“Blogging the Institutes” is my on-going attempt to paraphrase John Calvin’s work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion. You can find out more about the series in the Introduction. For all the posts in this series, check out the Master List. 

Scripture Doesn’t Actually Support Images

When idolaters speak on the issue of worship, they make a big deal out the worship of Pharaoh, the staff of Joseph, and inscription which Jacob set up. In the case of Jacob, they not only pervert the meaning of Scripture, but they quote something which can’t even be found in the Bible! Let’s consider the other passages that they cite: “Worship at his footstool” (Psalm 99:5), “Worship in his holy mountain” (Psalm 99:9), and “The rulers of the people will worship before his face” (Psalm 72:11). Such texts can in no way be shown to support the use of images in churches.

Theodosius Bishop of Mira claims that images are proper to be worshipped because of a dream his arch-deacon had! He puts as much weight on this dream as if he received instruction from the very voice of God Himself. Go ahead and try to convince me that images are ok due to the Second Council of Nicea. The venerable fathers of the church handled Scripture in such a childish and immature way. They should be ashamed of themselves!