Images of Christ and the Violation of the Second Commandment

Contents:
1. Worship
2. Second Commandment
3. Images of Christ
4. Church Confessions
5. Church History from the Reformation to the Puritans to Modern Times

1. Worship
I think it is best for me to begin by explaining what true worship is since the topic I will be focusing on is based on the second commandment which is Gods instruction on how to worship him the right way.

Christian worship is not constricted in a church building but is part of our everyday lives. In the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman by the well Jesus explains worship is neither here nor there but done in spirit and in truth. John 4: ¹⁹ The woman *said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” ²¹ Jesus *said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshippers.

People worship what they value, all people are worshippers we all value something whether that be God, money, women, cars. To worship God is to value him above all things, in the letter to the Colossians Paul instructs the people of God to give glory to Him in all they do whether it be by word or deed (Colossians 3:17).

How are we to worship the Father in spirit and in truth? God gives us his spirit through faith and we know that it is impossible to please him without faith (Hebrews 11:1). So the first part of worship is to have faith in the God of the bible. The second part is to worship him in truth this entails us believing what he has revealed to us through his word, Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the father except through me John 14:6.

We worship God based on the truth of who He is, the truth of who we are, the truth of what God does, and the truth of what is going on in our world. We do it with a heart inclined toward God and in submission to Him. We worship God when our attitudes, actions, and words declare that He is worthy of our praise.

2. Second Commandment
Exodus 20:4,5  “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.  You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,…

The Lord is a jealous God and does not want his people to worship multiple gods, God wants his people to worship him only. While the first commandment tells us who to worship the second commandment tells us how he is to be worshipped. The Lord God wants to differentiate how he is worshipped compared to all other pagan religions, who worship their gods through graven images. The Lord God commands his people to worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

The second commandment is further emphasized  in Deuteronomy 4:15“So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, ¹⁶ so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷ the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, ¹⁸ the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. ¹⁹ And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. ²⁰ But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today.

Since God is spirit there is no image that can depict his divine nature, and so all images that are used to represent God is sinful. For if he had wanted to be worshipped through an image he would not have told the Israelites to watch themselves lest they fall and make an image for themselves.

But some people will argue that there is nothing wrong with the image itself so long as we don’t worship the image. One advocate for using images writes this.

The use of Images, Signs, and Symbols in Anglican Worship

The concept of using images in worship finds its origins in the Old Testament. The Temple contained numerous visual images, including the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant. The Temple Solomon built for the Lord contained many carvings of trees, gourds, flowers, and angels (1 Kings 6). It is clear that God did not forbid images used in the Sanctuary to glorify God. What about symbols? In reading the Bible we discover that God uses tangible signs and symbols throughout the Scriptures as a way of communicating to God’s people. Often God’s people are instructed to make use of such signs and symbols to help them understand or remember what God is teaching them. :
· God’s use of the rainbow as the sign of God’s covenant to humankind never again to destroy the earth by a flood (Gen.9:13)
· the use unleavened bread by the Israelites as a symbol of their hurried flight out of Egypt
· the use of the blood of the lambs on their doorposts during the Passover as a symbol of their faith
· the use of animals upon the altar for ritual sacrifices to symbolize their sin and atonement
· the image of the bronze serpent Moses used as a symbol of God’s healing (Num. 21:9)
· the use of oil to anoint Israel’s Kings as symbolic of God’s setting them apart
· the placement of the twelve stones in the River Jordan to remind the Israelites of the crossing God had provided for them “as a sign” and “memorial” (Joshua 4:3-7)
· the building of stone altars by the Old Testament patriarchs including Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, and David as a symbols and acts of worship to God
· and the numerous symbolic acts carried out by the OT prophets (such as Jeremiah burying a loin cloth to demonstrate Israel’s ruin in Jer.13:4ff).

The examples are nearly limitless. In the New Testament God uses powerful symbols such as:
· the star of Bethlehem to signify the birth of Christ
· the dove to signify the Holy Spirit’s presence at Jesus’ baptism (John 1:32)
· water to signify one’s commitment to Christ at baptism
· bread and wine to signify Jesus’ body and blood.
· And the earliest church usage of the cross and empty tomb as signs and symbols of our faith
· the enduring marks in Jesus’ hands as symbolic of his sacrifice
· the symbol of a lamb to represent Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God

In addition, the Scriptures themselves paint vivid images for us of God in Divine glory. See Isaiah 6 where God is seated on the throne with God’s robes overflowing the Temple, or Daniel 7:9ff where Daniel has a vision the Ancient One with clothes white as snow and hair like pure wool on his throne of fiery flames, or in Revelation with its numerous images and symbols of God, Jesus Christ, and his Kingdom (too many to recount here).

In addition, signs and symbols are used by all of us today to communicate important truths of significance such as wedding rings, birthday cakes, birth stones, red roses, monograms, etc. It is natural way of communicating significant meaning.

The Greatest Sign: The Incarnation
Another important point which must be mentioned is the significance of God taking human form in the person of Jesus Christ. This has powerful ramifications for our worship and the use of images. Now that God has been revealed in a tangible, physical, material way through Jesus Christ (the Word became flesh and dwelt among us), we can now image or imagine God in the form of Jesus Christ. Now that God has taken physical human form, God has given us an image of God in Jesus Christ: the God-Man. It is now possible to use symbolic pictures and images of Christ in his humanity to aid us in our devotion to God and cause us to continually recall and remember the work God has done in Jesus Christ. This is the main reason why early Christians began painting pictures of Jesus, demonstrating the different offices and attributes of Christ, in their places of worship. Soon these simple paintings became beautiful icons whose purpose was educational and devotional. Icons of Jesus and Biblical figures teach us about God and the Bible and cause us to lift our hearts in gratitude to our Creator. There is tremendous historical precedent for their use in worship and in individual devotion. The Seventh Ecumenical Council of the Church upheld the tradition of the use of images in the worship as consistent with the orthodox Christian faith in 787.

What is forbidden to us however, is to make images and symbols which become objects of worship in themselves. We are never to offer worship to anything created; worship is meant for God alone. Images and symbols are meant to aid us in our worship and understanding of God and to bring glory to God. They are merely guideposts which always point us back to the Creator. Symbols and images are good in and of themselves, especially when used to bring glory to God, but it is humans which corrupt them. One common solution to this human error is to disallow all images and symbols. This is the situation in some churches following the Reformation. But this is again a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The Bible is rich and full of many symbols and imagery; it is a gift of God to aid us. If God deigned to take on human flesh in all its particularity, we no longer need to fear particular symbols. Rather, we ought to make proper use of the gifts God has given us and educate ourselves and others as to their appropriate uses.

The Gnostic philosophers of Greece believed that only the spiritual was good, and all matter (or material things) were evil. We have inherited this dangerous Gnostic tendency in our western society that causes us to be overly suspicious of the material. In our Gnostic tendencies, we feel that the physical and material are more prone to corruption. We have too often thrown out the tangible, material forms of worship, as modeled in Scripture, in place of an immaterial form of worship. But God desires that we worship God both spiritually and physically as demonstrated in the Scriptural models of worship.

http://franciscan-anglican.com/Images.htm

It is true that God has instructed and commanded people to use such signs to remember what God has done for his people, many of the examples given are great signs that we still use today for example the rainbow we are reminded of Gods promise to never flood the world again, baptism is a sign and seal that our sins are washed away through Jesus Christ, bread and wine for when we partake at the Lords supper table we eat and drink in remembrance of our Lord Jesus. While other images mentioned especially in the Old Testament are no longer signs for us for we have greater things revealed to us in the New Testament.

While the bible does give us numerous descriptions of what God is like there is still no image that we can create that can reveal to us his divine nature, and with so many descriptions which illustration of God would we use? For each description reveals just an aspect of his being not his whole being. Herman Hoeksema writes this in his book titled “Triple Knowledge: An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism” concerning the anthropomorphisms (attribution of human characteristics or behaviour to God).

“Does, then, the Word of God not induce it’s by these anthropomorphisms to make a creature image of God?
Not at all.

To be sure, all these Scriptural passages ascribe to God human virtues and passions and members of a human body. But there is an essential difference between a material image or even a concept of the mind and a picture in human language. An image, carved in wood or chiseled in stone, simply stands there with all its limitations. It can leave only one impression, that of a limited being. It is material, limited by space and time. But this is not the case with the figure of speech in the Bible that is called anthropomorphism. No one can possibly receive the impression from this figure that God is physical and finite. For the whole of Scripture clearly reveals that God is a Spirit, that He is the Eternal One, infinite in all His glorious perfections. When Scripture speaks of God’s eye, no one thinks of a physical organ of sight, but all know that it refers to God’s absolute omniscience, and to the fact that nothing is hid from the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do. When the Bible speaks of God’s arm or right hand, all understand that this is a figure of speech, that it does not refer to a physical organ, limited in power, but to God’s omnipotence, that He does whatsoever He pleases. In other words, Scripture so reveals God to us, or rather God is able so to reveal Himself to us in creaturely forms and creaturely language, that we may know Him, that we may, indeed, understand His speech, while at the same time, we do not confuse Him with the creature, but know that He is infinitely greater than the creaturely form in which He is pleased to reveal Himself. While we understand and know His revelation, we know, at the same time, that in Himself He is the incomprehensible One.”

Notice in the conclusion of the first article she writes God desires to be worshipped both spiritually and physically but she has made a false claim for we have just seen before that God desires to be worshipped in spirit and in truth (John 4:24) there is no mention of physical worship.

The second commandment not only forbids the worship of these images but the creation of these images. Often people have a tendency to run this statement with what follows (“you shall not bow down to them nor serve them”) These are two individual statements not a continuation of a sentence that is essentially saying you shall not make an image that shall be used for the people to bow down and worship or serve them, which is essentially the same mistake made here in the article. Because of this misreading of the text the Roman Catholic Church has changed the 10 commandments to how the Protestants view it so as to eliminate the second commandment. For the Catholics they have attempted to remove the problem of the creation of an idol in the representation of God. Although they see no wrong in what they are doing they are indeed creating idols forbidden by God.

Proverbs 21:2 Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts.

Luke 16:15 “That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God”.

They not only misread Gods commands in the Old Testament and approve of such images but they ignore what is said in the New Testament.

Acts 7: ⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’ ⁴¹ At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. ⁴² But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘It was not to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel? ⁴³ You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will remove you beyond Babylon.’

The Israelites did not intend to worship another god they had not broken the first commandment, Exodus 32:5 Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.”.
The Israelites created a golden calf (representing power and strength) symbolizing part of Gods attributes to remind them of their god that brought them out of Egypt. The problem was they worshipped the right God in the wrong way.

Acts 17: ²⁴ The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; ²⁵ nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; ²⁶ and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, ²⁷ that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; ²⁸ for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ ²⁹ Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.

Paul’s spirit had been provoked after observing all the idols in the city of Athens. The Athenians observed he was stirring up trouble within the city for some had said what does this idle babbler wish to say? Paul begins to deliver his speech and noticing the object to the ‘unknown God’ he proclaims to them who this unknown God is the God of heaven and earth. In doing so he refutes the idea that God is not like their idols formed by human hands.

3. Images of Christ
The question concerning the image of Christ is a question concerning his incarnation. As I have already discussed, God cannot be created into an image for he is spirit and not like other gods. Our attention now turns to Jesus for he is both very God and very human though one person. The Chalcedon creed states that Christ is “to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.”

“Biblically speaking, those who hold the view that pictures are acceptable, and can be used in Sunday School literature, in children’s books, in movies, in pictures, in stained glass and the like, may be challenged by defining the nature of the Christ, the Son of God. For orthodox Christians Jesus Christ is God. No one disputes this. The dispute arises from whether we are allowed to display His humanity at the expense of His deity. The answer to this is theological. Let us ask the question this way: Can anyone portray Jesus Christ in a picture or image of Him accurately with the information we have in the Bible? The answer to this is “No we cannot.” First, we have no evidence to assimilate as to the nature of his physical characteristics. But even aside from this, we could not possibly portray Him accurately since, as the creed states, He is very God and very man. Throughout the history of the church heretics have attempted to divide the natures of Christ in one manner or another.

No image can capture the essence of God. None of them can truly represent His nature or being. Jesus Christ as the God-man (that which is inseparably so) is debased when he is portrayed in an inaccurate light either by false interpretations of his physical stature, or by not exemplifying the reality of His deity as fully God. Christians then may acquiesce to the point and say, “well of course Jesus Christ cannot be portrayed as “fully God”, it is impossible to capture this in something finite like human flesh.” This is part of the argument at hand. But they continue, “What we want to do is try to capture something of His humanity.” Again, two important points must be established, you cannot capture something you have no substantiated proof for (no descriptions or pictures of Him exist) and secondly, you cannot capture Him as He really is, the God-man. Any attempt to do so is always going to be a debasing of the nature of Jesus Christ as the God-man.” http://www.apuritansmind.com/the-christian-walk/the-tract-series/icons-graven-images-and-the-church-by-dr-c-matthew-mcmahon/

Let us consider the practical side  of permitting images of God, what benefit is there for the Christian in the use of images? I have heard it said that people find it assisting them in their faith they find it easier to worship God  because they can now visualise him through this image, it makes him feel more real and present. What the person is essentially doing here though is trying to capture a piece of heaven on earth, living by sight rather than by faith which is going against what God has instructed us in 2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” It is not until we are absent from the body that our faith will become sight seeing him face to face. In the gospel of John, Jesus appears to Thomas who had doubted he was alive, that he has risen from the dead. John 20: ²⁷ Then He *said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”²⁸ Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus *said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
Christians today are blessed for we believe but do not see. I understand that Christians long for Christ and it is good that they long to see him but  we should not try to be wiser than God we need to be patient, God has instructed us to walk by faith. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

4. Church Confessions
The Heidelberg Catechism, one of the Three Forms of Unity, is a Protestant confessional document taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Reformed Christian doctrine. It was written to prepare a catechism for instructing the youth and for guiding pastors and teachers. It has been translated into many languages and is regarded as one of the most influential of the Reformed catechisms. Lords day 35 teaches us Gods will for us in the second commandment here it is below:

96   Q.	What is God’s will for us in the second commandment?
A.	That we in no way make any image of God1 nor worship him in any other way than he has commanded in his Word.2 1 Deut. 4:15-19; Isa. 40:18-25; Acts 17:29; Rom. 1:22-23 2 Lev. 10:1-7; 1 Sam. 15:22-23; John 4:23-24
97   Q.	May we then not make any image at all?
A.	God can not and may not be visibly portrayed in any way. Although creatures may be portrayed, yet God forbids making or having such images if one’s intention is to worship them or to serve God through them.1 1 Ex. 34:13-14, 17; 2 Kings 18:4-5
98   Q.	But may not images be permitted in the churches as teaching aids for the unlearned?
A.	No, we shouldn’t try to be wiser than God. He wants his people instructed by the living preaching of his Word–1 not by idols that cannot even talk.2 1 Rom. 10:14-15, 17; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:19 2 Jer. 10:8; Hab. 2:18-20

The Westminster Confession’s Larger Catechism question 109 says,
“What are the sins forbidden in the second commandment?”
Answer: “The sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all devising, counselling, commanding, using, and any wise approving, any religious worship not instituted by God himself; tolerating a false religion; 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; all worshipping of it, or God in it or by it; the making of any representation of feigned deities, and all worship of them, or service belonging to them; all superstitious devices, corrupting the worship of God, adding to it, or taking from it, whether invented and taken up of ourselves, or received by tradition from others, though under the title of antiquity, custom, devotion, good intent, or any other pretence whatsoever; simony; sacrilege; all neglect, contempt, hindering, and opposing the worship and ordinances which God hath appointed.”

39 Articles of Religion
Article XXII
Of Purgatory
The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping, and Adoration as well of Images as of Reliques, and also invocation of Saints, is a fond thing vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.

5. Church History from the Reformation to the Puritans to Modern Times
John Calvin (16th c.)
Treatise on Relics

“As soon as anyone has devised an image of God, they have instituted false worship. The object of Moses is to restrain the rashness of men, lest they should travesty God’s glory by their imaginations.”

The church in the beginning tolerated these abuses, as a temporary evil, but was afterwards unable to remove them; and they became so strong, particularly during the prevailing ignorance of the middle ages, that the church ended by legalizing, through her decrees, that at which she did nothing but wink at first. I shall endeavor to give my readers a rapid sketch of the rise, progress, and final establishment of the Pagan practices which not only continue to prevail in the Western as well as in the Eastern church, but have been of late, notwithstanding the boasted progress of intellect in our days, manifested in as bold as successful a manner. (Page 8)

It appears, however, that the use of pictures was creeping into the church already in the third century, because the council of Elvira in Spain, held in 305, especially forbids to have any picture in the Christian churches. (Page 11)

Such a practice was, however, fraught with the greatest danger, as experience has but too much proved. It was replacing intellect by sight. Instead of elevating man towards God, it was bringing down the Deity to the level of his finite intellect, and it could not but powerfully contribute to the rapid spread of a pagan anthropomorphism in the church. (Page 11)

Now, the origin and root of this evil, has been, that, instead of discerning Jesus Christ in his Word, his Sacraments, and his Spiritual Graces, the world has, according to its ‘custom, amused itself with his clothes, shirts, and sheets, leaving thus the principal to follow the accessory. (Page 133)

I know well that there is a certain appearance of real devotion and zeal in the allegation, that the relics of Jesus Christ are preserved on account of the honor that is rendered to him, and in order the better to preserve his memory. But it is necessary to consider what St Paul says, that every service of God invented by man, whatever appearance of wisdom it may have, is nothing better than vanity and foolishness, if it has no other foundation than our own devising. (Page 133)

John Owen (17th c.)
Works of Owen, Volume 14
“And these fine discourses of the “actuosity of the eye above the ear,” and its faculty of administering to the fancy, are but pitiful, weak attempts, for men that have no less work in hand than to set up their own wisdom in the room of and above the wisdom of God.” (Page 149)

“Besides, who appointed them to be made? As I take it, it was God himself, who did therein no more contradict himself than he did when he commanded his people to spoil the Egyptians, having yet forbid all men to steal. His own special dispensation of a law constitutes no general rule; so that (whoever are blind or fools) it is certain that the making of images for religious veneration is expressly forbidden of God unto the sons of men. But, alas! “They were foreign images, the ugly faces of Moloch, Dagon, Ashtaroth; he forbade not his own.” Yea, but they are images or likenesses of himself that, in the first place and principally, he forbids them to make; and he en-forceth his command upon them from hence, that when he spake unto them in Horeb they “saw no manner of similitude,” (Page 150)

Works of Owen, Volume 1
“So do the Papists delude themselves. Their carnal affections are excited by their outward senses to delight in images of Christ, — in his sufferings, his resurrection, and glory above. Hereon they satisfy themselves that they behold the glory of Christ himself and that with love and great delight. But whereas there is not the least true representation made of the Lord Christ or his glory in these things, — that being confined absolutely unto the gospel alone, and this way of attempting it being laid under a severe interdict, — they do but sport themselves with their own deceivings.” (Page 372)

Works of Owen, Volume 8, Sermon 15
“This, therefore, is evident, that the introduction of this abomination, in principle and practice destructive unto the souls of men, took its rise from the loss of an experience of the representation of Christ in the gospel, and the transforming power in the minds of men which it is accompanied with, in them that believe.” (Page 649) (cf. Owen, Volume 1, Page 244)

Wilhelmus a Brakel (17th c.)
“We declare, on the contrary, that the making of images of the Trinity is absolutely forbidden. We neither know the spiritual nature of the angels nor the true physical appearance of Christ and the apostles. Thus, the images made of them are without resemblance, and it is vanity to make an image and say: That is Christ, that is Mary, that is Peter, etc. … In the first place, one may make no images of God whatsoever; that is, of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

James Durham (17th c.)
“It is not lawful to have pictures of Jesus Christ … because, if it does not stir up devotion, it is in vain, if it does stir up devotion, it is a worshipping by an image or picture, and so a palpable breach of the second commandment.”

Thomas Watson (17th c.)
The Ten Commandments
“Nor the likeness of any thing” means, “All ideas, portraits, shapes, images of God, whether by effigies or pictures, is hereby forbidden to be made.” God is to be adored in the heart, not painted to the eye. To set up an image to represent God is to debase him. Idolatry is devil worship.”

Francis Turretin (17th c.)
“Any religious worship should not be paid to images; thinking piously before an image is forbidden. We condemn here the treatment of sacred or religious images that are supposed to contribute something to the excitement of religious feeling. God forbids the making of them and the worship of them.”

Matthew Henry (17th c.)
“Our religious worship must be governed by the power of faith, not by the power of imagination. Idolatry is spiritual adultery.”
“The prohibition: we are here forbidden to worship even the true God by images.…  It is certain that it forbids making any image of God (for to whom can we liken him?) or the image of any creature for a religious use. It is called the changing of the truth of God into a lie, for an image is a teacher of lies; it insinuates to us that God has a body, whereas he is an infinite spirit. It also forbids us to make images of God in our fancies, as if he were a man as we are. … When they paid their devotion to the true God, they must not have any image before them, for the directing, exciting, or assisting of their devotion. Though the worship was designed to terminate in God, it would not please him if it came to him through an image.”

James Fisher (18th c.)
“May we not have a picture of Christ, who has a true body? By no means; because, though he has a true body and a reasonable soul, John 1:14, yet his human nature subsists in his divine person, which no picture can represent, Psalm 45:2. Why ought all pictures of Christ to be abominated by Christians? Because they are downright lies, representing no more than the picture of a mere man: whereas, the true Christ is God-man”

John Gill (18th c.)
“No image of God was to be made at all, since no similitude was ever seen of Him, or any likeness could be conceived; and it must be a piece of gross ignorance, madness and impudence to pretend to make one; and great impiety to worship it.”

Charles Hodge (18th c.)
“Idolatry consists not only in the worship of false gods, but also in the worship of the true God by images.”

John Murray (20th c.)
“Pictures of Christ are in principle a violation of the second commandment. A picture of Christ, if it serves any useful purpose, must evoke some thought or feeling respecting him and, in view of what he is, this thought or feeling will be worshipful. We cannot avoid making the picture a medium of worship. But since the materials for this medium of worship are not derived from the only revelation we possess respecting Jesus, namely, Scripture, the worship is constrained by a creation of the human mind that has no revelatory warrant. This is will-worship. For the principle of the second commandment is that we are to worship God only in ways prescribed and authorized by him. It is a grievous sin to have worship constrained by a human figment, and that is what a picture of the Saviour involves.”

J.I. Packer (20th c.)
“We are not to make use of visual or pictorial representations of the Triune God, or of any person of the Trinity, for the purposes of Christian worship.”