As Christians Do We Believe in the Incarnation?

The issue of graven images in the Church has been resolved in the 8th century, during the crisis of iconoclasm that took place in both the Eastern and Western Church.

At that time some people misunderstood Exodus 20:4, the prohibition against images. This prohibition has to be understood within proper context. The Israelites had lost connection with their roots for 400 years, during their time in Egypt. In addition, they lived in a culture that was polytheist and had a multitude of statues of gods and goddesses. Furthermore, the Hebrews, after leaving Egypt had showed their propensity to create a god, that is, an idol by making a statue.

Therefore, God, in Ex 20:4 prohibited them this practice to prevent them from committing idolatry. What it means is, don’t try to paint or make a sculpture of God because what ever you are going to try, will never be the real, true God. First, God is a spiritual being beyond the human mind and second, cannot be apprehended by men.

The issue of iconoclasm is totally different. Iconoclasm comes from the Greek word icon which means image, reproduction. What the Church was doing at that time was not reproducing God, the deity revealed to Moses, but rather certain human, earthly, material elements of God’s revelation. For example, Jesus was God, but he was also human. In his humanity we can create an image of the human Jesus. We are not trying to represent the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, instead we try to represent the man that thousands of people saw 2000 years ago.

Think of it like this, if you could go back in time with your cell phone, and see Jesus in Jerusalem, wouldn’t you take a picture of him?

I hope my brother that this explanation will help you appreciate our wonderful faith.

God is Good and His love endures forever,

Serge Saint-Prix, MA Theology