Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

Theme · ethical

Idolatry

The golden calf at Sinai becomes the paradigm of idolatry: Israel exchanges the glory of the invisible God for an image of a bull. The first commandment — 'You shall have no other gods before me' — is the commandment from which all others flow. The prophets mock idols that cannot see, hear, or save, and warn that those who worship them become like them. Elijah's contest on Carmel forces the issue: the LORD or Baal. The New Testament broadens idolatry beyond statues to include greed, which Paul calls idolatry, and anything that claims the ultimate allegiance that belongs to God alone.

Passages expressing this theme

  • 1Cor 8:4 — As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
  • 1Cor 10:14 — Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
  • 1Kgs 18:21 — And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
  • 2Kgs 17:12 — For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.
  • Acts 17:29 — Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
  • Col 3:5 — Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
  • Deut 4:28 — And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
  • Deut 5:7 — Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
  • Deut 6:14 — Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;
  • Exod 20:3 — Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
  • Exod 20:4 — Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
  • Exod 20:5 — Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them th
  • Exod 32:4 — And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt
  • Exod 32:8 — They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, w
  • Ezek 14:3 — Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
  • Gal 4:8 — Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
  • Hab 2:18 — What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
  • Hos 4:12 — My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.
  • Isa 44:9 — They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.
  • Isa 44:17 — And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
  • Isa 44:19 — And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh,
  • Jer 2:11 — Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
  • Jer 10:5 — They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
  • Judg 2:12 — And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto th
  • Ps 115:4 — Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.