Should Icons Be Used in Worship?

EVERY August 15, a great religious celebration takes place on the Greek island of Tnos. Thousands gather in veneration of Mary the mother of Jesus and of her icon, which is believed to possess miraculous powers.* A Greek Orthodox reference work explains: "With special faith and devoutness we honour the Most Holy Theotokos, the Mother of our Lord, and we ask her protection and her speedy overshadowing and aid. We recourse to the wonder-working SaintsHoly men and womenfor our spiritual and bodily needs . . . With deep piety we kiss and venerate their holy relics and sacred icons."

Many other professed Christians belong to denominations that engage in similar acts of worship. But is the use of icons in worship supported by Bible teachings?

The Early Christians

Consider what happened about the year 50 C.E. when the apostle Paul visited Athens, a city in which much emphasis was placed on the use of images in worship. Paul explained to the Athenians that God "does not dwell in handmade temples, neither is he attended to by human hands as if he needed anything . . . Therefore, . . . we ought not to imagine that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, like something sculptured by the art and contrivance of man."Acts 17:24, 25, 29.

Actually, such warnings regarding the use of idols are common in the Christian Greek Scriptures, also called the New Testament. For example, the apostle John admonished Christians: "Guard yourselves from idols." (1 John 5:21) Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "What agreement does God's temple have with idols?" (2 Corinthians 6:16) Many early Christians had formerly used religious images in worship. Paul reminded Christians in Thessalonica of this when he wrote: "You turned to God from your idols to slave for a living and true God." (1 Thessalonians 1:9) Clearly, those Christians would have had the same view of icons as John and Paul did.

Adoption of Icons by "Christians"

The Encyclopdia Britannica says that "during the first three centuries of the Christian Church, . . . there was no Christian art, and the church generally resisted it with all its might. Clement of Alexandria, for example, criticized religious (pagan) art in that it encouraged people to worship that which is created rather than the Creator."
How, then, did the use of icons become so popular? The Britannica continues: "About the mid-3rd century an incipient pictorial art began to be used and accepted in the Christian

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