The Idolatry of So-Called Pictures of Jesus

The following two pieces are excellent resources demonstrating the idolatry of making so-called pictures of Jesus, which is a violation of the Second Commandment.


Can and May We Make Pictures of God?
by Wes White

One of the most common exceptions of elders in the PCA to the Westminster Standards is an exception to Larger Catechism Q/A 109. This Q/A states that the second commandment forbids “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…”

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Are Pictures of Christ Unbiblical? 
by Brian Schwertley

In our day it is very common to see pictures of Christ in churches and in homes. Images of the Savior are commonly found on stained glass windows, church entry rooms, Christian school classrooms, living rooms, book covers, Charismatic television programs, church billboards, family Bibles and on the wall behind the pulpit. The vast majority of “Christian” bookstores sell a wide variety of pictures of Jesus. There is everything from the effeminate northern European Messiah to the grotesquely muscular Hulk-like renditions of the Lord. Even in Reformed churches (which ought to know better) pictures of the suffering servant are fairly common in Sunday school materials.

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