Are We Reading the Bible Like Jesus — or Like the Pharisees?

A few nights ago, I had a good conversation with some friends about graven images.

They were sincerely wrestling with the commandment that says, “You shall not make for yourself a graven image.” Their concern was honest. They were not trying to argue. They were trying to obey God.

And I respect that.

I did not give them a quick answer that night, because I did not want to speak too fast about something sacred. So I prayed about it. I looked at Scripture. I looked again at what the Catholic Church actually teaches.

And once again, I found myself back in a place I have been many times before.

There was a time when I questioned a lot of Catholic teaching. I even wondered if I should leave the Catholic Church. But when I started digging into what the Church actually teaches — not what people say it teaches — I kept finding something different than I expected.

On the Eucharist.

On confession.

On Mary.

On the saints.

On authority.

Again and again, the actual teaching of the Church made more sense, not less. It was more biblical than I had realized. More rooted. More careful. More beautiful.

So when this question came up about graven images, I wanted to do the same thing.

Not defend a tradition blindly.

Not win an argument.

Just ask honestly: What does God actually mean here?

The commandment is real:

“You shall not make for yourself a graven image… you shall not bow down to them or serve them.”
— Exodus 20:4–5

Catholics do not ignore that commandment. We may never worship a statue, painting, crucifix, medal, icon, saint, angel, or anything created.

Worship belongs to God alone.

But Scripture itself shows us that the commandment cannot mean, “No sacred image may ever exist.”

Why?

Because God Himself commanded sacred images to be made.

He commanded golden cherubim to be placed over the Ark of the Covenant.

He commanded Moses to make the bronze serpent in the desert.

So the issue cannot simply be the existence of an image.

The issue is worship.

The issue is idolatry.

The issue is taking something created and treating it as God.

That is still a very serious danger. Maybe most of us are not tempted to bow down and worship a carved statue as a god. But we are absolutely tempted to worship other things.

Money.

Comfort.

Politics.

Sex.

Control.

Success.

Our own opinions.

Even our own religious certainty.

The form of idolatry changes, but the commandment still stands:

Worship God alone. Let nothing created take His place.

That is why a crucifix, a painting, or a statue can be used rightly or wrongly.

If I worship the object, I am wrong.

If I treat it like it has power apart from God, I am wrong.

If I love the image more than Jesus, I am wrong.

But if that image lifts my heart to Jesus, reminds me of His sacrifice, humbles me, calls me to prayer, and helps me worship God more deeply, then it is not replacing God.

It is pointing to Him.

And this is where I think the bigger issue comes in.

We have to learn to read Scripture through Jesus.

I love Scripture. I have read the Bible most of my life. But Jesus is not just another Bible teacher. He is the Word made flesh. He is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.

He said:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”
— Matthew 5:17

That means we do not throw out the Old Testament.

But we also do not read it as if Jesus never came.

Jesus shows us the heart of the Law.

The Pharisees had rules. Lots of them. Hundreds of them. Very detailed rules.

And honestly, part of us likes rules.

Rules feel clear.

Rules feel safe.

Rules let us say, “I did this. I avoided that. Therefore, I am right with God.”

But Jesus did not live that way.

He healed on the Sabbath.

He let His disciples pick grain on the Sabbath.

He touched lepers.

He ate with sinners.

He did not break the Law. He revealed what the Law was truly for.

He lived the Law in spirit and in truth.

And this should make all of us pause.

Because sometimes we criticize religious people or institutions for being “like the Pharisees,” but then we do the same thing in another direction. We grab a commandment, isolate it, flatten it, and try to obey it with exactness while missing the heart of God inside it.

That is not the way of Jesus.

Jesus does not make sin smaller. He makes it deeper.

He does not say adultery no longer matters. He says lust matters too.

He does not say murder no longer matters. He says anger matters too.

He does not say worship no longer matters. He says the Father seeks worshipers who worship in spirit and truth.

So with graven images, the question is not only, “Is there an image in my house?”

The deeper question is:

Is there an idol in my heart?

Am I worshiping God alone?

Am I letting anything created take His place?

Am I using sacred things to draw closer to Jesus, or am I hiding behind religious objects while my heart is far from Him?

That is the real issue.

So no, I do not believe Christians need to be afraid of having a crucifix, statue, icon, or sacred painting in their homes.

But we should be very afraid of idolatry.

We should be afraid of loving anything more than God.

We should be afraid of reducing Scripture to rules while missing Jesus.

We should be afraid of reading the Bible in a way that makes us stricter but not holier, more certain but not more loving, more religious but not more surrendered.

The whole Bible is not a trap. It is not a pile of disconnected verses meant to crush us.

It is God’s living Word, leading us to Jesus.

And when we read any commandment — Old Testament or New — we should ask:

How does Jesus fulfill this?
What truth is God protecting here?
What false god is He trying to remove from my heart?
How does this teach me to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength?
How does this teach me to love my neighbor as myself?

That does not make the commandment less serious.

It makes it more serious.

Because now it is not just about what is on my wall.

It is about what is on the throne of my heart.

A sacred image can point me to Jesus.
An idol takes His place.

That is the difference.

And that difference matters forever.

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References for Further Study

If you want to look into this more deeply, here are the main passages and Catholic references behind this reflection.

Scripture

Exodus 20:4–5
The commandment against graven images and idolatry.

Exodus 25:18–22
God commands golden cherubim to be made over the Ark of the Covenant.

Numbers 21:8–9
God commands Moses to make the bronze serpent.

John 1:14
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

Colossians 1:15
Jesus is “the image of the invisible God.”

Matthew 5:17
Jesus says He came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.

Matthew 22:37–40
Jesus teaches that the whole Law and Prophets depend on love of God and love of neighbor.

Mark 2:27
“The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.”

John 4:23–24
The Father seeks worshipers who worship in spirit and truth.

Catholic Teaching

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2112–2114
Catholic teaching on idolatry.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2130–2132
Catholic teaching on sacred images and why Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the commandment against idols.

Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Question 446
A brief explanation of why the Incarnation justifies Christian sacred images.

Second Council of Nicaea, 787 A.D.
The Church’s formal defense of sacred images, while clearly preserving worship for God alone.