Statues

Objection: Why do Catholics have statues in their churches, when the Second Commandment specifically forbids making graven images and worshiping them? (cf. Ex 20:4-6)

When I was still a Baptist, I remember asking a Catholic friend this very same question. It was a particularly significant occasion for me personally, because it was the very first time I had ever asked a Catholic the rationale for his beliefs. My question was asked in all innocence, as I had been led to sincerely believe from non-Catholic sources that Catholics really did worship statues. As my friend was quick to explain, however, this objection is based on a fundamental misunderstanding concerning the Catholic practice. Therefore, before continuing, it would be helpful for us to make some necessary clarifications.

First, Catholics in absolutely no manner "worship" statues. Adoration is to be given to the Triune God alone. Idolatry is the gravest of sins. Moreover, it would be particularly foolish to worship statues. As the great Catholic writer G.K. Chesterton wrote:

And everybody [...] has always applied [...] what I may call this old joke of the Old Testament; that mere idolatry is idiotic in itself. Why is idolatry wrong? Above all, why is idolatry funny? The Hebrew Prophet saw the logic and point of the case with the clearness of any Greek. It is funny because it is not only an incongruity but an inversion. It was stated, in those ancient days, in the one unanswerable formula: "They worship the work of their own hands." [1] 

But if Catholics do not "worship" statues, then why are they found in Catholic churches? It is for the same reason they are found almost anywhere, whether that be in a public park, or in the Lincoln memorial, or a war monument, or in many other contexts. They are simply a form of art done to more vividly call to mind particular persons and events. For instance, if a Protestant church displays a nativity scene at Christmas time, is it because they are idolaters worshiping the figures displayed?  Of course not. In that case there is a clear recognition that the images are only three-dimensional forms of art. The only difference between that and the Catholic practice is that our images are present year round.

Still, the question arises as to what does the commandment [2] against making images mean then? The answer to that question, I believe, is to be found by reading the passage as a whole. It is forbidding an idolatrous use of images, one in which you "bow down to them" in an act of worship [3] and "serve them." It is in that context specifically in which we are forbidden to make images, since we are to only adore the Triune God. 

However, this does not amount to a prohibition of all images whatsoever, even for artistic purposes as Catholics use them (and Protestants as well, such as in the contexts mentioned previously.) This is easily shown from reading Scripture in its entirety. For not only in other places are such images permitted, but they are even commanded at times. For instance, just five chapters after the first mention of the Ten Commandments, we read concerning the mercy seat which covered the Ark of the Covenant (the holiest object of ancient Israel) that it was overshadowed by images, by God's own instruction. It was from between two images that God spoke to His people:

And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark; and in the ark you shall put the covenant that I shall give you There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of the covenant, I will speak with you of all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel. (Ex 25:18-22)

Again in Numbers 21, after the Israelites complained against the Lord in the wilderness yet again, resulting in Him sending fiery serpents that bit and killed many of the people, they admitted their guilt, and asked for Moses to pray to the Lord on their behalf. Afterwards, we read:

And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it up as a sign; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it up as a sign; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. (Num 21:8-9)

Notice how not only did God command an image to be made, but went so far as to use it as an instrument of pouring fourth His healing power. Incidentally, Jesus compared the use of this image to Himself (cf. John 3:14) right before proclaiming the words that have since become perhaps the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16 [4]

In addition, when we read the description of the Temple constructed under King Solomon, we read of the placement of images, and in a far greater quantity than is to be found in your typical Catholic Church!  Thus, we read concerning the images of two cherubim placed therein:

In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high. Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form. The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house; and the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house. And he overlaid the cherubim with gold. (1 Ki 6:23-28)

Similiarly:

He carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms [...] He covered the two doors of olivewood with carving of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; he overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubim and upon the palm trees. [....] On [the two doors of cypress wood] he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied upon the carved work. (1 Ki 6:29, 32, 35)

So, too, "the molten sea" outside the Temple was supported by images of twelve oxen:

It stood upon twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea was set upon them, and all their posterior parts were inward (1 Ki 7:25)

If the use of images for artistic purposes was itself illegtimate (as distinct from worshipping them), then the Temple as constructed under Solomon must have been an abomination in God's eyes. And yet we read the very opposite. For after its dedication, God spoke to Solomon as follows:

And the LORD said to [Solomon], "I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before me; I have consecrated this house which you have built, and put my name there for ever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time. (1 Ki 9:3) 

In short, as we can see from looking at Scripture as a whole, the only respect in which Scripture condemns images is when they are worshipped, and in no other context. Given that, as pointed out above, most if not all Protestants themselves recognize this to be the case in almost any other ordinary context (such as with a nativity scene), it is hard to comprehend why a different standard is suddently applied by some Protestants when it comes to the use of statues in Catholic churches. (Thankfully, not all Protestants make such an objection, however.) 

That said, if anyone still does consider all "graven images" to be a violation of the Ten Commandments, then please get in contact with me, and I will be more than willing to accept all the coins you may possess, and I will make sure that they are....um...."properly disposed of"....so to speak. (Yeah, that's it!) Then you will have no need to worry about being guilty of "idolatry" by carrying so many "graven images" on your person. (Besides, given that so many people do "worship" money in a sense, then surely any efforts against combating "idolatry" is far more fruitfully spent in that cause than they are against some imaginary Catholic worship of statues that in reality does not exist.)

All kidding aside, however, I do hope that helps answer a question that many sincere Protestants may have. 

 

NOTES

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[1] G.K. Chesterton, Illustrated London News, April 14, 1934. In this passage, Chesterton is quoting Isaiah 2:8 

[2] Catholics and Protestants, generally speaking, number the Ten Commandments differently. Even though Scripture specifically states there are "ten commandments" (Ex 34:28), there are more than ten imperative statements in both places where the Ten Commandments are listed in Scripture (cf. Ex 20:1-17; Dt 5:6-21). This requires for certain of these commands to be grouped together as a single commandment, if we are to have only "ten commandments" altogether as the text states.

Most Protestants usually treat the prohibition against making images as a distinct commandment from the prohibition against having other gods. Consequently, they group the prohibition against coveting your neighbor's wife and the prohibition of coveting his property as a single commandment.

Catholics, however, have traditionally treated the statement against images as a further elaboration of the first commandment which forbids idolatry generally. (In the ancient world that the Israelites lived in, it was usually the case that worshipping false gods involved worshipping statues of those false gods; hence, it would be natural to group the two statements as part of the same commandment). Instead, Catholics treat the prohibitions against coveting your neighbor's wife and coveting his property as distinct commandments, paralleling the distinct commandments earlier in the list against adultery and theft. That is to say, just as one set of commandments forbids the exterior actions (adultery and theft), so the other set forbids even the interior consent to such actions.

As is perhaps no surprise, I find the way Catholics have traditionally numbered the commandments as making more sense. However, in the end, since the commandments are not numbered in Scripture, there is no "right" way (that we are completely certain about) to number them.  (Sometimes one hears an argument based on how the verses are divided in the text, but recall that such verse divisions are not part of the text itself, and only date back a few hundred years. However helpful they may be for locating a text, they are nonetheless arbitrary and by no means authoritative in settling such a dispute as this.) 

[3] Sometimes objections are made that Catholics sometimes bow down to statues, thereby proving they worship them, but this is incorrect. Any Catholic will tell you they are not bowing down "to", much less worshipping, a piece of stone. Of course, a Catholic may bow down in front of a statue, say one of Jesus, for instance. But this is no more idolatrous than a Protestant bowing down with a Bible in front of him thereby proves the latter is worshiping a book. In both cases, they are adopting a reverential posture for prayer, even though an aid may be present in front of the person (for instance, a statue raising our thoughts to our Lord, or a particular Bible passage we are meditating on while conversing with our Lord.) Ultimately speaking, they do reverence the person of whom the statue is a representation, but the statue itself is treated with reverence in only the same sense a Protestant may reverence the picture of a loved one. In other words, the reverence is really directed to the reality that is represented. (And, contrary to what some believe, bowing does not always imply worship in any case, as we discover from numerous examples in Scripture; cf. Gen 19:1, 27:29, 33:3, Ruth 2:10; 1 Ki 1:16, 23, 2 Ki 4:37; Rev 3:9. So even if one were to bow to another human, that is not the same as worship.)

[4] It is sometimes objected that centuries later, King Hezekiah broke in pieces the bronze serpent, because the Israelites had started to burn incense to it (cf 2 Ki 18:4). However, that demonstrates all the more clearly the contrast between the appropriate use of images on the one hand, and the idolotrous use on the other. So long as the image was not worshipped, it was perfectly acceptable. It was only once it was being adored by sacrifice that the image was destroyed.  Needless to say, Catholics do not sacrifice to their statues, but simply employ them as artistic representations.