no pictures please
God is infinite, absolute, and eternal, and beyond the reach of human beings to comprehend. For these and similar reasons, it is not possible for us to make any sort of visual or pictorial representation of him. Attempting it inevitably and necessarily comes short of who he is, and by reducing him to the kind of thing that can be adequately modelled by human beings, it has the effect of denying these essential aspects of the glorious being that he is. This holds true for God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
In addition to this, he actually forbids us to make images of him. So that, even if it was possible for finite and sinful human beings to capture the qualities of divinity in the productions of our finite and sinful creativity, it would still be wrong to do so.
The wrongness of it can be seen (a) from the second of the ten commandments, which explicitly forbids any attempt at worshipping him in any way that he has not appointed, including "the making [of] any representation of God, of all or of any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever" (as the Westminster theologians agreed in 1647).
(b) It can also be seen from the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah (eg chapters 40 and 10 respectively), where the people are condemned for their idolatry. Compared to the reality, and the omnipotence, eternity, and uniqueness of God the Lord, the absurdity of constructing images from wood or gold for worshipping, should be self-evident. And although the call might be primarily to abandon the false gods in favour of the one true and living God, it noticeably doesn't advocate building images of God to replace the images of false gods - it's a call to abandon all false worship of all kinds, and return to the spiritual worship of the living God, free from props and material aids of any sort.
(c) It can also be seen from the New Testament. We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and human imagination (Acts 17) - it's not even legitimate to conceptualise him like that, far less to implement that wrong idea concretely in pictures or sculptures or anything else. In Romans 10 it was one of the grossest symptoms of the "ungodliness and unrighteousness of man," that they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man.
Noticeably, the prohibition on representations of God includes pictures of the Son of God. Even though he became man, a real man, that doesn't detract from the fact that he was never a mere man - he was still a divine person, the Second Person of the Godhead, and all these arguments apply to him just as much as any of the other persons. In fact, after his resurrection, he specifically taught his people that they would no longer have him physically present with them. As he told Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed," John 21, and Peter says the same thing - "Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, ye love - in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." 1 Peter 1.
"For what nation is there so great, that hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? ... Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves: for ye saw no manner of similitude in the day that the Lord spoke unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female ... Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." Deuteronomy 4.
In addition to this, he actually forbids us to make images of him. So that, even if it was possible for finite and sinful human beings to capture the qualities of divinity in the productions of our finite and sinful creativity, it would still be wrong to do so.
The wrongness of it can be seen (a) from the second of the ten commandments, which explicitly forbids any attempt at worshipping him in any way that he has not appointed, including "the making [of] any representation of God, of all or of any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever" (as the Westminster theologians agreed in 1647).
(b) It can also be seen from the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah (eg chapters 40 and 10 respectively), where the people are condemned for their idolatry. Compared to the reality, and the omnipotence, eternity, and uniqueness of God the Lord, the absurdity of constructing images from wood or gold for worshipping, should be self-evident. And although the call might be primarily to abandon the false gods in favour of the one true and living God, it noticeably doesn't advocate building images of God to replace the images of false gods - it's a call to abandon all false worship of all kinds, and return to the spiritual worship of the living God, free from props and material aids of any sort.
(c) It can also be seen from the New Testament. We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and human imagination (Acts 17) - it's not even legitimate to conceptualise him like that, far less to implement that wrong idea concretely in pictures or sculptures or anything else. In Romans 10 it was one of the grossest symptoms of the "ungodliness and unrighteousness of man," that they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man.
Noticeably, the prohibition on representations of God includes pictures of the Son of God. Even though he became man, a real man, that doesn't detract from the fact that he was never a mere man - he was still a divine person, the Second Person of the Godhead, and all these arguments apply to him just as much as any of the other persons. In fact, after his resurrection, he specifically taught his people that they would no longer have him physically present with them. As he told Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed," John 21, and Peter says the same thing - "Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, ye love - in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." 1 Peter 1.
"For what nation is there so great, that hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? ... Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves: for ye saw no manner of similitude in the day that the Lord spoke unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female ... Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." Deuteronomy 4.
posted by cath at
9:04 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home