The preachers quoted here define an idol as anything a person chooses to worship or loves more than Christ. They say idolatry is natural to the fallen mind, that it is often religious, and that it includes worshipping the true God in a way he has not appointed.
The first two commandments forbid it: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image" (Exodus 20:3-4). The New Testament word is eidololatria, the worship of images.1 The first commandment concerns whom we worship; the second concerns how.
The prophets mocked idols as lifeless. "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not" (Psalm 115:4-5). Isaiah pictures a man who burns half a log for warmth and bows down to the other half (Isaiah 44:14-17). The psalm adds a warning: "They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them" (Psalm 115:8).
Paul describes idolatry as an exchange. People "changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image" and "worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator" (Romans 1:23, 25). It is the root from which other sins grow in that chapter.
Scripture does not confine it to statues. Ezekiel speaks of men who "have set up their idols in their heart" (Ezekiel 14:3). Paul calls covetousness idolatry (Colossians 3:5) and speaks of those "whose God is their belly" (Philippians 3:19). Jesus said, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24). Luther explained the first commandment this way: "That now, I say, upon which you set your heart and put your trust is properly your god."2 Calvin wrote that "the human mind is, so to speak, a perpetual forge of idols."3
Idolatry can also wear the Lord's name. When Aaron made the golden calf he announced "a feast to the LORD" (Exodus 32:5). The people did not think they were changing gods; they were worshipping the true God by an image of their own making.
The New Testament's commands are short. "Flee from idolatry" (1 Corinthians 10:14). "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21). Conversion itself is described as turning "to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (1 Thessalonians 1:9).
- Strong's Greek 1495, eidōlolatreía: "image-worship (literally or figuratively)".
- Martin Luther, The Large Catechism, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me".
- John Calvin, The Institutes Of The Christian Religion, "Chapter 11. impiety of attributing a visible form to god.--the...".
In their own words
Each line below is quoted exactly from a sermon on this site. Follow the link to hear or read it where it was said.
An idol is a representation of what man has chosen to worship.
Chuck Smith
in Man Made Gods
Watch at 14:37
An idol is something that you give your affection to more than Christ.
Tim Conway
in Is Theology Your Idol?
Listen at 4:52
Idolatry is the supreme sin and unbelief is the child of idolatry.
A.W. Tozer
in Trusting the Completely Trustworthy God
Read in context
Idolatry is the very breath of the carnal mind.
J.C. Philpot
in Idolatry
Read in context
Idolatry is always religious, and it may be the Christian religion as well as any other religion that is marked by idolatry.
T. Austin-Sparks
in The Church According to God's Thought (Continued)
Read in context
So idolatry is simply this, worshiping God, but not worshiping him his way.
Timothy Williams
in Flee Idolatry
Listen at 3:28
So idolatry is extreme reverence, love, or devotion towards something that takes a great deal of our time, energy, and resources.
Shane Idleman
in The Path of Idolatry
Listen at 16:44
An idol is anything that replaces God's power.
Ralph Sexton
in Holding on to Idols
Listen at 19:59
An idol is not to be admired for its beauty or loathed for its ugliness, but to be hated because it is an idol.
J.C. Philpot
in Idolatry
Read in context
What Scripture says
- Exodus 20:3-4 no other gods before me; no graven image
- Psalm 115:4-8 they that make them are like unto them
- Romans 1:25 worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator
- Colossians 3:5 covetousness, which is idolatry
- 1 John 5:21 little children, keep yourselves from idols
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