Images and Pictures of Jesus Christ Forbidden by Scripture

Historically, Baptists have rejected the use of all images in worship, including images of Jesus Christ.  The London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 states:

The light of nature shews that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all; is just, good and doth good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart and all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures. (Chapter 22:1)

In this prohibition of images of all kinds, including those of Jesus Christ, historic Protestant documents agree. For example, the Westminster Larger Catechism states:

The sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all devising, counseling, commanding, using, and any wise approving, any religious worship not instituted by God himself; the making any representation of God, of all or of any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever; all worshiping of it, or God in it or by it; the making of any representation of feigned deities, and all worship of them, or service belonging to them; all superstitious devices, corrupting the worship of God, adding to it, or taking from it, whether invented and taken up of ourselves, or received by tradition from others, though under the title of antiquity, custom, devotion, good intent, or any other pretense whatsoever; simony; sacrilege; all neglect, contempt, hindering, and opposing the worship and ordinances which God hath appointed.

As noted by the Catechism, the second commandment is central to the question:

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:4-6)

Here God forbids any to worship Him with “pictures . . . [or] images” (Num 33:52).  This prohibition forbids the making of any picures of God Himself, as well as practices such as bowing down before statues or pictures (Ezekiel 8:10), even with the intent to worship God, not them.  John 4:24 says, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”  All physical images of God necessarily misrepresent Him—as an invisible Spirit, He is immaterial and cannot be pictured.  The Lord commands mankind to offer Him spiritual worship as commanded in His Word, not worship with images. Since Jesus Christ is God, no images of Him should be made.  The Trinity is undivided, and prohibitions of images of God include not God the Father and God the Holy Ghost only, but also God the Son.  Furthermore, no image could be made to represent Jesus Christ’s Divine nature, since that is invisible and spiritual.  Nor can any image correctly represents the awe-inspiring glorified body He received after His resurrection.  One who saw His glorified humanity fell at his feet as dead (Revelation 1:10-18);  no image can make this happen.  No image correctly represents His human nature during His earthly ministry, for the Bible records nothing of His appearance at that time (compare 1 Peter 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:16).  Besides, Christ’s human nature is not divided from His Divine nature;  He is one Person with two natures, and no image can, therefore, correctly represent Him as the Person He is.  The common pictures of Christ with long hair are even worse—indeed, they are a Satanic attempt to imply that He was sinful, since “if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him” (1 Corinthians 11:14).  If you have attempted to worship God using images, including images of Christ, you have broken the second commandment—and worship with an “image . . . the LORD thy God hateth” (Deuteronomy 16:22).  Rather than making pictures of Christ, view Jesus Christ in His ineffable glory by faith through the Word—for then the Holy Spirit will progressively change you into His moral likeness (2 Cor 3:18).  Do not degrade Christ by making or using images of Him.  Do not have such images in your house. Do not use images of the Son in children’s ministries.  You can either cover up pictures of Him if you use children’s curricula that have such images, or use a curriculum—such as this one—that does not contain them.  Do not use such images for any other purpose in God's church.  If you have done so in the past, not having thought about whether what you were doing was right, now is the time to confess your sin (1 John 1:9) and stop.  From this point forward, do not make, use, condone, promote, or contribute in any way to the use of images of the Son of God.

For more information, note the resources here.

—TDR