“And Such Were Some Of You … Idolaters”

by Chris Simmons

When Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, scriptural evidence suggests that he was in the city of Corinth when he did so (Romans 15:26; 16:1, 23; II Timothy 4:20). No doubt what he saw in the city of Corinth is reflected by what he wrote in Romans 1:18-32 in which he describes those who “knew God” though “they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” The city of Corinth was reflected by a well established culture of idolatry and some of those who became Christians in that city had formerly practiced the sin of idolatry and needed to heed Paul’s exhortation to them to “flee from idolatry” (I Corinthians 10:14).

The sin of idolatry has a long running history with God’s people going all the way back to the days of the patriarchs when Rachel stole the idols that belonged to her father Laban before they fled from him (Genesis 31:19-21). We are all familiar with the idolatry (the golden calf) that the Israelites engaged in while Moses was receiving the Law on Mt. Sinai (Exodus chapter 32) which included the commandment against the making and worship of idols or graven images (Exodus 20:4-5). Paul specifically exhorted the brethren in Corinth to learn from those idolatrous Israelites (I Corinthians 10:7). And we are also to be familiar with the commands given to the Israelites before they entered the promised land to drive out the inhabitants of the land and to destroy all of their idolatrous elements so as to not to adopt their evil practices (Deuteronomy 7:1-6; 12:2-6). Chief among the idolatry of the nations that lived in the land at that time were Baal and Ashtaroth.

Idolatry however, did not cease when the Old Law was nailed to the cross. We still must know what idolatry is and how it can overcome us today. Idolatry (“eidololatreia”) is simply defined as “the worship of false gods” (Thayer, 174) or “image-worship” (Strong’s Greek Lexicon).

To a degree, many today look upon such ancient forms of idolatry as being extremely ignorant and naïve. It seems difficult to imagine regarding a piece of wood, stone or any other physical matter with any sincere degree of reverence. Even God’s prophets mocked the individual who takes a piece of wood and uses part of it to cook his dinner and uses the rest to carve a graven image to fall down and worship and seek deliverance (Isaiah 44:9-20; cf Habakkuk 2:18-20; Isaiah 46:5-8; Jeremiah 10:3-5). So we might be tempted to think that we are far too intelligent, sophisticated and advanced in wisdom to ever be so foolish as to engage in idolatry. Yet to think in such a manner is to miss the point of what idolatry really is. That is, idolatry, then and now, is about man’s unwillingness to submit themselves to God’s will and seeking a way to justify doing whatever they want to do. The fundamental error of idolatry is the worship of the created (primarily self) rather than the Creator of all. Idolatry results from failing to acknowledge God’s power & presence and failing to give Him the reverence and worship that is due Him (Romans 1:20-23).

Idolatry today can present itself in several different fashions. First, there are those today who still engage in image worship. We should never attempt to exchange God for any type of man-made image. Paul told the idolatrous Athenians, “Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man” (Acts 17:29-30). Many who are part of denominations in our world today consider various images of Mary, Peter or the cross of Christ to be worthy of their reverence and worship. We need to be careful that we do not caught up in this form of idolatry in which offer the reverence due to God to a man-made object.

Second, there are those who practice nature worship. God intended for His creation to give evidence for His power and divinity (Romans 1:18-20) and lead man towards giving honor and glory to Him. Instead we read of those in the Old Testament who worshipped the sun, the moon and the stars along with the likes of Baal (II Kings 23:5). This is akin to the sin of sorcery and those who pretend they can declare the future based on the stars and constellations (astrology). God declared that man was responsible for “cultivating” and “keeping” (to “guard…protect…attend to”, Strong’s Greek Dictionary) the creation that He had made but never to worship it. “And beware, lest you lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven” (Deuteronomy 4:19).

Third, there is self-worship that each one of us needs to guard against. Paul spoke in Philippians 3:19 of those whose “god is their appetite.” We live in a society that propagates this form of idolatry very successfully. Everywhere we look and listen, the message is to satisfy your desires above anything else. Paul warned Timothy about those who would prioritize personal pleasure over pleasing God (II Timothy 3:4) and he warned the Romans of those who are “slaves…of their own appetites” (Romans 16:18). To first satisfy self is simply idolatry.

Fourth, idolatry is also defined by covetousness. We read in Colossians 3:5, “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (covetousness, ASV & KJV), which amounts to idolatry.” Vine's Expository Dictionary defines the word as simply “a desire to have more.” When we develop an insatiable appetite for obtaining more and more, and we are never content with what we have (cf Philippians 4:11; Hebrews 13:5), we too have become idolaters and Paul says we then have “no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Ephesians 5:5).

Finally, Christians can become idolaters by letting any¬thing other than God, dictate and consume our time, talents, our resources and ultimately our hearts! “Flee from idolatry” (I Corinthians 10:14).