Topical Bible: Idolatry: Denunciations Against

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Idolatry, the worship of idols or the elevation of anything above God, is consistently and vehemently denounced throughout the Bible. The Scriptures present idolatry as a grave sin that leads individuals and nations away from the true worship of God, resulting in spiritual and often physical consequences.

Old Testament Denunciations

The Old Testament is replete with warnings and judgments against idolatry. The first of the Ten Commandments explicitly forbids the worship of other gods: "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:3). This commandment establishes the foundation for Israel's exclusive devotion to Yahweh.

The prophets frequently condemned idolatry, portraying it as spiritual adultery. Isaiah mocks the futility of idol worship, highlighting the absurdity of creating gods from wood and stone: "They have no knowledge, those who carry their wooden idols and pray to a god that cannot save" (Isaiah 45:20). Jeremiah echoes this sentiment, declaring, "Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his molten images are a lie, and there is no breath in them" (Jeremiah 10:14).

The consequences of idolatry are severe. The prophet Ezekiel warns of God's wrath against those who turn to idols: "I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from among My people" (Ezekiel 14:8). The history of Israel and Judah is marked by periods of idolatry, leading to divine judgment, including the Babylonian exile.

New Testament Denunciations

The New Testament continues the denunciation of idolatry, expanding its definition to include any form of covetousness or misplaced devotion. The Apostle Paul warns the Corinthians, "Do not be idolaters, as some of them were" (1 Corinthians 10:7), referring to the Israelites' idolatry in the wilderness. He further admonishes the Colossians to "put to death...greed, which is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5), indicating that idolatry extends beyond physical idols to the desires of the heart.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul describes the spiritual decline of humanity, stating that they "exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator" (Romans 1:25). This exchange leads to moral and spiritual degradation, illustrating the destructive nature of idolatry.

The Apostle John concludes his first epistle with a stark warning: "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21). This exhortation serves as a timeless reminder of the ever-present danger of idolatry in various forms.

Theological Implications

Idolatry is fundamentally a rejection of God's sovereignty and a breach of the covenant relationship between God and His people. It represents a turning away from the Creator to the created, resulting in spiritual blindness and separation from God. The denunciations against idolatry underscore the necessity of exclusive devotion to God and the rejection of all forms of false worship.

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Genesis 35:2
Then Jacob said to his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:
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Exodus 20:3-6,23
You shall have no other gods before me.
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Exodus 23:13
And in all things that I have said to you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of your mouth.
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Exodus 34:17
You shall make you no molten gods.
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Leviticus 19:4
Turn you not to idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.
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Leviticus 26:1,30
You shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither raise you up a standing image, neither shall you set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down to it: for I am the LORD your God.
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Deuteronomy 4:15-23,25-28
Take you therefore good heed to yourselves; for you saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spoke to you in Horeb out of the middle of the fire:
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Deuteronomy 5:7-9
You shall have none other gods before me.
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Deuteronomy 11:16,17,28
Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
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Deuteronomy 12:31
You shall not do so to the LORD your God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hates, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
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Deuteronomy 16:21,22
You shall not plant you a grove of any trees near to the altar of the LORD your God, which you shall make you.
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Deuteronomy 27:15
Cursed be the man that makes any graven or molten image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and puts it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.
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Deuteronomy 28:15-68
But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day; that all these curses shall come on you, and overtake you:
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Deuteronomy 30:17,18
But if your heart turn away, so that you will not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
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Deuteronomy 31:16-21,29
And the LORD said to Moses, Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
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Deuteronomy 32:15-26
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: you are waxen fat, you are grown thick, you are covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
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1 Samuel 15:23
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.
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1 Kings 9:6-9
But if you shall at all turn from following me, you or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them:
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Job 31:26-28
If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
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Psalm 16:4
Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
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Psalm 44:20,21
If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
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Psalm 59:8
But you, O LORD, shall laugh at them; you shall have all the heathen in derision.
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Psalm 79:6
Pour out your wrath on the heathen that have not known you, and on the kingdoms that have not called on your name.
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Psalm 81:9
There shall no strange god be in you; neither shall you worship any strange god.
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Psalm 97:7
Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all you gods.
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Isaiah 42:17
They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, You are our gods.
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Isaiah 45:16
They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
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Joel 3:12
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
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Jonah 2:8
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
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Micah 5:15
And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury on the heathen, such as they have not heard.
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Habakkuk 1:16
Therefore they sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.
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Acts 15:20,29
But that we write to them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
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Acts 17:16
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
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Romans 1:25
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
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1 Corinthians 6:9,10
Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
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1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Now as touching things offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but charity edifies.
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1 Corinthians 10:7,14,20-22
Neither be you idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
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1 John 5:21
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
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Revelation 21:8
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
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Revelation 22:15
For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and makes a lie.
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Library

Malachi.
... (4) Denunciations against some contemporary ... They had not relapsed into idolatry but
a spirit of worldliness had crept in ... (1) Unsparing denunciations of social ...
/.../the way of salvation in the lutheran church/chapter xxiii malachi.htm

Book 8 Footnotes
... tribes, which were pretty frequently free both from such idolatry and rebellion ... evil,"
and who in that chapter openly repeats his denunciations against him; all ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/book 8 footnotes.htm

On Idolatry
... of God concerning that species of idolatry which is ... see how severe this judgment
is against that species ... 4; Revelation 2:13.) The denunciations of punishments ...
/.../arminius/the works of james arminius vol 1/disputation 23 on idolatry.htm

The Twelve Minor Prophets.
... thus making unfaithfulness to God, and especially idolatry and idolatrous ... to Jerusalem
(1:1). We find accordingly denunciations against Samaria intermingled ...
/.../barrows/companion to the bible/chapter xxiii the twelve minor.htm

A visit from vigilantius
... I hope not; that were an idolatry to be abhorred of ... which the wronged Jovinian also
held, against which Jerome has written his fiercest denunciations. ...
/.../chapter xl a visit from.htm

Manner of Covenanting.
... Dreadful are the denunciations uttered against such as swear ... had uttered all their
hard speeches against him, the ... of Israel, who fell into idolatry by offering ...
/.../cunningham/the ordinance of covenanting/chapter ii manner of covenanting.htm

Repentance and Impenitence.
... it is easy to account for all the woes and denunciations that the ... is the turning
from an attitude of rebellion against God, to ... Covetousness is idolatry." It is ...
/.../finney/systematic theology/lecture xxxiv repentance and impenitence.htm

Isaiah.
... His denunciations, warnings and exhortations are, therefore ... Uzziah, oppression,
wickedness and idolatry existed everywhere. ... Warnings and threats against his own ...
/.../gerberding/the way of salvation in the lutheran church/chapter xv isaiah.htm

Toleration
... Luther and our Reformers protested against Romish idolatry. ... of free Englishmen to
protest against such doings ... their own firesides in fierce denunciations of men ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/kingsley/sermons for the times/sermon xxi toleration.htm

Woes on the Pharisees
... ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye ... The Saviour continued His
denunciations of the scribes and Pharisees ... In the sight of God this was idolatry. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/white/the desire of ages/chapter 67 woes on the.htm