HC 97

Q97. May we then not make any image at all?

God cannot and may not be visibly portrayed in any way. Creatures may be portrayed, but God forbids us to make or have any images of them in order to worship them or to serve God through them.

Proof texts

• Ex. 34:13-14 — [13] You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim [14] (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
• Ex. 34:17 — [17] “You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal.
• Num. 33:52 — [52] then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places.
• 2 Kings 18:4-5 — [4] He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). [5] He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.
• Isa. 40:25 — [25] To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

For discussion

1. The Assembly cited Ex. 34:13-14 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
2. 5 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
3. WSC Q39 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
4. WSC Q45 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?

Read alongside

WSC Q39 · WSC Q45 · WLC Q91 · WLC Q100 · WCF 19.1 · 1689 19.1