Prohibition of Images -

Deut 4-

The Only True God

“In Deut 4, Moses himself expounds the prohibition of images in worship along exactly these lines, setting the making of images in opposition to the heeding of God’s word and commandments as if these two things were completely exclusive of each other. He reminds the people that at Sinai, though they saw tokens of God’s presence, they saw no visible representation of God himself, but only heard his word, and with God’s own word ringing in their ears to direct them and no supposed image of God before their eyes to distract them. The point is clear. God did not show them a visible symbol of himself, but spoke to them; therefore they are not now to seek visible symbols of God, but simply to obey His Word. … To make an image of God is to take one’s thoughts of him from a human source, rather than from God himself, and this is precisely what is wrong with image making.”[1]
[1] Packer, Knowing God, 49.

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