On the Divine Liturgy & Images of New Realities

Theological Letters

After reading my reply to his question about whether the earliest Christians were iconoclasts, “Pagoda” asked a followup question. Specifically, he asked about an argument he once heard in seminary. The claim was that icons of Christ are “an example of an over-realized eschatology,” by which he means that they wish to see Christ face to face, but this is something for the eschaton; we are currently to live out this future hope by faith, not sight (John 20:29). Below is my reply. If you’re reading this letter, then you must be a paying subscriber. Thank you for your support! (If somehow you’ve accessed this and you’re not a paying subscriber, please consider subscribing and supporting my work.)

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Hi again, “Pagoda,”

My answer in short is that such an argument is a misuse of that passage. The NT is quite clear that the images in the OT are shadows of heavenly worship. While the common protestant tendency is to suggest that because the substance has come, there is no need for shadows (i.e., no need for images), this misses the mark on two points.