Part 5: The Catholic Defense For The Use Of Images
By Ed Tarkowski
"What can be more appropriate than to surround the sanctuary of Jesus Christ with the portraits of the Saints, especially of Mary and of the Apostles, who, in their life, ministered to His sacred person?"(2)Here we see another result of the failure to grasp the reality of Jesus and His work. Paul said to the Greeks in Athens:
Acts 17:22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. 24 GOD THAT MADE THE WORLD AND ALL THINGS THEREIN, SEEING THAT HE IS LORD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, DWELLETH NOT IN TEMPLES MADE WITH HANDS; 25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 29 FORASMUCH THEN AS WE ARE THE OFFSPRING OF GOD, WE OUGHT NOT TO THINK THAT THE GODHEAD IS LIKE UNTO GOLD, OR SILVER, OR STONE, GRAVEN BY ART AND MAN'S DEVICE. 30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead (emphasis mine).
The sanctuary of Jesus is not in a building, but in heaven; His sanctuary is one made without hands. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that
Heb 9:1 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. . . . 3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; . . . 7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: 8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: . . . . 11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; . . . . 24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:Israel's sanctuary was an earthly model of the heavenly one. It was a shadow for the real one in heaven. When Christ came, He put an end to His presence in any earthly sanctuaries to bring us into the realities of God's invisible realities. On earth, each member of His Church would be His dwelling place, and no image can be placed in the true heavenly sanctuary or in His living temple on earth, except the living image of the Living God formed in His people. Trust in His presence in any earthly, man-made sanctuary is only rebuilding the shadow Christ dissipated 2,000 years ago.
The Catholic Church Allowed Images For Veneration
The Catholic Church has been encouraging the veneration of statues for so many centuries that we sometimes think they've always done so. This, of course, isn't true. Over the long course of 700 years, the setting up of images was first forbidden, then argued over, discussed, and finally allowed for instructional purposes. It wasn't until the Seventh general Council of Nicea in 787 that "the venerable and holy images" were permitted to be set up and shown "a reverent homage."(3) In other words, the veneration of statues was not permitted for almost as long as it had been allowed in the Church.
But during these centuries of veneration, the reasoning in defense of statues strayed further from the written word of God. Few people noticed because the Catholic faith and the explanations of that faith wasn't taught directly from Scripture. The basic Christian teaching received was based on pre-reasoned doctrine, such as that found in the Baltimore Catechism. But the obvious meaning of some parts of Scripture, after centuries of interpretation and explanation, sometimes became clouded. Instead of being told what the word of God said, Catholics were taught its MEANING, according to the Fathers or this Pope or that Scholar. Thus, by the end of the nineteenth century, Father Thomas Kinkead, the author of "An Explanation of the Balitmore Catechism of Christian Doctrine"(4), could put forth three arguments for the making and veneration of statues, all of which are still heard today.
The "George Washington" Defense
The first argument is that setting up statues of the saints is no different from placing a statue of George Washington in the park. But this argument loses its effectiveness when the first part of the commandment is kept in its relationship to the second. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven [carved] image" (Exodus 20:4) is followed in verse 5 by "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them." The kind of images God forbids are obviously those with a religious significance, a person or creature or object thought to have the potential of putting men in touch with the spiritual realm. George Washington doesn't fit into this category.
The saints in heaven do, because the veneration Catholics are encouraged to give them includes requests for help in their communication with God. "The Documents of Vatican II" explains that we love the saints and
". . . . suppliantly invoke them and have recourse to their prayers, their power and help in obtaining benefits from God through His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is our sole Redeemer and Savior."(5)But God's word clearly says,
"10 There shall not be found among you 11 . . . . a necromancer. 12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD . . . . (Deuteronomy 18).Like it or not, God says consulting with the dead, in this case the dead saints of old, or seeking direction from them is an abomination to Him. This seeking their help through prayer is the third step of the descent into idolatry. And opens the door for evils spirits to masquerade as the saint being sought. It was encouraged only because, first, permission was allowed for images to be made and then, secondly, to be venerated.
The Images As Teaching Tools
The second argument given in defense of statues is their value as teaching tools, in the nineteenth century words of the author of "An Explanation....":
"A poor ignorant man . . . . can learn the life of the saint from [a picture or statue] almost as well as if he read a book."(6)
God has given us His word and it takes a lifetime of being conformed to His Son. This is His eternal purpose for us:
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.We are to grow daily in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, to be like Him, so when He comes we our body will be changed to be like His glorious body and we will be with the Father forever. Why would anyone want to study the statue of a saint, which has God has forbidden to make, to learn about his life, when we can be changed from glory to glory daily by the Holy Spirit through the word? A poor IGNORANT man needs to know Jesus Christ.
"The Bible Is Not Sufficient"
The writer's last argument also involved teaching. He writes,
"The Bible alone is not sufficient. . . . If the Bible alone were the rule of our faith, what would become of all those who could not read the Bible? . . . [or] who lived before the apostles wrote the New Testament?"(8)The Bible is not sufficient? There is no other place to get true faith in Christ than from the Bible:
Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not HEARD? and HOW SHALL THEY HEAR without a preacher?Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh BY HEARING, AND HEARING BY THE WORD OF GOD (caps mine).Again, the object of Christian teaching, the thing that is taught, is the gospel. Thjose who lived before the New Testament was written were not deprived of the apostolic teaching of the Bible because they were taught by the apostles themselves. As for those who cannot read, the above verses emphasize the hearing of the word brings faith, and the Church is supposed to be teaching them the word of God about Christ.
Jesus said,
John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.His words are spirit and life and bring to us eternal life. You don't get this from studying a statue or image about the life of a saint, which God has forbidden to be made in the first place. We have a treasure, the word of God, and it is totally sufficient to bring about in us what God has desired since before the foundations of the world were laid:
2 Cor 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.The Bible alone IS sufficient as the vehicle of the gospel and accomplishing God's will in our life. It contains the apostolic teaching as well as the Old testament, which prefigured Jesus and His work and which leads to an understanding of God's complete plan. The Bible alone is thought to be insufficient only by those who have changed its commandments in some way, and by those who must defend those changes. Thus Father Kinkead must finally come to an awkward conclusion in his defense of statues and images:
"It is not the mere making, therefore, that God forbids, but the adoring. What He insists upon is, 'You shall not adore or serve the images you make'."(9)Nonsense. What God insists upon is the purity of His word. God's word came forth from God's wisdom and intelligence, from His Creator's view of the world. Being all-knowing, He knows more than we do and His knowledge is infinite in its depth and scope. If we don't understand something in Scripture, the options are to believe it anyway, or to search the Scriptures for more light on the subject. Changing Scripture, or its significance, is never an option. When God commanded, "You shall not make for yourself a carved image . . . . you shall not bow down to them or serve them," for these are "the customs of the nations," He had in mind the whole of human history, RIGHT UP TO THE END OF THE AGE. Although we moderns may look at our history and determine that the human race is moving away from the worship of images, God's word insists that the opposite is true. Idolatry will play a very important part in the last day scenario, and the consequences of adding the statues of an idolater to His word is of grave consequences:
Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and IDOLATERS, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. 16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. 17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. 18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.__________________
(1) Ott, p. 320.
(2) Gibbons, p. 189.
(3) Ott, p. 320.
(4) Rev. Thomas Kinkead, "An explanation of the Baltimore Catechism of Christian Doctrine: For the Use of Sunday-School Teachers and Advanced Classes, 8th edition (N.Y.: Benzinger Brothers, 1891), hereafter referred to as "An Explanation....."
(5) Vatican II, "Dogmatic Constitution on the Church," Art. 50, citing the Council of Trent, Session 25, "De Invocatione . . . sanctorum": Denz. 984 (1821).
(6) Kinkead, p. 306.
(7) Ibid., pp. 306-307.
(8) Ibid., p. 307.
(9) Ibid., p. 308.
-End of Part 5.
