Graven Image
What Is a Graven Image?
By
Henry M. Morris III, D.Min.
“You
shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under
the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.” (Exodus 20;4-5)
The concept of a
graven or carved image1 in the second of the Ten
Commandments is sometimes misunderstood.
What
exactly does God mean by this term?
1. The main thrust of this
commandment is that believers are not to worship anything that is earthly as a
representation of God.
The emphasis was on worshiping the idol, the image
of an earthly thing, or the earthly thing itself in place of God.
Idolatry is nearly always a major problem and
downfall of God’s people—both then and now.
2. The first four commandments
involve the direction of how we should relate to God; the remaining six
describe our relationship with each other.
3. Although the Lord Jesus Christ
is most certainly God in the triune Godhead and co-equal in every way to the
Father and the Holy Spirit, in the incarnation Jesus became man so that the
work of salvation could be completed.
While He was on Earth, Jesus was most certainly physical—He
was true man—and He clearly demanded worship of Himself and obedience to His
teachings.2
4. The first four commandments
focus on Yahweh: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible,
to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:17).
And these commandments specifically insist that
there is nothing on Earth, or under Earth, or above Earth that could be
like Yahweh, “who alone has immortality, dwelling in
unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and
everlasting power. Amen” (1 Timothy 6:16).
All attempts to make a physical representation of Yahweh’s eternal Being were
forbidden and would result in capital punishment.
5. The New Testament extends and
applies idolatry to anything that is worshiped instead of God.3
The key is the worship of a thing or practice that
takes the place of God.
Attempting to portray the work of the Lord Jesus on
Earth, in story form, is not worship or idolatry. That portrayal is merely an
effort to tell the story of what Christ did while on Earth so that the gospel
can be made clear and efficacious.
Very few Christian groups use idols as a means to
worship.
.
The Institute for
Creation Research is known for holding to the literal words of Scripture in a
day of “enlightened” science. We would never knowingly violate the words of
Holy Scripture in any way. We are most careful in everything we produce.
.
No picture or statue
of the Lord Jesus as He was on Earth is idolatry—unless that image is used as
something to worship.
.
Films portraying the
life of Christ have helped win hundreds of thousands to the Kingdom over the
years. If the actor portraying Jesus is an idol, then the Lord God would never
bless and harvest through that medium.
.
Such representations
of the Lord Jesus on Earth are not graven images or idols—He was here and could
be physically seen and touched (1 John1:1).
.
Even His resurrected
body is still human in form.
It is the “God [who]
is Spirit” who cannot be
seen or represented in any physical form that is the focus of the second
commandment (John 4:24).
References
1. “Graven image” is used in the King James and Revised Standard
translations and “carved image” in the New King James and English Standard
translations.
2. In Matthew 4:18-22, Christ called the four fishermen Peter, Andrew,
James, and John as His disciples. They physically left their nets that very day
and followed Christ’s person during His entire ministry.
3. “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth:
fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is
idolatry” (Colossians 3:5).
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Dr. Morris is Chief Executive
Officer of the Institute for Creation Research.
http://www.icr.org/article/9858
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