Lord’s Day 35
Q98. But may not images be permitted in the churches as teaching aids for the unlearned?
No, we shouldn't try to be wiser than God. He wants his people instructed by the living preaching of his Word—not by idols that cannot even talk.
Scripture Proofs — King James Version
Romans 10:14–15, 17
“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? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! So then faith by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
2 Timothy 3:16–17
“All scripture given by inspiration of God, and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
2 Peter 1:19
“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:”
Jeremiah 10:8
“But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock a doctrine of vanities.”
Habakkuk 2:18–20
“What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it laid over with gold and silver, and no breath at all in the midst of it. But the LORD in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.”
Commentary — Zacharias Ursinus (1616)
This is the objection of those, who grant, indeed, that images and statues of God and the saints are not to be worshipped, but maintain that they should be tolerated in the churches of Christians, as books to the laity, and for other causes, if only they be not worshipped. We must, however, maintain the opposite, which is, that images and likenesses of God, or of the saints, are not to be tolerated in Christian churches, but abolished and removed from the sight of men, whether they be worshipped, or not.
III. Why Images And Pictures Are Not To Be Tolerated In Churches.
The reasons on account of which images and statues are not to be tolerated in our churches, but removed, are principally these: