Christian Ethics and the Old Testament - Lesson 32

The Second Commandment raises questions that don't always yield easy answers—and Lesson 32 of Christian Ethics and the Old Testament leans into that tension honestly. Dave Rich picks up where he left off, first addressing mental images of God, then turning to one of the more genuinely contested questions in Reformed ethics: may Christians use images of Jesus?Rich walks through the relevant biblical and theological foundations, establishing what is beyond dispute—images of any kind may not be worshiped—before working through six arguments commonly raised against pictures of Jesus in artistic or instructional contexts. He engages each argument carefully, drawing on Calvin, Packer, Frame, Grudem, Douma, and others, neither dismissing the concerns nor accepting every conclusion. The key turning point is the Incarnation itself: the biblical rationale for prohibiting images of God rested on the fact that Israel saw no form at Horeb. Jesus, as the depictable God who took on genuine human flesh, changes that calculus.Rich distinguishes between portraits designed for devotion—which he views with serious caution—and historically grounded artistic or instructional depictions, which he finds less clearly prohibited. He closes by reading Matthew 4 and Revelation 1 aloud and asking whether the mental images those texts inevitably produce are themselves a problem—and what that means for the broader question. ★ Support this podcast ★