A Question Worth Asking Honestly

Few topics generate more misunderstanding between Orthodox Christians and their Protestant neighbors than the use of holy icons. The accusation is familiar: "You are breaking the Second Commandment. The Bible clearly forbids making images." It is a serious charge, and it deserves a serious, scripturally grounded answer — not a dismissal, but a careful examination of what God's Word actually says in its full context.

The Orthodox Church has never been embarrassed by this question. For nearly two thousand years, the Church has articulated a coherent, biblically rooted theology of sacred images. That theology was formally defined at the Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicaea II, 787 AD), and it rests on foundations laid in the Old Testament itself, fulfilled in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, and confirmed by an unbroken tradition of worship.

What Does the Second Commandment Actually Say?

The commandment at the center of this debate reads: "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them" (Exodus 20:4–5, ESV). Read in isolation, this sounds like an absolute prohibition on all visual art. But the Bible never intended its commands to be read in isolation.

The very same God who spoke these words to Moses also commanded, just a few chapters later: "You shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat" (Exodus 25:18). If the Second Commandment were a blanket ban on all images, God would be contradicting Himself within the span of a few pages. Clearly, something more precise is being commanded and something more precise is being forbidden.

The Context of Deuteronomy 4

The book of Deuteronomy provides the interpretive key. Moses warns the Israelites: "Beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth… And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them" (Deuteronomy 4:16–19).

The concern here is unmistakable: the Israelites were surrounded by pagan cultures that worshipped the sun, the moon, the stars, animals, and human-shaped deities. The commandment is a prohibition against idolatry — the worship of created things as though they were the Creator — not a prohibition against art, representation, or the use of images in worship directed toward the one true God.

God Himself Commanded Sacred Images

A straightforward reading of the Old Testament reveals that God not only permitted but actively commanded the making of sacred images for use in worship. Consider the evidence:

  • The Ark of the Covenant was crowned with two golden cherubim, angelic beings whose wings overshadowed the mercy seat — the very place where God's presence dwelt (Exodus 25:17–22).
  • The Tabernacle was adorned with embroidered images of cherubim on its curtains and veil (Exodus 26:1, 31), making the entire sacred space a visual representation of heavenly realities.
  • The Temple of Solomon was filled with carved cherubim, palm trees, open flowers, and pomegranates — images covering the walls, the doors, and the great bronze sea (1 Kings 6:29–35; 7:25–26).
  • The Bronze Serpent (Numbers 21:8–9) was fashioned at God's direct command and lifted up so that all who looked upon it would be healed — a reality our Lord Himself identified as a prefiguration of His own crucifixion: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up" (John 3:14).

None of these sacred objects were worshipped as gods. They were material realities that pointed to, and participated in, the presence of the living God. This is the very logic that underlies the Orthodox veneration of icons.

The Incarnation Changes Everything

The most decisive argument for the legitimacy of icons is theological, not merely historical. It is rooted in the central mystery of the Christian faith: the Incarnation of the Son of God.

Before Christ, it was indeed impossible to depict God in His divine nature. As St. John of Damascus (c. 675–749 AD), the great defender of icons, wrote: "In former times, God, who is without form or body, could never be depicted. But now when God is seen in the flesh conversing with men, I make an image of the God whom I see." (On the Divine Images, I.16). The prohibition on depicting the invisible God was real — but the Incarnation transformed that reality entirely.

When the eternal Son of God took on human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, He became visible, tangible, and describable. As St. John the Theologian declares: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life" (1 John 1:1). To refuse to depict Christ is, in a subtle but real way, to deny that He truly became flesh.

The Icon as Theological Confession

The Seventh Ecumenical Council, convened at Nicaea in 787 AD under the Empress Irene and Patriarch Tarasios of Constantinople, defined the Orthodox theology of icons with precision. The Council distinguished between latria (the worship due to God alone) and proskynesis timetike (veneration or honor given to persons and holy things). Icons receive veneration — a relative honor that passes through the image to its prototype — but never the absolute worship that belongs to God alone.

The Council drew on the principle articulated by St. Basil the Great (c. 330–379 AD): "The honor given to the image passes to its prototype." (On the Holy Spirit, 18.45). When an Orthodox Christian kisses an icon of Christ or bows before it, the act is directed not at the wood and paint but at the living Person depicted. This is no different in principle from a soldier kissing a photograph of his beloved — no one imagines he is in love with paper and ink.

What the Church Fathers Teach

The witness of the Church Fathers on this question is rich and consistent. Far from being embarrassed by icons, the Fathers saw them as natural expressions of the Incarnate faith.

St. John of Damascus wrote three comprehensive treatises defending the veneration of icons against the Byzantine iconoclasts of the eighth century. He argued that matter itself was sanctified by the Incarnation: "I do not worship matter; I worship the Creator of matter who became matter for my sake." (On the Divine Images, I.16).

St. Theodore the Studite (759–826 AD) argued that to deny the depictability of Christ is to fall into a subtle form of Docetism — the heresy that Christ only appeared to be human. If Christ truly had a human face, that face can be painted. To deny this is to deny the reality of His humanity.

St. Basil the Great described how the art of the Church served as a form of proclamation: "What the word transmits through the ear, that painting silently shows through the image." Icons are, in the ancient phrase, theology in color — a visual proclamation of the Gospel accessible to all, including the illiterate.

St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom both wrote of the veneration of martyrs and their images as a natural expression of Christian piety, rooted in the same love that leads us to treasure the photographs of those we love.

Iconoclasm: A Condemned Heresy

It is important for Orthodox Christians to understand that the rejection of icons is not merely a different opinion or a matter of cultural preference. The Seventh Ecumenical Council — one of the seven councils whose authority is accepted by all Orthodox, Catholic, and most traditional Protestant theologians when it comes to Trinitarian and Christological dogma — formally condemned iconoclasm as a heresy.

The iconoclast controversy of the eighth and ninth centuries was not primarily a dispute about art. It was a dispute about Christology. The iconoclasts, influenced by a kind of spiritualized dualism, held that matter was unworthy of bearing the divine presence. The Orthodox response was that this view contradicted the Incarnation itself. God became matter. Matter was thereby sanctified. The icon is a witness to that sanctification.

The Triumph of Orthodoxy, celebrated on the first Sunday of Great Lent every year, commemorates the restoration of icons to the Church in 843 AD. It is not merely a historical commemoration — it is an annual reaffirmation that the Incarnate God can and should be depicted, venerated, and encountered through sacred images.

Veneration Is Not Worship: A Crucial Distinction

The most common misunderstanding among those who object to Orthodox icons is a failure to distinguish between worship (latria) and veneration (dulia/proskynesis). Orthodox Christians do not worship icons. The Church has always taught — and the Seventh Ecumenical Council formally defined — that worship belongs to God alone: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Veneration, by contrast, is the honor we give to holy persons and holy things. We venerate the Cross, the Gospels, the relics of saints, and icons — not because these objects are divine, but because they are intimately connected with the living God and with those who have been glorified in Him. This practice is not innovation; it is continuous with the Old Testament veneration of the Ark of the Covenant, the Temple, and the sacred vessels of the Tabernacle.

Consider how St. Paul describes the body of a Christian: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you?" (1 Corinthians 6:19). If the human body — matter — can be a temple of God, then surely matter can bear the image of God's saints without becoming an idol.

Icons in Orthodox Liturgical Life

Icons are not decorations in an Orthodox church. They are an integral part of the Church's liturgical theology. The iconostasis — the screen of icons that separates the nave from the altar — is a visual representation of the boundary between heaven and earth, a boundary that is crossed in every Divine Liturgy.

The icons that surround the faithful during worship are not passive pictures. They are, in Orthodox understanding, windows into the Kingdom of God — presences of the saints who surround the Church in prayer (Hebrews 12:1). When the faithful venerate an icon, they are participating in the communion of saints, joining their prayers with those of the holy men and women depicted.

The liturgical texts of the Church reinforce this theology at every turn. The Apolytikion for the Sunday of Orthodoxy proclaims: "We venerate Your most pure image, O Good One, asking forgiveness of our transgressions, O Christ our God; for by Your own will You were pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh, to deliver from the bondage of the enemy those whom You had fashioned. Wherefore with thanksgiving we cry aloud to You: You have filled all things with joy, O our Savior, You who came to save the world."

A Word to Protestant Brothers and Sisters

The Orthodox Church holds no animosity toward Protestant Christians who sincerely believe that icons are forbidden. Their concern for the purity of worship is admirable, and it flows from a genuine love of God. But the Orthodox tradition invites them to consider whether the iconoclast position is as biblically straightforward as it first appears.

The same Scriptures that contain the Second Commandment also contain the cherubim of the Ark, the bronze serpent, the Temple of Solomon, and the Incarnation of the eternal Son of God. The same Church Fathers whose authority Protestants invoke to defend the Trinity, the canon of Scripture, and the two natures of Christ unanimously affirmed the veneration of icons. A consistent application of the principle sola scriptura — Scripture interpreted in its full context — does not lead to iconoclasm. It leads, as the Fathers showed, to the theology of Nicaea II.

Frequently Asked Questions

Doesn't the Second Commandment forbid all religious images?

No. Read in its full biblical context, the Second Commandment forbids the worship of created things as gods — idolatry. God Himself commanded the making of sacred images (cherubim, the bronze serpent, the Temple decorations) for use in worship directed toward Him. The prohibition is against idolatry, not against sacred art.

Are Orthodox Christians worshipping icons when they kiss or bow before them?

No. The Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicaea II, 787 AD) formally defined that icons receive veneration — a relative honor that passes to the person depicted — not worship, which belongs to God alone. The distinction between latria (worship) and proskynesis (veneration) is ancient, patristic, and conciliar.

Why does the Incarnation matter for the icon debate?

Before the Incarnation, God was invisible and could not be depicted in His divine nature. When the Son of God became truly human in Jesus Christ, He became visible and describable. To depict Christ is to confess the reality of His Incarnation. To refuse to depict Him risks implying that He did not truly become flesh — a subtle form of the heresy of Docetism.

Do all the Church Fathers support the use of icons?

The consistent witness of the Fathers, especially from the fourth century onward, supports the veneration of icons and sacred images. St. John of Damascus, St. Basil the Great, St. Theodore the Studite, St. Gregory the Theologian, and many others explicitly defended the use of icons. The Seventh Ecumenical Council drew on this patristic consensus in defining the Orthodox theology of sacred images.

Conclusion: Icons Are a Confession of the Incarnation

The Orthodox veneration of icons is not a concession to paganism, a corruption of the Gospel, or a violation of the Second Commandment. It is a confession of the Incarnation — a visible, tangible affirmation that the eternal Son of God truly became flesh, truly had a human face, and truly sanctified matter by uniting it to His divine Person.

Every icon in an Orthodox church proclaims the same truth that the Apostle John proclaimed at the beginning of his Gospel: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). To see an icon is to be invited into that seeing — to encounter, through the material image, the living Person it represents.

The next time you stand before an icon, remember: you are not looking at wood and paint. You are looking through a window into the Kingdom of God, where Christ reigns in glory, surrounded by His saints, interceding for the world He came to save.

Further reading: Explore our articles on What Is the Theology of the Iconostasis?, The Triumph of Orthodoxy: History and Meaning, and How to Pray with Icons: A Practical Guide for Beginners to deepen your understanding of Orthodox sacred art and worship.