier centuries to force Reformed churches to have images of Christ in their churches. But our disagreements are not on the same level as our disagreement with Roman Catholics on use of images.
Perhaps a better way for Sierra Gray to handle the Lutheran nativity set would be to give it to a Lutheran relative who is confessionally Lutheran. I would not say that in the 1600s or 1700s, and I would not say it today in the context of modern Latin American folk Catholicism, where there is clear idolatry happening. However, I do think it’s patently obvious that most confessional Lutherans today are not compromising with Catholics. Their decision to have images of Christ, while an error and clearly contrary to Reformed understanding of biblical principles, is not in the same category as medieval folk piety or modern manifestations of Roman Catholic folk piety that, in an American context of the 2020s, we are most likely to see in the Hispanic community.
I’m a lot less patient with Baptists who have images of Christ since they are (usually without realizing it) violating their own tradition. But Lutherans and Anglicans have centuries-old arguments for their practice, and with regard to confessional Lutherans, there isn’t a history of images and liturgy leading them back to Rome. I can’t say that for the Anglicans because of their Anglo-Catholic movement from the 1800s, and if I see an Anglican with a preference for high church liturgy, I need to ask questions I don’t usually need to ask to a Missouri Synod or a Wisconsin Synod or other confessional Lutheran.
In an ideal world, yes, I’d like to see all the images gone.
We don’t live in an ideal world, not all battles are equally urgent at all times and places, and fighting some battles with the tactics of the 1500s and 1600s may create problems that are better solved with other tactics.
I’ve just finished reading a book by Daniel Sih (Aussie corporate head and erstwhile church planter!) called “Spacemakers” In the book he gives an interesting update on how our “carved images” may now appear:
“Our idols are lithium, cobalt, glass, made by human hands. They have cameras but cannot see; Siri, but cannot speak; touch screens but cannot feel. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” [See Psalm 115:2-5, BH]
A very valuable book. Recommended.
One of the last hurdles I had to get over was recognizing that a family heirloom porcelain nativity set acquired by Lutheran ancestors and passed down is idolatry. Please pray that I will convince my family that the porcelain baby needs to be smashed.
Sierra,
Is the porcelain baby still intact?
One of the hardest things for us has been to convince the grandparents (both sets from Baptistic roots) that kiddy picture books with images of Jesus would go into the trash. The other has been to explain to our neighbors (we live in a rural area) why we will neither participate in nor attend viewings of live nativity scenes. If imaging Jesus is sinful, I can’t imagine someone pretending their infant, or a plastic baby doll, is Jesus.
It’s hard, but it’s paying off. My 12-year-old daughter was given a book as a prize at a local Christian youth event, and she gave it back immediately and told the leader “I can’t accept this – it has pictures of Jesus and that’s idolatry.”
Let’s hear it for catechesis!