Question 95: What is idolatry?

 

Question 95: What is idolatry?

Answer: Idolatry is trusting in or creating something to possess instead of, or alongside (equal to), the one true God who has revealed himself through his Word.

Spiritually, idolatry is making oneself a god. The greedy desire to display one's own righteousness is idolatry. Colossians 3:5 says, "Therefore put to death your earthly members: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry."

The members of the earth are the old self. The old self's most essential desire is wealth. For a believer to claim to serve God while also serving wealth is spiritual adultery. Matthew 6:24 says, "No one can serve two masters: either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

The essence of greed is a love of the world, self, and sin. Those who are in Christ have died to the world with Jesus Christ, have denied themselves, and believe that they are dead to sin. However, if a believer claims to be in Jesus Christ, yet still loves the world, self, and sin, they cannot truly say they are in Christ.

1 John 2:15-17, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and its lusts; but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”

The world is a spiritual prison. Therefore, God does not dwell in the world. He dwells only in those who are in Jesus Christ. Those who are in Christ are those who know full well that they must leave behind material things in the world and return their spiritual bodies to the kingdom of God. 

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