What Is Idolatry

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 6:23). Sin is anything that fails to live up to God’s standards of righteousness, and all sin warrants judgment.

While all sins equally condemn us before God (James 2:10), idolatry stands out as a particularly unique sin. But why is this? What is idolatry, and why is it considered especially wicked? 

Idolatry is the worship or adoration of anything other than God

Idolatry is more than just bowing down before wood and stone statues. While those speechless, material statues certainly are idols, idolatry is chiefly a sin of the heart. Whenever we worship something other than God, we’re committing idolatry. Romans 1 helps us understand exactly what idolatry is:

God’s “…invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made….” (Romans 1:20).

But “although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (Romans 1:21).

They “…exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” (Romans 1:23).

 and “…exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” (Romans 1:25).

God has revealed that He is worthy of worship because of His great power and nature, yet mankind has “worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25). To worship anything other than God is to worship an idol—to settle for something less than God! The first of the 10 commandments says,

“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.” (Exodus 20:2-3).

When God says “you shall have no other gods before me”, He isn’t saying that we shouldn’t worship gods more than Him, but that we cannot revere any gods in his presence—”before him”. 

This means that if we worship anything in addition to God, that’s idolatry, even if we worship God most. But why is idolatry wicked and so wrong?

Idolatry is wicked because of who God is

The first commandment is to not have any other gods before The Most High. But the second commandment is related:

““You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God…,” (Exodus 20:4–5).

Why exactly is bowing down before a piece of wood or stone sinful? What makes idol worship abominable in God’s eyes? Isaiah chapters 40-48 answer this exact question – bowing down to an idol is wicked because God is so utterly unique and incomparable. It makes God out to be something that He fundamentally is NOT.

Isaiah teaches that…

• God cannot be compared to anyone
  • Isaiah 40:18, 25
  • Isaiah 44:6-8
  • Isaiah 46:5
• God’s never been taught by anyone
  • Isaiah 40:13-14
  • Romans 11:34
• No other being is like God in nature or power
  • Isaiah 42:8
  • Isaiah 44:6-7
  • Isaiah 43:10-11

Scripture tells us that…

• God has always existed
  • Isaiah 40:28
  • Psalm 90:2
  • Psalm 102:25-27
• God’s never received a gift from anyone
  • Romans 11:35
• Everything in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible was created by Him
  • Colossians 1:16-17
  • John 1:1-3
  • Jeremiah 10:12-13

• Idols were created by people
  • Isaiah 44:9-20
• God was not created
  • Exodus 3:14
  • Psalm 90:2
  • Isaiah 57:15
  • Habakkuk 1:12
• Idols are mute…they can’t speak
  • Psalm 115:5
  • Psalm 135:16-17
  • Deuteronomy 4:28
  • Habakkuk 2:18-19
• God is the God who speaks
  • Isaiah 46:9-11
  • Isaiah 55:11
  • 2 Timothy 3:16-17
  • Hebrews 1:1-2
• Idols are stuck in one particular place
  • Jeremiah 10:5
  • Psalm 115:4-8
  • Revelation 9:20
• God is God over the whole universe—He’s present everywhere
  • Proverbs 15:3
  • 1 Kings 8:27
  • Jeremiah 23:23-24
  • Psalm 139:7-12
• Idols are dead pieces of wood
  • Deuteronomy 4:28
  • 2 Kings 19:18, Isaiah 46:6-7
  • Isaiah 44:12-19
• God is the living Most High
  • Jeremiah 10:8-10
  • Isaiah 45:5-7
  • Isaiah 48:3-5
  • Joshua 3:10

Idol worship mocks God! It seeks to cheapen His genuine power and uniqueness. Therefore, we are not permitted to make idols or bow down to anything that diminishes who God is. (Exodus 20:3-4, Leviticus 26:1, Deuteronomy 4:16).

The worship of any created thing cheapens the greatness of the Uncreated God.

Because God is the Most High, He is the only being worthy of worship (Psalm 96:4-5, Exodus 34:14, Luke 4:8). Nothing else is deserving of praise, because everything else is God’s creation! God alone is Uncreated (Exodus 3:14, Psalm 90:2, Isaiah 57:15, Habakkuk 1:12).

That means that misplaced, idolatrous worship isn’t just misplaced, it’s blasphemy against the Most High God. While many sins we commit are directed towards other humans for our selfish gain, idolatry is a sin that is aimed directly at God!

If we don’t see God as the Most High, self-existent Creator, we may not understand why idolatry is so terrible. God created the universe out of nothing by Himself (Isaiah 44:24, Isaiah 45:18, Hebrews 11:13). He made creation so that we would worship and glorify Him (Colossians 1:16, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Romans 11:36, Isaiah 48:9-11). Idolatry is man’s attempt to rob God of the worship He alone is due.

 This is one of the reasons why humans can never receive worship, why they can never be exalted to godhood as Mormonism claims — it would be idolatrous for any being to be worshiped other than God Most High.

In other words: Idolatry is so wicked, because God is so great.

Idolatry Breaks the Most Important Commandment

When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was,

“Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:29-30).

The most important commandment (according to Jesus) is to love God. To place something else above or beside the One True God is to blaspheme Him. We’re not loving God when we love idols! Idolatry explicitly breaks the most important commandment.

The Law of Moses required that idolaters be put to death (Exodus 22:20). The punishment under God’s Law for idolatry is the same as murder (Exodus 21:12-14).

If sin was only about how we harm other humans, then idolatry shouldn’t have deserved the death penalty. But sin is not just about how we harm other people, it’s about how we reject God (Psalm 51:4).

Our problem is that we’re all guilty of this. Every one of us. Paul teaches this exact point in Romans 1: We’re all idolaters in need of God’s grace. But the hope of the Gospel is that we can be completely forgiven for our idolatry and seen as perfectly righteous if we trust Jesus for eternal life (John 3:16).