Icons & Iconoclasts: Unified through the faith 

Its good to be home.  It was good to get away with Beckie, and it’s good to be back.  We had an amazing time in Italy, and Switzerland, and the Netherlands.  I knew the trip would be amazing but I didn’t expect it would be so spiritual.  Along with all the cultural things, and sights, we visited a lot of museums, and old churches, and that had a tremendous impact on us.  While I was looking at all the images and taking pictures, I look over and Beckie is sitting in the pews soaking in the presence of God.

One of the things we encountered as we visited the museums and churches, is what’s called icons and iconoclasts.  

An icon is an image or representation of something or someone.  In the context of Christianity, the images, whether they be paintings or sculptures depict biblical events and people.  There are some portions of Christianity who believe the icons are important elements in worship and devotion. 

An iconoclast is someone who believed the veneration of the images was akin to idolatry.  They saw the exaltation of the images as traditions created by man and not God, so they went about destroying the paintings and sculptures. This is where we get the reformers and the reformation in the Christian tradition.  Although the reformation is not the first time people pushed back against the veneration of images.  

Our first stop was Florence, and I believe the first thing we visited there was the museum of the statue of David.  I didn’t expect it to be so impactful but it was deeply moving to see the statue of David, and contemplate the story of David.  We paid for a skip the line tour, so we had a tour guide.  I forgot some of these things but the tour guide said most of the people in ancient time, even leading up to the renaissance period were illiterate, and even if they could read, they didn’t have access to a bible anytime they wanted to read.  She said the images depicting biblical accounts and people were created by the artists to tell the story of God, and His gospel to the people who couldn’t read.  She said the images and the sculptures and the paintings were made as a form of preaching to the people.  Something else that was interesting is she reminded me the reason they called the period after the Middle Ages the renaissance was to signify a renaissance in the way society thought about mankind.  During the Middle Ages man was thought of as a worm.  No better really than an animal.  Well the renaissance was all about the world beginning to think man isn’t like the rest of creation.  We aren’t merely an animal.  We are the image of God.   

Explain statue of David.  David is naked in the sculpture.  Nothing but the sling for the rock draped over his shoulder.  In the real account David isn’t naked, but Michelangelo sculpted David naked to accentuate the fact that David refused the armor of Saul because it signified the strength of a man.  The sculptures tells the story of David whose trust wasn’t in the strength of a man, it was in the grace of God.  His head was purposely made larger than the rest of his body to point to his mind being filled with the knowledge of God.  David’s hand was always made larger and out of proportion with the rest of his body, pointing to the strength in his hand being enlarged by the grace of God.  

I was deeply touched looking at the sculpture …. You can even say I was caught up into heaven as I looked at the sculpture.  But the power wasnt in the marble or in the sculpture itself.  The power was in the story the sculpture was telling.  It’s not the marble or the sculpture that was a portal into heaven giving me access to the real David, it’s that the sculpture told a heavenly story; and through that heavenly story there was a ministry.  It ministered the knowledge of God to me as I stood there contemplating the statue of David.  It stirred me up by way of remembrance.  The statue testified of God and His grace.  It ministered God and the life thats in heaven to me.  It wasn’t the marble itself, it was the Holy Spirit, guiding me into all truth, using the things that were depicted in the images.  Just as the Holy Spirit guides you into the things revealed in Jesus, through the hearing of faith.  The sculpture of David was a kind of preaching; it was a kind of hearing of faith, where the sculpture of David gave a testimony of God and His gospel, and because I had ears to hear it caught me up into God. 

Why do we even like art?  What is it about art that captivates people.  What is it that people see.  Is it colors and shapes and people, and landscapes?  Yes, but it isn’t just those things.  The reason art is so impactful is because it tells a story.  It speaks to our hearts.  It’s like with the Bible.  It’s not the book, or the letters that are written that have any power, it’s the story they tell.  The scriptures paint a picture of God.  They tell the story of God and His love for the world.  The power is contained in the God the scriptures point to, not a book.  If the power was contained in the book itself, then the Pharisees would be have been bastions of the grace of God.  

After visiting Florence and Rome we went to Switzerland.  The natural beauty of Switzerland is really something.  The Lakes; the mountains; the waterfalls; the tender green grass.  It’s like Paul says in Romans 1 the invisible things of God are clearly seen in the beauty of creation.  One of the earliest reformers was a Swiss guy named Zwingli.  Probably Zwingli and Martin Luther are two of the most prominent figures in the reformation, and what people call Protestantism.  Well in Switzerland, and even in Holland, they have some of these old Catholic Churches that were part of the reformation.  

The reformers believed the Catholic Church and some Eastern Orthodox traditions contradicted the scriptures and the faith revealed in Jesus.  One of the biggest issues is the reformers believed there was some improper veneration of the saints, and the images.  They felt there was a veneration of people, and the images, and not the faith the images testified of, as if there was power in the images and people themselves, as if the images themselves were a portal from heaven into the earth, instead of the testimony they gave being the power for heaven to invade the earth.  

Well as part of the reformation the reformers went into these old churches and defaced and destroyed the images.  Listen thats not the right way either.  These icons aren’t images of sun gods or animals or something like that.  They’re images of heavenly things, depicting the crucified God, and the saints who were followers of the way.  It’s not the images that are evil … If you think something’s gotten out of whack with how people are engaging with the images, then come and explain, the truth, that the power is in the faith the images point to, not the images themselves.  Explain the power is in the testimony of the faith, and the grace of God is made manifest through the faith, not the veneration of saints or images.

Just as people can misinterpret and worship the Bible … people can worship the images … but just as the issue isn’t the scriptures, the issue isn’t the images and icons themselves … the issue is in the heart of the person looking at the images.  The icons are meant to be like the hall of faith in the letter to the hebrews.  We read about all the exploits of the patriarchs in Hebrews 11.  The point isnt to exalt the patriarchs, the point is to exalt the faith that strengthened the patriarchs.  Hebrews 11 testifies of the faith of God; it causes us to consider God, instead of the deadness we see in our bodies and in the earth …. Its like in Deuteronomy where God has Moses tell the people to wrap His word on their arm so it can be frontlets between their eyes.  For some the icons might help keep God and His gospel as frontlets between their eyes, lest they be forgetful hearers.  With that being said the author of hebrews in the New Testament, speaking of the Holy Spirit, says God will write his laws on our hearts and in our minds, so the body of the eternal Son that was broken for us, is always before our eyes, and we live looking to God, and the fact He provided Himself a lamb, as our provision for life.

Now … as I was seeing all the images in the churches, and then visiting some of the churches taken over by the reformers it made me think of all the TikTok videos out there with the Catholics and Eastern Orthodox and Protestants declaring themselves to be the one true church ….. saying I’m of the Eastern Orthodox; I’m of catholism; I’m of Protestantism …. Saying things like if you aren’t baptized into Catholicism or Eastern Orthodox or Protestantism then you aren’t members of Christs body.  If we are out there arguing about what the one true church is, to the exclusion of members of Christs body from the church, are we not yet carnal?  

It reminds me of the apostle Paul in 1st Cor 3 when he found the Corinthians declaring themselves to be of Paul, or of Apollos, or of Peter.  How can we say we are of Catholicism; or Eastern Orthodox; or Protestant?  Are we not all members of his body; who call upon his name? … Are you not yet carnal making divisions amongst yourselves.  Did the pope die for you?  Did the Catholic Church; or Eastern Orthodoxy or the bishops; or the reformers die for you?  How is it we say you must be baptized into Catholicism; or Eastern Orthodoxy; or Protestantism   … the apostle Paul says there’s one Spirit; one faith; one baptism.  Jesus says go into all the world baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit.  He doesn’t say go into all the world baptizing in the name of Catholicism, or Eastern Orthodox, or Protestantism …. If we are going to argue about something; let us reason together about the foundation that is Christ and him crucified …. Let us see neither Catholicism; or Eastern Orthodox; or Protestantism is the foundation the church is built on.  

To the people with Protestant backgrounds.  The icons aren’t evil.  Even should some people get out of whack with their veneration of the icons, it’s not the icons that are evil.  It’s not the icons that are causing the problem.  Let us look at the icons the same way we look at the letter to the hebrews and the mentioning of the patriarchs who were strengthened by the faith to perform great exploits.  

To those with a catholic or Eastern Orthodox background … let us see its the faith that worked exploits in the saints.  Let us venerate the faith, and not the images.   If we want to remember the saints or have images let those things stir us up by reminding us of the faith that exalted them.  Paul says in 1st Cor 3 that neither he that plants or he that waters is anything, it’s God who gives the increase.  Paul is saying the grace that flows to us through people who plant and water is not on account of them, it’s on account of God.  Let us remember the faith is the treasure.  Let us remember it’s the faith that saves; it’s the faith that anoints our eyes with eye salve so we don’t behold our nakedness.  Let us remember it’s the faith that ministers grace to people in their time of need, not the saints, not images.  Let us all come together in the faith ….. understanding Christ is the head, and the only one who is able to minister the nutrients of life to us.  

The revolution; or rather the revelation the church needs is of the faith.  It’s the faith that brings unity amongst all people.  I know it can sound weird to say it this way but the Unity that is between the Father, Son, and Spirit is through the Spirit of Faith.  The nature of God.  You can speak inexhaustibly about the nature of God, but one of the ways you can describe Gods nature is the Spirit of Faith.  Jesus prayed that we would be one even as He is one with the Father.  It’s the faith that came in Jesus Christ that brings unity; it’s the faith that was made flesh in Jesus that brings unity. 

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
1Co 3:5  Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
1Co 3:8  Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
1Co 3:9  For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
1Co 3:10  According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
1Co 3:11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
1Co 3:18  Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
1Co 3:19  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
1Co 3:20  And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
1Co 3:23  And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.