Do We Need Crosses and Images to Enhance Our Worship?

I had an interesting discussion today about icons, idolatry and the incomparable glory of God.  A summary of that discussion could be clarified through this simple syllogism [1].  It would go this way:

Premise One:  Nothing created adequately describes God in all His glory.
Premise Two:  To use earthly representations to facilitate worship is idolatry.
Premise Three:  The written Word of God is an earthly representation.
Conclusion: The Bible should not be used as a means of worship.

The conclusion may be logical but it is wrong.  What was not included in the logic is that the Bible is God's ordained means to reveal God in a redemptive sense.  Although the Bible does not contain all truth, the Bible is all true.  And more importantly the Bible is sufficient.   The Doctrine of the Sufficiency of Scripture is an important aspect to our Evangelical worship.

The Scriptures ALONE are able to lead a man or woman to saving faith and through to sanctification in grace.  No other created thing, no picture, icon, or image can do that.  No program or mountain peak can do that.  Although we are called by the Second Law of the Ten Commandments not to be devoted to any created thing or image, we can be faith know that the Bible is the exception.  The is the pulse beat of Christianity.  It is the heart of what it means to be Protestant.  It is this truth that separates us from Roman Catholic and Eastern churches.

God's Word ALONE is sufficient.

2 Timothy 3:15 (ESV)

¹⁵ and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Acts 20:32 (ESV)

³² And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

No, we don't need crucifixes, icons, images and pictures to inform our worship of God.  The Bible is sufficient -the rest is insufficient, and by default: idolatry.
 




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1. A syllogism (Greek: συλλογισμός syllogismos, "conclusion, inference") is a kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two or more propositions that are asserted or assumed to be true.