Summary: Reformed Baptist apologist Gavin Ortlund claimed that there is zero evidence of any positive adherence whatsoever to icons up to 500 AD. I produce four counter-examples.
Did the early Church universally reject icon veneration for the first 500 years? Reformed Baptist apologist Gavin Ortlund says there’s “no evidence” anyone practiced it before then. In this episode of Catholic Bible Highlights, Catholic author and apologist Dave Armstrong joins Kenny Burchard, and demonstrates why that claim is historically indefensible. Citing four examples from the Church Fathers—St. John Chrysostom, Tertullian, Methodius of Olympus, and even the iconoclast Epiphanius—Dave shows that the veneration of images was known, practiced, and discussed long before the year 500. He also unpacks the biblical distinction between worship and veneration, with scriptural examples from the Old and New Testaments that form the foundation for Catholic and Orthodox teaching on icons. If you’ve heard the claim that “the early Christians didn’t venerate icons,” you need to watch this.
Related Book
Biblical Evidence for the Communion of Saints (Feb. 2012, 152 pages)
Related Articles
Reply to Baptist Gavin Ortlund’s Critique of Icons [5-19-22]
Origen & Interceding Saints & Angels (vs. Gavin Ortlund) [3-13-24]
Reply to Gavin Ortlund’s “Relics: A Protestant Critique” [5-12-22]
Reply to Gavin Ortlund on Purgatory [5-12-22]
Reply #2 to Gavin Ortlund on Purgatory [5-14-22]
Related Web Pages
My Videos Page (Catholic Bible Highlights / Lux Veritatis)
Photo credit: copyright Catholic Biblical Highlights, 2025.
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