What Is Idolatry?

When people hear the word idolatry, they think of different things. Some imagine ancient rituals where worshipers bow down before carved statues. Others think of how fans “idolize” their favorite actors, athletes, or musicians. Still others may use the word as a metaphor for obsession. 

So, what is idolatry? Essentially, idolatry is worshiping anything created instead of the Creator. 

Why is God so concerned with this? Well, it’s simple: God is concerned with idolatry because God is concerned with worship.

Sometimes this concept unsettles modern readers because they may perceive God as a narcissist, unhealthily addicted to His worship. This would be true if God were a created being instead of being the Creator. But as people, God made us to worship Him. This is right. It’s good because God alone deserves worship. But if we flip this around and God does not promote or protect His glory and honor, He is not acting like God. Too often, people think about God like He is a person (part of creation) while at the same time thinking about creation like it’s God (worthy of worship). Incidentally, the promotion of creation and demotion of the Creator are both inappropriate. It’s idolatry.

The Apostle Paul describes idolatry as an exchange. Instead of giving glory to God, it’s exchanged for the glory of images of created things. To do this, the worshiper has “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” (Rom. 1:25). 

Exchanging the glory of God for idols is like appraising God’s value on a scale. Instead of seeing His glory (His infinite weight, value, and substance), the worshiper determines that He is less valuable than something created (in comparison, something light and empty). This exchange is the height of folly. Imagine a person seeing an elephant and a feather compared on a scale and concluding that the feather weighed more. Clearly, such a person would be out of touch with reality. How could anyone think this? How could we replace God with an idol? Only by exchanging the truth about God for a lie. When we suppress God’s revelation of who He is, we draw erroneous conclusions (Rom. 1:18). 

To protect against idolatry and to promote true worship of God, the Lord instructs us in His Word:

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

You shall have no other gods before me. (Ex. 20:2–3)

This familiar passage is intentionally placed at the head of the Ten Commandments. We must not allow anyone or anything to take God’s proper place of preeminence.

But what do we find over and over in the Bible? Even in the same book of Exodus, the people who were redeemed from Egypt fashioned a god out of their gold and then worshiped it (Ex. 32). Then, later, King Jeroboam feared he’d lose power, replicated this idolatry, and invented his own system of worship. Exchanging God’s honor, they worshiped the result of their own creation: “Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28). These famous examples stand as bright neon lights warning us against idolatry. God hates idolatry because He loves His glory. God loves His glory because it is good.

Many have observed that the first commandment is the foundation for the other nine; to disobey the others is to turn away from the true God to worship an idol. This shows how dangerously varied idolatry can actually be. We may think of it as bowing down to an actual statue, but it can also be desiring something you don’t have that someone else has (see Ex. 20:17).

When we become Christians, we turn away from idols to serve the living God (1 Thess. 1:9). But this is not the end of the fight. We must continue to turn away from idols (1 Cor. 10:14), working to keep ourselves and others from them (1 John 5:21). 

The Apostle Paul provides us with a suitable and challenging example. While walking around Athens, waiting for his ministry partners to join him, he looked at the sites. Instead of being impressed by the architecture, he was provoked by the rampant idolatry (Acts 17:16). Paul was so jealous for God’s glory that he was actually irritated that God was not getting the honor that He deserved. As a result, he went out and shared the gospel with everyone around him.

This love for God’s honor is a suitable safeguard against idolatry. So, think much upon the supreme value of God over all. Dwell upon His unfailing faithfulness, unreserved love, inexhaustible grace, inflexible righteousness, incorruptible goodness, unimpeachable wisdom, and unchanging character. Who is like this? Then think about how, in Jesus Christ, this is the God who knows and loves you. 

We can pray that God would help us and that we’d resolve to give God the honor He deserves and be quite uncomfortable with anything else.