Concerning ‘The Passion’ and Idolatry By Tony Robinson The Prohibition of Idolatry In this article I want to examine the idolatrous nature of The Passion of the Christ. This may catch some by surprise; however, I believe the Scripture is very clear on this. The second commandment reads as follows: 4"You shall not make for yourself a carved image--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; 5you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments (Exodus 20:4-6). These verses are very clear. The second commandment gives practical instruction on proper worship. Some may get the impression that this verse only pertains to the worship of false gods. In other words, someone may say, "Although it's wrong to worship created objects associated with false gods, it's okay to worship images of the Holy One." Traditionally, this verse has not been interpreted in this fashion. This verse means that we are not to make any image, whether in the likeness of a false god or in the "likeness" of the Holy One. He has made it very clear that we are not to worship carved images of any sort. 11"Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. 12And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice…15 "Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female (person implied), 17the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. 19And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage (Deuteronomy 4:11-19, emphasis added). Deuteronomy 4:11-19 clearly indicates that we are not to make any images of His likeness. This is why the Holy One told them to remember they hadn't seen any form or likeness of His image. This is clear enough—"You didn't see any form/image of Me when I spoke to you; therefore, do not create any form/image to represent me." I assume most of you reading this article are either Christian or Messianic and already understand that Yeshua is Divine. Therefore, I will not belabor this point. Since, therefore, Messiah is the Divine Elohim (God), then it should be obvious that the prohibition of representing the Holy One in any form/image would also apply to Yeshua. Many others are also bringing this understanding to the forefront of their arguments against viewing The Passion of the Christ. We are commanded not to make images of the Holy One, period. Many Protestants understand the idolatry of images of Yeshua on the Catholic Cross; however, this prohibition should apply to all other representations of Messiah Yeshua. It is wrong to try to capture the Copyright © 2004 (5765) by Tony Robinson, Restoration of Torah Ministries. All rights reserved. Eternal One with our guesses as to his image. Why? Because none of our guesses about His image are true. By default they are all untrue. If it were important to know what He looked like, I'm sure the disciples would have drawn pictures of Him for future generations. The fact that they chose to skip the obvious opportunity to preserve images of Yeshua speaks volumes, volumes, volumes concerning their understanding of the second commandment as it pertained to images of Yeshua, the Eternal Elohim of the Universe. And why does the Holy One not want us to make images of Him? I can see two major reasons from Scripture. First, any attempt to represent our infinite Elohim as a finite image is profane. It automatically fails to capture His eternal glory. It is but the work of man's hands. I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images (Isaiah 42:8, emphasis mine). Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things (Romans 1:21-23, emphasis mine). The second reason Adonai doesn't want us to try to capture Him in an image is because it invariably leads to idolatry—the worship of anything other than the Blessed Creator. Our faith, loyalty and affections that properly belong to Him are shifted to finite created things when we worship idols. We need only look to the Roman Catholic Church to understand why one should not make graven images of any sort. Israel’s War Against Idolatry In Deuteronomy 12:2-7, Moses described 1) what the Israelites were supposed to do to the gods of the nations they dispossessed and 2) how they were to worship the Holy One. Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree: And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God. But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come: And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks: And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee (Deuteronomy 12:2-7, emphasis mine). Note the phrase, “and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods.” To "hew down" means to cut down, cast down, or destroy by bringing low. Specifically, it means to take those carved images, which were situated in high places, and bring them down low to the earth. Thematically, Deuteronomy 12:2-7 can be outlined as follows: • Devarim12:2-3—Destroying the places where the nations worshipped their gods. • Devarim 12:4-7—Worshipping at the place Adonai chooses. Comparing and contrasting Deuteronomy 12:2-3 with Deuteronomy 12:5-7 leads to the following conclusions: 1. Whereas the nations worshipped in multiple places, Am Yisrael (the people of Israel) will only worship the Holy One in one place. 2. Whereas Am Yisrael were to destroy the idols and images of the heathen, they also were to establish a worship center for true worship. 3. Whereas Am Yisrael were to destroy the names of the false gods from the land, they were to worship at the One place the Holy One caused His name to dwell. Deuteronomy 12:4 is a bridge verse, linking Deuteronomy 12:2-3 with Deuteronomy 12:5-7. It states that Am Yisrael cannot worship the Holy One the way the nations worshipped their gods. We’ve already seen the deeper spiritual teaching concerning the Law of Kil’ayim (Forbidden Mixtures) in the second article of this series. The deeper teaching (Sod) behind the law of forbidden mixtures pertains to holiness and the necessity of guarding the truth from error. In other words, the law of forbidden mixtures (Leviticus 19:19-22) is thematically linked to properly keeping the Holy One's commandments (Leviticus 19:1-18). This can only be done within the context of safeguarding His words from those of competing philosophies. Deuteronomy 12:2-7 is simply a practical application of forbidding a mixture of evil (the ways of the nations) with good (the commandments and ways of the Holy One). The mixing of competing philosophies would be prevented if Am Yisrael first destroyed all vestiges of false worship before establishing true worship. Note how Deuteronomy 12:29-31 confirms these assertions: 29 "When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, 30take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, "How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.' 31You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods (Deuteronomy 12:29-31).