“Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake 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…”
Dt. 4:15-16
“I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”
Isa. 42:8
“What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies…? …there is no breath at all in the midst of it.”
Habakkuk 2:18-19
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Subsection
Images of Burning Bush: Unlawful
Images of Christ
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Order of Contents
Articles 6+
Quotes 3
Early Church 1
Confessions 3
Latin 6+
Not to be Made 2
Divine Persons: Lamb, Dove, etc. 3
Symbols 4
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Articles
1500’s
Calvin, John
bk. 1, ch. 11, ‘Impiety of Attributing a Visible Form to God…’ in Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge (1559; Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1845), vol. 1, pp. 119-38
Sermon 23, the 5th upon Dt. 4 in The Sermons of… Calvin upon the Fifth Book of Moses… (London: Middleton, 1583), pp. 133-39
Willet, Andrew – p. 349 of ‘Whether it be Lawful to Have the Images of the Trinity, of Christ, or of the Angels’ in Synopsis Papismi (London, 1592), Controversies Concerning the Church Triumphant, 9th Controversy: concerning Saints Departed, 2nd Part, 5th Question, Part 1, Second Article
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1600’s
Turretin, Francis – Q. 9, ‘Is it Lawful to Religiously Worship Images of God, the Holy Trinity, Christ, the Virgin & Other Deceased Saints? We Deny Against the Papists.’ in Institutes of Elenctic Theology (P&R), vol. 2, 11th Topic, ‘The Law of God’, pp. 51-62
van Mastricht, Peter – Theoretical Practical Theology trans. Rester & Spangler (RHB, 2019), vol. 2, bk. 2, ch. 6, ‘The Spirituality & Simplicity of God’
section 11, ‘Can and ought God to be represented by images? [No]’, pp. 136-37
section 12, ‘Is it permitted, while praying, to put God before us under the form of a man? [No]’, pp. 137-38
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1700’s
De Moor, Bernardinus – ch. 4, section 15, ‘Against Images of God’ in Didactico-Elenctic Theology (2018) 6 paragraphs
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2000’s
Barth, Paul – ‘Three Reasons Why Images of God are Idolatrous’ (2016) 10 paragraphs
The three principles are:
1. There are two parts in the second commandment: Do not make an image and do not worship it.
2. When the first part of the commandment is broken, the second is broken as well.
3. God is Spirit and cannot be imaged; it is an ontological impossibility and therefore sinful to attempt.
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Quotes
1600’s
Sebastian Beck
Theological Theses on Images (Basil, 1620), thesis 4 Beck (1583-1654) was a reformed professor OT and NT at Basel.
“Indeed, the true God, who is an infinite and incomprehensible Spirit, and the Persons of the most holy Trinity, whether jointly or separately, must not be fashioned and represented by any visible image, whether of things in heaven, or on earth or in the waters, or of any kind of imagined form whatsoever, either by painting, sculpting, or casting, or any other way, for any end and use, whether political or religious, public or private.
But images, appearances, likenesses, figures and forms of this sort are wholly to be foregone, fled from, and abominated, as forbidden by the commandment of God, and contrary to the glory of the divine majesty.”
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Peter van Mastricht
Theoretical Practical Theology trans. Rester & Spangler (RHB, 2019), vol. 2, bk. 2, ch. 6, ‘The Spirituality & Simplicity of God’
section 9, pp. 135-36
“(2) If they allege that we read often in the Old Testament that God appeared to men, I respond, He appeared either without any human form, manifesting his extraordinary presence only by some extraordinary sign, or, if He was present in some form, it was not his own but one that He had assumed.
He appeared not in his own form but in a vision, the way Jesus appeared to Stephen, standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56), and to Paul (Acts 9:10, 12), the same way that Peter saw a vessel descending from heaven filled with animals (Acts 10:11-12; 11:5-6).”
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section 12, ‘Is it permitted, while praying, to put God before us under the form of a man? [No]’, pp. 137-38
“The Reformed, however openly they embrace the fact that it is lawul to have a concept of God, and even more, that it is most necessary–unless we want to be atheists!–nevertheless say that a concept of God under the form of a man, or of any corporeal entity at all, is altogether unlawful, because: (1) the Savior in John 4:24 commands us to have a concept of God that agrees with the nature of God, that defines God as a Spirit, and that therefore leads to the result that God is worshipped and adored in spirit, that is, spiritually, without any such forms, and in truth, meaning in thoughts that are true and that agree with the concept…
Balduin [a Lutheran] objects: (1) that since whenever we have a concept of God, and we therefore conceive a certain image of God… I respond, Balduin presupposes that having a concept and conceiving an image are synonymous, when in fact they are worlds apart. For under what likeness or image will you conceive of a spirit as it exists in itself?”
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On the Early Church
Latin Article
Scultetus, Abraham – ‘On Images’ in A Synthesis of the Doctrine of Eusebius in A Syntagma of the Marrow of the Theology of the Fathers… (Frankfurt: Rhodi, 1624), pp. 849-50
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Reformed Confessions
1500’s
2nd Helvetic Confession (1564) – ch. 4, ‘Of Idols, or Images of God, of Christ & of Saints’
Sandomirez Confession (1570) – 4. ‘On Idols, or on Images of God, Christ & the Saints’ in ed. James Dennison, Jr., Reformed Confessions… (RHB, 2012), vol. 3, pp. 184-85
Nassau Confession (1578) – ‘Whether One may Depict God’ in ed. James Dennison, Jr., Reformed Confessions… (RHB, 2012), vol. 3, pp. 523-25
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Latin Articles
1500’s
Bullinger, Henry – 4. ‘Of Idols, or Images of God, Christ or gods’ in A Simple Confession & Exposition of the Orthodox Faith & Catholic Doctrines of the Sincere Christian Religion (1566; Bern, 1676), pp. 8-10
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1600’s
Scharpius, Johann – Controversy 2, Question 2, ‘On Images of God’ in A Course of Theology… (Geneva: Chovet, 1618), vol. 2, cols. 1528-31
Chamier, Daniel – Panstratiae Catholicae, or a Body of the Controversies of Religion Against the Papists (Geneva: Roverian, 1626), vol. 2, pt. 2, ‘Of Worship’, bk. 21,‘Of Images’
ch. 1, ‘State of the Question on Images of God’, pp. 814-15
ch. 2, ‘Concerning that God ought to be Pictured, the Arguments of the Papists’, pp. 815-17
ch. 3, ‘That God ought Not to be Pictured’, pp. 817-22
Rivet, Andrew – Theological Works (Rotterdam: Leers, 1651), vol. 1
‘Whether God immediately appeared to Moses in the bush?’ [Yes] in Commentary on Exodus 3:2, pp. 766-67
‘Whether it may be Lawful to Picture God?’ in An Explication of the Decalogue, pp. 1254-57
Valckenier, Johannes – ch. 19, ‘Of the Use of Images of the Sacred Trinity’ in Rome Paganizing, or a Historical-Theological Examination of Papal Idolatry… (Franeker: Albert, 1656), pp. 432-45
Valckenier (1617-1670) was a reformed professor of theology and Church history at Franeker and of theology at Leiden.
Du Moulin, Pierre – sections 24-40 in 30. ‘Theological Theses on Images & Idols, & of their Worship,’ pt. 1 in A Treasury of Theological Disputations in the Fruitful Acadamy of Sedan… (Geneva: Tournes, 1661), vol. 1, pp. 267-70
Cocceius, Johannes – sections 203-7 in A Diagraming of Things to be Declared in the Epistle of Paul to the Romans in Anecdotal Works, Theological & Philological (d. 1669), vol. 2, on Rom. 1:23, pp. 46-47
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Images of God are Not Just Not to be Worshipped, but are Not to be Made
Order of Quotes
Beza
Heidelberg
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Quotes
Theodore Beza
Lutheranism vs. Calvinism: The Classic Debate at the Colloquy of Montbeliard 1586 (Concordia Publishing House, 2017), ch. 4, p. 486
“But as far as the law itself is concerned, ‘You will not make for yourself a graven image, nor any likeness of anything under heaven above, etc.’ the Lord forbids two things: the one, that they be made; the other, that they be worshipped.
Nevertheless this was not imposed on concsciences except by reason of divine worship, namely lest they be made with this goal in mind, and lest those things that have been fashioned be adored.”
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Heidelberg Catechism
“96. Q. What does God require in the second commandment?
A. We are not to make an image of God in any way,[1] nor to worship Him in any other manner than He has commanded in His Word.[2]
[1] Deut. 4:15-19; Is. 40:18-25; Acts 17:29; Rom. 1:23. [2] Lev. 10:1-7; Deut. 12:30; I Sam. 15:22, 23; Matt. 15:9; John 4:23, 24.
97. Q. May we then not make any image at all?
A. God cannot and may not be visibly portrayed in any way. Creatures may be portrayed, but God forbids us to make or have any images of them in order to worship them or to serve God through them.[1]
[1] Ex. 34:13, 14, 17; Num. 33:52; II Kings 18:4, 5; Is. 40:25.”
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Contra Making Images of the Persons of God by Means of a Lamb, Lion, Dove, etc.
Order of Contents
Quotes 4
Articles 2
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Order of Quotes
Irish Articles
Westminster
Durham
Boston
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Quotes
The Irish Articles (1615)
“53. All manner of expressing God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in an outward form, is utterly unlawful; as also all other images devised or made by man to the use of religion.”
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Westminster Larger Catechism, Q. 109
“The sins forbidden in the second commandment are… the making 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;[g]…
[g] Deut. 4:15-19. Acts 17:29. Rom. 1:21-23,25“
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James Durham
An Exposition of the Ten Commandments… (London, 1675), 1st Commandment, p. 56
“2. All representing of the Persons as distinct, as to set out the Father (personally considered) by the image of an old man, as if He were a creature, the Son under the image of a lamb or young man, the Holy Ghost under the image of a dove, all which wrongs the Godhead exceedingly…
Again, as to what may be objected from the Lord’s appearing sometimes in the likeness of a man, or the Spirit’s descending as a dove, or as cloven tongues of fire: It is answered:
1. There is a great difference betwixt a sign of the Spirit’s presence, and a representation of the Spirit.
2. Betwixt what represents the Spirit, as He is one of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity, and what resembles some gift of his: The similitude of a dove descending upon Christ was to show his taking up his residence in Him, and furnishing Him with gifts and graces, and particularly holy simplicity and meekness without measure, and so his appearing in cloven tongues was to show his communicating the gift of tongues to the apostles.
3. Neither is there any warrant for drawing Him in these shapes, more than to look on every living dove, as representing Him: and the like may be said of God’s appearing sometimes in human likeness, it was but that men might have some visible help to discern something of God’s presence, but not to give any representation of Him, and these bodies were but for a time assumed, as a praelude and forerunning evidence of the Son’s being to become man.”
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Thomas Boston
An Illustration of the Doctrines of the Christian Religion… ‘Of the 2nd Commandment,’ ‘Sins Forbidden,’ in The Whole Works… ed. Samuel M’Millan (Aberdeen: King, 1848), vol. 2, p. 150
“…it is abominable imagery, and highly injurious to the great God, to represent Him any manner of way. Such abominations are the representing of God by a sun shining with beams, with the name JEHOVAH in it or over it, as in several Bibles: the representing of the Father by an image of an old man, the Son by that of a lamb, or a young man; or the Father by a large shining sun, the Son by a lesser sun shining, and the Holy Spirit by a dove, as in some great Bibles from England.”
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Articles
1600’s
Davenant, John – p. 336 of Question 21, ‘The Church of Rome an Apostate Church’ in The Determinations, or Resolutions of Certain Theological Questions, Publicly Discussed in the University of Cambridge trans. Josiah Allport (1634; 1846) bound at the end of John Davenant, A Treatise on Justification, or the Disputatio de Justitia... trans. Josiah Allport (1631; London, 1846), vol. 2
Rijssen, Leonard – Controversy 1 on the 2nd Commandment, ‘Is it permitted to make images of God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit? We deny against the Papists & Lutherans.’ in ch. 15, The Decalogue & Good Works A Complete Summary of Elenctic Theology & of as Much Didactic Theology as is Necessary trans. J. Wesley White MTh thesis (Bern, 1676; GPTS, 2009), pp. 178-79
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Contra Symbols of God
Intro
Many persons who consider pictorial images of God to be wrong, yet allow symbols of God or the Trinity, such as appear on many Bibles and hymnals. Yet such a visual, representative symbol stands for God, and hence is an image which represents Him, and that contrary to his nature.
It might be objected that the word ‘God’ also represents God. Yet God chose to reveal Himself by words, or names, in Scripture. Such words and lettering, of themselves, are arbitrary, whether this word or that word is or is not used as a name for God; other words or names could so be used. The letters of the words are purely civil, having no religious significance of themselves. Even their arrangement is arbitrary in that they could equally be arranged another way and still be made to stand for God. Hence using words of alphabetical letters is truly an indifferent and purely civil way of referring to God.
Symbols of God and the Trinity, however, are not so. They visually picture God, denoting characteristics about God, and are often not used otherwise. If they are used for other indifferent things, yet when they are used of God, which is clear by the context, they visually portray certain characteristics about God. Hence the symbol itself is religious or has taken on a religious character. If a person changes the symbol, it may no longer represent God, it not maintaining the visual analogy to God. Such symbols refer to God alone, are not purely from an indifferent civil usage, and are a religious image of God forbidden by the 2nd Commandment.
Some who agree thus far will yet allow a teacher to illustrate concepts by sketching something respresenting God on the chalkboard. Not only is this unnecessary (words are sufficient, which He has given for the purpose), but the symbol, as it were, delineates and circumscribes God, whereas God is infinite and cannot be delineated or circumscribed, nor be in a limited spatial relation to other things, as He is everywhere, the first being and cause of all things, etc.
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“Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake 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…”
Dt. 4:15-16
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Order of Quotes
Irish Articles
Beck
Westminster
Durham
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Quotes
The Irish Articles (1615)
“53. All manner of expressing God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in an outward form, is utterly unlawful; as also all other images devised or made by man to the use of religion.”
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Sebastian Beck
Theological Theses on Images (Basil, 1620), thesis 4 Beck (1583-1654) was a reformed professor OT and NT at Basel.
“Indeed, the true God, who is an infinite and incomprehensible Spirit, and the Persons of the most holy Trinity, whether jointly or separately, must not be fashioned and represented by any visible image, whether of things in heaven, or on earth or in the waters, or of any kind of imagined form whatsoever, either by painting, sculpting, or casting, or any other way, for any end and use, whether political or religious, public or private.
But images, appearances, likenesses, figures and forms of this sort are wholly to be foregone, fled from, and abominated, as forbidden by the commandment of God, and contrary to the glory of the divine majesty.”
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Westminster Larger Catechism, Q. 109
“The sins forbidden in the second commandment are… the making 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;[g]…
[g] Deut. 4:15-19. Acts 17:29. Rom. 1:21-23,25“
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James Durham
An Exposition of the Ten Commandments… (London, 1675), 2nd Commandment
p. 55
“Therefore upon these grounds, 1. We simply condemn any delineating of God, or the Godhead, or Trinity, such as some have upon their buildings, or books, like a sun shining with beams and the Lord’s Name, Jehova, in it, or any other way, this is most abominable to see, and a heinous wronging of God’s Majesty.”
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pp. 67-68
“1. When by some visible sign, representation, or image, the Godhead is wronged as being thereby made like to it; this is against Dt. 4:15-17, etc. where every image made to represent the true God, is condemned as unsuitable to Him.”
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Related Pages
Expositions of the 2nd Commandment
Legitimacy & Necessity of Separation from Romanism
Whether Romanists may be Saved?
Opinion of Sanctity & Necessity: Not Essential to False Worship