Icons, images & idols

One of the things I love about the St Peter's building is that there are no icons or images - not even a cross.

But why is that good? First, because God told us not to make images. but there are other reasons: as Tim Chester says,

We were made to be God's image on earth [Genesis 1:26-27]... We're not to make images of the living God precisely because we are his image. We're God's representatives on earth. We're God's glory, displaying his likeness. [You Can Change, pp14f].

The implications of this are far-reaching. If we want to see something of the reflected glory of God, we don't look to a stained glass window, or a painting, or a crucifix, but to the person sitting next to us in church! Rather than revering a shrine or an icon, we respect people as made in the image of God. In my experience, the more a congregation reveres its buildings and images, the less they respect each other...

But images & icons also limit our understanding of Christ. Of course, people who use them say that they're helpful (just as Israel did when it made the golden calf), but they actually restrict Christ to one particular form: a baby; crucified but not risen; welcoming children but not rebuking pharisees; cuddling lambs but not judging the world. And so on.

If we really want to engage with God, there's only one place to do that: in the Bible, God's word. It's there that we engage with God. It's there that we meet him. As Tim Ward says,

Scripture is the primary means by which God presents himself to us, in such a way as we can know him and remain in a faithful relationship with him... Scripture is God in communicative action. Therefore to encounter the words of Scripture is to encounter God in action. [Words of Life, p179].