Zachman argues that Calvin understood the contrast between dead and living images thus:
Living images are created by the Word of God and unlike dead man-made images do not limit God but act as ladders of vehicles by which we may ascend to heaven.
Living images transform us into the likeness of God whereas dead images try to make God in our likeness.
Living images point beyond themselves having an analogical relationship with the reality they represent, which they are both like and unlike. Dead images contradict the reality they seek to represent.
Living images raise the mind anagogically to heaven whereas dead images trap the mind on earth. Living images offer and present the realities they represent whereas dead images are empty.
Image and Word in the Theology of John Calvin (Notre Dame,
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