What do you think?

Is an artists rendition of Jesus an idol? Is it, according to the scriptures, offensive to God?

Exo 20:4-6 (KJV) "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."

from Strong's Concordance:

H6459 - pesel - peh'-sel From H6458; an idol: - carved (graven) image.

H8544 - temu?na?h temu?na?h - tem-oo-naw', tem-oo-naw' - From H4327; something portioned (that is, fashioned) out, as a shape, that is, (indefinitely) phantom, or (specifically) embodiment, or (figuratively) manifestation (of favor): - image, likeness, similitude.

H834 - 'a?sher - ash-er' - A primitive relative pronoun (of every gender and number); who, which, what, that; also (as adverb and conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.: - X after, X alike, as (soon as), because, X every, for, + forasmuch, + from whence, + how (-soever), X if, (so) that ([thing] which, wherein), X though, + until, + whatsoever, when, where (+ -as, -in, -of, -on, -soever, -with), which, whilst, + whither (-soever), who (-m, -soever, -se). As it is indeclinable, it is often accompanied by the personal pronoun expletively, used to show the connection.

H8064 - sha?mayim sha?meh - shaw-mah'-yim, shaw-meh' - The second form being dual of an unused singular; from an unused root meaning to be lofty; the sky (as aloft; the dual perhaps alluding to the visible arch in which the clouds move, as well as to the higher ether where the celestial bodies revolve): - air, X astrologer, heaven (-s).

H776 - 'erets - eh'-rets - From an unused root probably meaning to be firm; the earth (at large, or partitively a land): - X common, country, earth, field, ground, land, X nations, way, + wilderness, world.

Tentative Conclusion

The word usage seems to be prohibiting the creation of idols from created things for the express purpose of worship. Any other meaning would have to indicate that God does not want us to make a likeness of anything for any purpose!

The word used for heaven seems to indicate the expanse where the celestial objects hang, not the physical home of Father God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

I do not believe that these scriptures indicate that God prohibits making a physical artist's conceptual likeness of Jesus for the purpose of reflection.

What do you think? Are Pictures of Jesus prohibited idols, according to the scriptures?

examples abound: Art and the Bible