A Refutation of Common Arguments for Iconography

 

The first text commonly cited against us iconoclasts is the OT example of the bronze serpent made by Moses (the whole story of which is contained in the book of Numbers). They cite this to show that not all images are bad, and some are valid and are to be venerated.

I answer:

[1]. It was not the bronze serpent itself who healed the Israelites who had been bitten by the snakes. Rather, it was Christ, as represented by the serpent, who healed the Israelites (John 3:14).

[2]. In 2 Kings 18:4, King Hezekiah destroyed the bronze serpent because the Jews were offering incense to it. This shows that the bronze serpent was never meant to receive any type of religious adoration or worship.

The Romanists (as well as the Eastern Orthodox) also bring forward the fact that Scripture speaks of there being cherubim within the tabernacle.

I answer:

[1]. The controversy specifically has to do with whether or not it is okay to have images that are meant to represent God or not, and whether we ought to give religious veneration to said images. The issue is not with all images absolutely and whatsoever. The cherubim was never meant to represent God or Christ, and thus it cannot be used to suit our opponents’ purposes.

[2]. The cherubim was never meant to receive veneration or worship, especially since it was located within the Holy of Holies, where nobody but the High Priest could enter, and that only once every year, on Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement).

The iconophiles also cite Exodus 33:10, where the Israelites worship the pillar of fire, representing God. Thus, they conclude, there are times where images are an appropriate means for worshiping God. 

I answer: the pillar of fire (and the like) were God’s means of representing Himself on His own. He can represent Himself in any way he pleases. This is different from what Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy do, in making their own images in an attempt to represent God or the saints. This is expressly forbidden and condemned in Scripture, as we will see shortly.

The common reply that Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox apologists will make to answer us basically has two variations, both of which I will give here.

They say that the second commandment simply forbids the making of images or idols of pagan gods, but does not forbid the production of an image for representing the true God, Yahweh. They would also say that the commandment forbids the making of things to represent non-existent deities, but has no issue with making images to represent existing things. 

Response:

The Israelites oftentimes did make images to represent the true God, and were condemned when they did so (Exodus 32:4-8; Judges 17-18; 1 Kings 12:28). This shows that the second commandment forbids images, even if they are meant to represent the Triune God of Scripture. 

The second commandment forbids the representation by images of anything “which is in heaven or earth”, thus showing that it forbids not only images of non-existing things, but also of existing things as well, since it speaks of things “which are….”

Appendix: Images in Second Temple Judaism

Iconophiles cite the following passage from the Babylonian Talmud to show that the Jews did not have a negative attitude towards images being used in worship near the time in which the Lord Jesus would have lived:

“If it is a matter of certainty that [statues are] of kings [and hence made for worship], then all will have to concur that they are forbidden. If it is a matter of certainty [that the statues are] of local officials [and hence not for worship], then all will have to concur that they are [made merely for decoration and hence] permitted.” (Abodah Zarah 33)

I answer: the key issue in this debate is primarily around whether or not veneration of images is proper or not. This text quite clearly says that images for the use of “worship” are forbidden.

Josephus tells of a story of the Jews’ reaction to Pontius Pilate bringing in images of the emperor into Jerusalem:

“By night he brought into the city busts of the emperor that were attached to the military standards, when our law forbids the making of images. For this reason, the previous procurators used standards that had no such ornaments. The next morning, the Jews were indignant and hurried to Pilate in Caesarea, imploring him to remove the images. When he refused, deeming it an insult to the emperor, they prostrated themselves around the palace for five days and nights. On the sixth, Pilate took his seat on the tribunal in the stadium, and when the Jews again pleaded, he gave a signal. The people were suddenly surrounded with a ring of troops three deep, their swords drawn, and Pilate threatened death if they did not stop the tumult. But they bared their necks, declaring that they would rather die than transgress the law. Astounded at such religious zeal, Pilate immediately transferred the images from Jerusalem to Caesarea.” (The Jewish Wars, Book II, Chapter 9)

We also know that Jewish coins in this time period generally never had images on them:

“No ‘graven images’ ever appeared on [Jewish] coins—not even Herod the Great, who displaced the last of the Hasmoneans, stepped over that red line.” (Colin Schindler, “Pocket History: The Secrets of Ancient Coins”, The Jewish Chronicle [August 29, 2017])