Christian Pure

21 Bible Verses About Idolatry

Christian Pure Team

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Summary

  • Exodus 20:3-5 forbids both other gods and images; the Catholic Catechism treats both under the first commandment, and the Heidelberg Catechism counts the ban on images as the second.
  • Deuteronomy 4:15-16 grounds the ban on images in Horeb, where Israel heard a voice and “saw no form of any kind”.
  • Psalm 115:8 and Psalm 135:18 both say that those who make idols “will be like them”.
  • Ezekiel 14:3 speaks of idols set up in the heart, and Colossians 3:5 and Ephesians 5:5 call greed idolatry.
  • 1 Thessalonians 1:9 describes conversion as turning “to God from idols to serve the living and true God”.

The Bible treats idolatry as giving to anything else the worship that belongs to the Lord. The ban opens the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-5), and Israel breaks it with the golden calf while Moses is still on Sinai (Exodus 32:8). The psalms and prophets describe idols as metal and wood that cannot speak (Psalm 115:4-8, Isaiah 44:17). Ezekiel 14:3 speaks of men who “have set up idols in their hearts”, and the New Testament widens the word further. Colossians 3:5…

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Bibliography (Click to show)

Scripture quotations are from the New International Version.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2132: “The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols.” vatican.va

Heidelberg Catechism, Questions and Answers 96-97, on the second commandment: “God can not and may not be visibly portrayed in any way.” Christian Reformed Church in North America translation. crcna.org

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