Ultimately, only God knows Himself perfectly, and our knowledge or analogies of Him are imperfect, and therefore inherently sinful. God has revealed Himself sufficiently in His written word and perfectly in His own Son, also recorded in His word. Further attempts at defining God are insults to Him. Since Christ is God in human flesh, artistic depictions of the Incarnate Christ also share the error of presenting the Divine according to human imagination and therefore violate the second commandment as well.
The main point of these commandments is that we worship God only. At the time God gave the commandment to Moses, people worshiped all kinds of statues. Aaron and the people even made a golden calf to worship thinking that a calf was a great representation of God because it was strong. In America today, most people do not have the problem of looking at a picture of Jesus and bowing down to it or praying to it, thinking that it is God and that it can hear our prayers. However, when we draw pictures of Jesus, or try to make statues of him, we show only His human nature (as we imagine it) apart from His divine nature. Yet, these two should never be separated.
There is also an issue of ethnicity—we make depictions of Jesus suit our idea of Him. He becomes a Jesus to our liking. Images of Jesus ultimately give us a picture of Him that we rely on in our worship, thinking of the picture and how it makes us feel about Him. Our thoughts and feelings about Jesus should be determined by the Bible, not by an artist’s personal conception of Him.
Trekking Through the Testaments will refrain from pictures, drawings, or any other artistic representations of God which cause the observer to form an understanding or impression of God apart from His word. Sunday school material should not contain drawings of Jesus or God. Children should not be asked to make such drawings either. Sunday school decorations or wall pictures should not contain pictures of God or Jesus. Instead, Trekking Through the Testaments will rely on the written word of God, illuminated by the Spirit, to sufficiently detail for us the person and character of the Triune God.
