"If you have seen me..."

Scripture is emphatically clear that no man has ever seen God (Exo 33:20; John 1:18; I John 4:12). This is the reasoning behind the second commandment which is against making a graven image. In Deuteronomy 4:15-19, Moses warns the Israelites to make sure that they keep this command by reminding them that when the Lord spoke to them out of the midst of the fire in Horeb, they saw no "form" of God. Therefore, they should not try to replicate or represent God in any way. 

In the upper room on the night before Christ's death, he told his disciples that he is the way, the truth and the life, and that no one can come to the Father except through him (John 14:6). One of his disciples must have been a bit confused, because he responded by saying to Christ, "Show us the Father, and it will be enough." After expressing a bit of frustration at the fact that even his closest friends still didn't get, Jesus responds, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (v.9). In other words, what God didn't do on Mount Horeb with the Israelites so many years prior, he did do in the incarnation of his only begotten Son.  Jesus Christ is the revelation of God for all the world to see. 

Having this understanding, we can now ask the practical question: "Are images of Jesus Christ permissible?" This question is further complicated when we consider the fact that we have no idea what Jesus looked like. There is no authentic portrait or description of him that we have, nor did he or the gospel writers see the need to provide us with one. When people attempt to portray Jesus, they usually produce a stereotypical "Jesus" (i.e. a white man with a beard and long hair). If I, as a married man, carried a picture of another woman in my wallet and showed it to people when they asked to see my wife, you would think I was insane!  If people really wanted to know who my wife is, an accurate picture, and not just of some random girl, must be used. Likewise, when Jesus says, "If you have seen me..." it must really be Jesus that we see. 

When Peter writes, some 30 years after the Ascension of Jesus, to Christians living in Asia Minor he says concerning their Lord, "Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory" (1 Peter 1:8). You see, Peter has no problem with Christians not having ever seen Jesus or even knowing what he looks like; they still can have a relationship with him. But that is not all there is, because Peter also speaks of a "blessed hope," which includes nothing less than seeing the risen Lord upon his return in glory. As John reminds us in his first epistle "We know that when he appears we will be like him, because we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). Having a desire to see Jesus is not wrong, on the contrary, it is to be commended. However, now is not the time, but we must eagerly await the day.  

For more on this issue see: "Iconoclasm, Incarnation, and Eschatology: Toward a Catholic Understanding of the Reformed Doctrine of the 'Second' Commandment," David VanDrunen, International Journal of Systematic Theology, vol. 6 number 2 (April 2004).

For a discussion of how God has provided visible means of grace for us, you can read a new book written by my pastor, Daniel R. Hyde, entitled In living Color: Images of Christ and the Means of Grace, Reformed Fellowship Inc. (Grandville, MI: 2009). 

Get the picture?

The second commandment forbids the manufacturing of any image for the purpose of worshiping it. If the first commandment condemns worshiping false gods, the second commandment condemns worshiping the true God in false ways. Certainly, in our culture at least, idolatry has taken on a more subtle, yet still prevalent, presence.  Everyone knows that God is invisible and that he cannot be imaged. But what about images of Jesus? Since Jesus was a man and men are portrayable, are we allowed to have images of him? If one would observe the home of even a typical Evangelical family in America, he would no doubt find numerous pictures of Jesus: perhaps a children's Bible with him on the cover, or a sentimental painting on the wall, or some sort of Jesus movie, or on a T-shirt, and the list goes on. The Reformers, on the other hand, were very emphatic in their denunciation of any attempt a of portrayal of Jesus Christ, and they did so on the authority of the second commandment. For most Christians today, however, the typical reformed argument seems to be a non sequitur. In other words, the argument: "God may not be imaged in any way, Jesus is true and eternal God, so, Jesus may not be imaged," does not seem to be very persuasive to the vast majority of Christians.  

A common response to the question of whether pictures of Jesus are permissible is that they are alright, as long as we do not worship them.  This is, however, a slippery slope to be on. At what point does the admiration and inspiration one derives from pictures of Jesus cease to be just that and not also some sort of worship and devotion. If indeed, Jesus is a wonderful person and deserving of praise, how are we to clearly divorce in our minds the feelings we get when we view a picture purporting to be Jesus and when we are really offering up worship to him? This is, no doubt, further complicated with those who are coming out of a Roman Catholic background where images of Jesus are expressly given devotion and prayed to.

Another response is that pictures of Jesus should be tolerated to serve as teaching aids for children and the unlearned. This is an identical argument employed by the Roman Catholic church during the Reformation in defense of the stain-glass windows and other images displayed in their churches. They called them "books for the laity," since most parishioners were illiterate and unable to read the Biblical stories themselves. To this argument I can respond with the Heidelberg Catechism #98: "We should not be wiser than God..." In other words, if one observes the entirety of Scripture, he will find that God never instructs his people to produce images to help educate their children in spiritual matters. Rather, what he has ordained is preaching, thus placing emphasis and efficacy in the hearing (not seeing) of the word. 

coming soon... how the incarnation effects our understanding of the second commandment.