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“And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. ... Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen (Ro. 1:23, 25).
This describes the beginning of idolatry. From Revelation 17, it appears that it began at Babel, in that Babylon is called “the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth” (Re. 17:5). “Abominations” refers to idolatry and “mother” indicates beginning. We learn many important lessons about idolatry from this fundamental passage in Romans 1:
(1) Idolatry is a willful rejection of the true God. The passage begins with man knowing God but refusing to honor Him as God (Ro. 1:21), then changing the true God into an image (Ro. 1:23, 25). God is described by four terms: God has “glory” (Ro. 1:23), referring in this context to God’s glorious character: His eternality, omniscience, omnipotence, holiness, justice, love, mercy, etc. God is “incorruptible” (Ro. 1:23). This is áphthartos, not liable of corruption or decay, imperishable, unchangeable. Nothing about God can be corrupted or decayed or polluted or weakened or destroyed. Everything about God is perfect, and nothing about Him will ever change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). God’s Word is also incorruptible (1 Pe. 1:23). God is “truth” (Ro. 1:25). God is “truth” (Ro. 1:25). God is truth in every aspect of His being. With God there is no error, no falsehood, no lie. His every word and promise are true. God is “blessed forever” (Ro. 1:25). God is blessed, and God will be blessed forever. “Blessed” is eulogetos, meaning to speak well of, to praise. “Forever” is tous aionas, literally into the ages. As the eternal ages roll along in endless succession, God will be praised by His creation. “Blessed be his glorious name forever” (Ps. 72:19). See also Ro. 9:5; 2 Co. 11:31; Eph. 5:21; 1 Ti. 1:17; Re. 5:12-13.
(2) Idolatry is a product of spiritual darkness (Ro. 1:21). It sprang from a darkened heart. There is no light in idolatry.
(3) Idolatry is foolish (“they became fools,” Ro. 1:22). This is the Greek moraino, “to make dull, to cause something to lose its taste or the purpose for which it exists” (Complete Word Study Dictionary). It is used for salt that has lost its savor (Mt. 5:13). Idolatry is man becoming stupid in his thinking. There is no wisdom in idolatry. Its foolishness is described in Isaiah 44:9-20. The Greeks were renowned in ancient history for their wisdom, but in reality Greek philosophy was foolishness because it was corrupted by idolatry and mythology. Their mathematical formulas were right, but their philosophy was foolish.
(4) Idolatry is the worship of images (“into an image,” Ro. 1:23). This is sin against the second commandment, “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. 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 that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments” (Ex. 20:4-6). There is no image that can represent the infinite God, and God forbids the attempt to make such an image. This condemns the image worship of Roman Catholicism and Greek Orthodoxy. When a friend, a former Hindu, a convert to Christ, visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which is operated by Catholics and Orthodox, and saw the statues and the icons and the incense and the fervor of the pilgrims to touch the “holy places,” he commented, “This is just like Hinduism!” Romans 1:23 emphasizes by the repetition of the conjunction “and” (polysyndeton) that man has made all sorts of images--“corruptible man, and birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” And the images are listed in order of importance, beginning with man and ending with creeping things. There is no end to the depth of man’s folly when he departs from God. The Egyptians worshiped all of these things. They worshiped pharaoh, the bull (Apis), the serpent (Wadjet), the falcon (Horus), the ibis (Thoth), and the scarab beetle (Khepri).
(5) Idolatry is a lie (Ro. 1:25). It is called a lie multiple times in the prophets. “He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?” (Isa. 44:20). Idols are “lying vanities” (Jon. 2:8). See also Jer. 10:14; 13:25; 16:19; Am. 2:4; Hab. 2:18.
(6) Idolatry is to worship and and serve the creature more than the Creator (Ro. 1:25). This is the essence of idolatry. It is to set one’s affection upon the things of this world more than upon God. To put the creation before God in any way is idolatry. God made the creation to enjoy, but not to be put above the Creator, not to be enjoyed at the neglect of the Creator. Even a true believer can be an idolater in this sense. “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 Jo. 5:21). In this sense, modern Western society, though greatly influenced by “Judeo-Christian” revelation, is filled with idolatry. “The article on ‘Idolatry’ in the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible lists some of the better-known gods of the Mesopotamian pantheon: Ishtar, goddess of love; Nabu, the patron of science and learning; Nergal, the god of war and hunting. Today we sit in Ishtar Cinema, study in Nabu University, and yell our heads off in Nergal's Stadium—modern places and attitudes of worship” (The Preacher’s Commentary). (7) Idolatry is intimately associated with immorality (Ro. 1:26-28). This is evident throughout history. Idolatry is associated with drinking, drugs, fornication, homosexuality, temple prostitution, orgies and debauchery. Alexander Hislop said the idol worshippers came under the power of intoxicating substances “till their understandings had been dimmed, and their passions excited” (The Two Babylons). Many of the gods and goddesses, such as Bacchus, Eros, Pan, and Aphrodite (Venus), were devoted to such things. Goddess worship was “the deification of the sex passion; sacred prostitution in connection with her sanctuaries was a universal custom among the women of Babylon” (Halley’s Bible Handbook). We see this in Israel’s history. “And they rose up early on the morrow ... and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play ... dancing ... the people were naked” (Ex. 32:6, 19, 25). “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab” (Nu. 25:1-3). The Roman emperor Hadrian infamously lived with a young male partner named Antonius, and in his extensive travels he attended idolatrous orgies, such as the festival of Erotidia in Boeotia in Greece. Dedicated to the god Eros, son of Aphrodite, it celebrated every form of moral perversion.
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