I was recently asked a wonderful question about applying the Second Commandment today: “do manger scenes at Christmas – specifically the representation of baby Jesus – violate the second commandment?” To this question, I’d also like to add that I’m increasingly hearing of certain churches and popular pastors (primarily in the Reformed camp) raising similar concerns about pictures, paintings, and artistic renditions of Christ (especially with regard to children’s “Storybook” style Bibles). So, the question before us today is this: what does the Scripture say? And once we know that, we can ask and start answering a couple of other questions: is it wrong or sinful to have baby Jesus present in a manger scene? Should we tell every church that has a picture of Jesus up on a wall that they need to take it down? And if not, where is the line?
Let’s start with the text: Exodus 20:4-6
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or 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. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (ESV)
The context is that we have reached the part of Exodus that we traditionally call the ten commandments. Right before these verses, we were introduced to the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me.” Immediately following, we read in the third commandment that “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”
The point, at its most basic, is that the people of God are not to fashion any sort of image or idol that they worship. While that might seem to be a remote point to us, it should be noted – first – that most of the cultures surrounding God’s people at the time did exactly this: they carved idols out of wood or formed them from clay and then, quite literally, bowed down to them and worshiped them. Secondly, we also need to realize that this particular sort of idolatry is alive and well today, both right here in the United States (primarily in other religions) as well as around the world. So this command from the Lord is still very relevant and important today even if we don’t always immediately recognize it as such.
Now, does this command mean that the people of God must never carve an “image, or any likeness of anything” at all? Again, let us answer from the text with just two examples:
In Numbers 21 we once more find the people of Israel doing what they had so often done ever since the exodus: they were complaining. In verse 5 we specifically see that their complaint is not only against Moses, but against God as well. While there is certainly a lot of context (and a lot of patience!) leading up to this point, the Lord sends serpents as a curse upon the people. Many of the people are bit and then die. What this seemingly strange story teaches us comes next: this tragedy causes the people to admit their sin and to call upon Moses to intercede for them to the Lord (verse 7). The Lord’s solution is to have Moses make a bronze image of the serpents, attach it to a pole, and lift it up high where everyone can see it. Whoever looks upon that serpent after being bitten shall live.
Putting this back into the context of the second commandment: the Lord Himself told Moses to make an image of something “in the earth.” Then the Lord goes on to command that whoever has been bitten shall look upon this bronze serpent and live. If we were to strictly understand the second commandment as meaning that “no images should ever be made whatsoever,” then we would have a real problem on our hands, since the Lord commanded exactly that here. But just like Jesus turning water into wine (John 2) did not cause people to sin, so the Lord God is not causing His people to sin here in Numbers either. How so? Because the intent of the serpent is not for it to be a God, but instead for the people to obey God: they are to recognize that God has given them this method to be saved from death. Without going too off topic, this event out of Numbers ends up being quoted by Jesus in such a way to say that it points towards Himself (John 3:14-15).
So, can an image be made without necessarily breaking the second commandment? We must answer yes, at least in this case. “But,” somebody might object, “the serpent was an earthly image… of course the people wouldn’t have been tempted to worship it!” Laying aside the fact that even images of earthly things intended for worship are banned (Exodus 20:4), the fact is that actually the people did eventually come to worship this bronze serpent. That part of the story is found in 2 Kings 18 and the end result is that the bronze serpent has to be destroyed because the people have named it and begun to give offerings to it. What’s the point? Only this: the serpent, when used rightly, was perfectly acceptable to the Lord. But as soon as the people began to worship it, then the only proper response was to destroy it – it had become the sort of image that Exodus 20 prohibits at that point.
Let’s take one more example: in Exodus 37 we find the Ark of the Covenant being constructed according to the directions that the Lord had given. Part of those directions involved the creation of two cherubim (angels / heavenly beings) made out of gold and placed in prominent positions on the top of the ark (verses 7-9). Now here we have, in effect, images of two heavenly beings being created and placed in a prominent area of holiness and worship. Yet, once again, we need to realize that it is the Lord God who commanded this, and – just as with Moses – it is a human man who ends up actually crafting the objects. So why is this acceptable? Once again, the answer is in the intention: these cherubim were not created to be worshiped. They do not represent any god. Therefore, they are acceptable.
What conclusions can we draw from all of this? First, that we need to stick with exactly what the Scriptures say. To add to the Scriptures is just as dangerous as ignoring them. Just as prohibiting every Christian from drinking alcohol goes beyond what the Scriptures say, so does condemning every possibly representation of things or people in the Scriptures. And yet, as well, there might be very wise reasons to avoid making such images or representations, just as avoiding alcohol entirely is a good and wise application for some Christians. What might some of those reasons be? Certainly, if you were ever to worship the Jesus of your manger scene or the picture of Jesus on the wall, then yes, you would have violated the second commandment. I think a similar situation starts to arise when we actually identify a picture of Jesus as actually representing Him. So if you pray to or think about our Lord and a picture you’ve seen or made comes to mind, then it’s time to call to the Lord for forgiveness and get rid of that picture or image. Similarly, there are claims from certain folks that they have seen Jesus and then decided to paint a picture of Him (this was most recently popularized by the book “Heaven is For Real”) – there are numerous theological problems with actually identifying something as perfectly representing Jesus, but even more practically: if we begin to see our paintings, drawings, representations as actually being Jesus or what He definitely looks like, then we are in danger of violating God’s commandment as well. One final caution might be for parents of children: storybook-style Bibles are wonderful teaching tools, and the pictures can help your children to visualize what’s happening, but we need to make sure our children understand that the artistic picture of Jesus aren’t what He actually looks like. We don’t pray to “that” Jesus, instead we pray to the real Jesus.
So, can you have a little plaster baby Jesus in the manger? While there are certainly many smarter and wiser people than I who have delved much deeper into this issue, my answer would be this: so long as you are not tempted to worship that little figure or pray to Him, then yes, you can. Is it wrong for an artist to try to draw a picture of Jesus? Not necessarily, so long as the artist makes clear that the drawing is not actually of Jesus and is, instead, meant to communicate or make some sort of point. Could an argument be made that it is wiser to simply avoid all such imagery? Possibly so – and definitely so if our manger scenes were actually causing others to stumble in the faith. But let us never forget that good applications turn into terrible sins when we make a law of them – this, after all, is why some of Jesus’ harshest condemnations came to the Pharisees. Instead, let us stay on the line of Scripture, not adding our applications to it and not ignoring any of what it says. In so doing, our desire and prayer is that we will display our faithfulness and trust in the One True God whom we shall enjoy forever and ever!
