The Doctrine of God Combats Idolatry

1 Corinthians 8:4–6 AV

As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

The Doctrine of God Combats Idolatry

1 Cor. 8:4–6

Frank Walker, Ph.D.

Modern technology has made many things possible that were once thought impossible. But just because we can do something doesn’t mean that we should. The fact that we have the skills to make a person who is biologically male appear female says nothing about the morality of doing so. That has to be decided some other way.

The modern church, following the spirit of the times in which we live, loves whatever’s practical. If something produces results, it must be good. In fact, practical is often opposed to doctrinal. Some professing believers are not interested in doctrine. They say that it’s divisive and turns people away. They recommend that we avoid it. If we really want to draw visitors and make them feel welcome, we have to embrace them as they are. We must never challenge their sins or their false ideas of God. We shouldn’t confront them with a world and life view that’s completely at odds with everything they’ve ever known. The worst thing we can do is make them feel bad.

Two years ago Rob Bell expressed this kind of thinking very clearly on a program called the Super Soul Sunday. Speaking about homosexuality in particular he said, “The church will continue to be even more irrelevant when it quotes letters from 2,000 years ago as their best defense, when you have in front of you flesh-and-blood people who are your brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles, and co-workers and neighbors, and they love each other and just want to go through life with someone.”

But I would say that non-doctrinal, practical Christianity is really the most impractical thing imaginable. Why? Because only the gospel of Jesus Christ can save anyone, and it does so by confronting flesh-and-blood sinners with the truth of God in a compassionate way. Any so-called love or agreement based on other ideas doesn’t amount to much. And further, not only is non-doctrinal Christianity impractical; it is both dangerous and destructive. Without doctrine, Christianity ceases to be Christianity. It may be a generic religion of some kind, but it is not the religion of the Bible.

In this evening’s text, the apostle Paul was both practical and doctrinal. He addressed a practical issue (whether believers should eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols) using one of Christianity’s most basic doctrines — the doctrine of the Trinity.

So, let’s see what the Word of God says about this.

One God

After exposing the arrogance of so-called knowledge in the first three verses, Paul returned to his main subject in verse 4. He wrote, As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. Just like in the first verse of this chapter, the verb we know probably introduces two quotations from the letter Paul had received from the Corinthians. Thus, the two truths mentioned here were well known and acknowledged.

But what do these two things say about eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols?

The first one, viz., that an idol is nothing in the world, obviously does not mean that there are no such things as idols. Idols were not only common in the ancient world, but are just as common today. Some are made of wood and stone, while others are projections of our imaginations and lusts. In Colossians 3:5 Paul mentioned covetousness in a list of things that believers should put to death, and then he added, which is idolatry. That is, anything that we covet can be an idol because we covet things that we assume will satisfy our deepest needs.

Rather, I believe that Paul meant that an idol is nothing only in the sense that it has no real power to do anything. Psalm 135 says exactly this. The psalmist wrote, The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; they have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths. They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them (vv. 15–18).

If it’s true that idols cannot speak, see or hear, then how can eating meat that had been sacrificed to them be a problem? The clear implication here is that eating such meat is not, in and of itself, a problem.

The second thing Paul wrote about eating meat sacrificed to idols is that there is none other God but one. Here we have a clear declaration of monotheism or the existence of only one God. This is basic Theology Proper. Moses affirmed it in Deuteronomy 6:4, where he wrote, Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord (Deut. 6:4). This one truth distinguished the faith of the Jews from other religions of the ancient Middle East. In fact, it was so fundamental to Jewish thinking that by time our Lord was born orthodox Jews were in the practice of affirming it twice a day — once in their morning prayers and again in their evening prayers. And since God doesn’t change, the New Testament also teaches the existence of only one God. In 1 Timothy 2:5 Paul wrote, For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

The fact that there is only one God reinforced Paul’s first point. If the God of the Bible is the only God, then nothing else can be God. So, once again, idols are nothing to fear.

And further, the fact that the God of the Bible is the only God means that we can trust him to overcome anything else that might become an idol in our lives. Consider drug and alcohol addiction. We understand that addiction, whether it’s biological or psychological, does not come from outside but from the wickedness of our hearts within. It originates in our hearts. A person can be addicted to something without that something being anywhere near him. For example, a man whose heart is full of adultery can struggle with his sin on a desert island without any access to women, television, movies, books, magazines, billboards, etc. Jerome, the man who translated the Latin Vulgate, wrestled his entire life with pornographic dreams. But there is a God, and that God, who has revealed himself to us as our faithful Savior, can and will deliver us from the evil passions that rage within us through the salvation we have in Jesus Christ.

And in the final analysis the idols that we conceive in our hearts are nothing and God remains sovereign, ruling from his eternal throne in heaven.

So-called Gods

Now, let’s not miss the point here. The fact that idols are powerless does not mean that they should be ignored. In verse 5 Paul conceded that there are many things that the Gentiles call gods and lords. There are some that we might call major gods — deities that go by names like Zeus, Poseidon, Mercury and Venus, to name a few. These gods supposedly live in heaven. Then there are also minor gods that dwell on the earth — gods of forest, stream and mountain. In some cultures people believe that everything is inhabited by a god of one kind or another. Beyond that, it’s not uncommon for people to deify their national leaders. In our study of Esther last week, we saw that Mordecai refused to bow to Haman because doing so would have been an act of worship.

At least some of these gods actually do exist. The world is filled with forests and streams and rocks and state leaders who have an inflated opinion of themselves. Although Paul conceded this point, he stopped short of recognizing such things as legitimate gods. He said that they are merely called gods. Unbelievers imagine that they really are gods, but in reality they are gods only in name.

This raises an interesting point. Roman Catholic theology defines idolatry as worshiping an actual image, i.e., giving praise or making prayer to a piece of wood or stone, a representation of Mary or one of the saints. Because they claim to worship the one whom their images represent and not the images themselves, they deny that they are idolaters. But is this so? We have to wonder how many people who bow to images of wood and stone really believe that the image can do anything for them. Perhaps there are some, but probably not many. An image, precisely because it is an image and nothing more, cannot receive worship or act on it. It has no power to help. When people bow to them, they intend to worship the god that image brings to mind, whether that god is a figment of their imagination (like Jupiter or Ares), something tangible (like gold and silver) or intangible (like success and fame). That’s what idolatry really is. Even the Israelites fell into it when they tried to worship God by bowing to a golden calf. In reality they were wresting God from his heavenly throne and dragging him to earth.

Going back to our text, we have to understand that pagans do not offer sacrifices to images per se. Of course, the gods they claim to worship are not really gods at all. On the other hand, they do worship something beyond the image. What is it that they worship? Paul gave us the answer later in this very book. In 1 Corinthians 10:20–21 he put it this way: But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.

What the Jews did when they danced around the golden calf was bad enough, but the practice of the Gentiles is even worse. They actually sacrifice to demons.

The temptation to violate the first and second commandments is always there. There are probably more gods in men’s hearts than stars in the sky. Even believers needs to watch themselves. Twice in 1 Corinthians 10 Paul admonished believers not to go there. In verse 7 he wrote, Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of the people whom Moses led out of Egypt; and in verse 14 he commanded them to flee from idolatry.

God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

The antidote to idolatry — the only antidote — is good theology. Paul had already given us some basic theology in verse 4. He affirmed that God is one. Verse 6 adds a little flesh to the bones.

In verse 6 Paul reminded us that the monotheism he had mentioned earlier is not a bare monotheism; rather, the God revealed in the Bible consists of several distinct persons with distinct roles. There is God the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things. Paul didn’t mention the Holy Spirit, probably because that would have taken him beyond the point that he wanted to make.

Note also the contrasts here. Yes, the Gentiles have gods and lords, but how do their gods compare to the God of Scripture? Not very favorably. For one thing, the Gentile gods exist in great numbers. They need a multitude of gods and lords because none of their gods can get the job done. But, Paul wrote, to us there is but one God, the Father. Then he added that the God of the Bible made the universe, which serves his purposes and is completely under his control.

Another contrast is location. The gods of the Gentiles exist in specific locations — some dwell in heaven and others on earth. But God the Father isn’t limited by location. In fact, he doesn’t live in space at all, since space is his creation. He is the source of all things, as Paul told the men of Athens, For in him we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28). We are also his creatures, made to please him. We exist for his glory. Romans 11:36 says, For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. For this reason we must bow ourselves to him and acknowledge that we are indebted to him for everything.

But it’s not just God the Father and his creative power that combats idolatry. The apostle Paul also mentioned the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is equal to the Father in regard to his deity, a fact clearly demonstrated by his ability to create, yet he voluntarily became the means by whom the Father created all things. Note the change in prepositions. When Paul wrote about God the Father, he said that we are in him. But when he wrote about Jesus Christ, he said that we are by him. This is important. We live — not just exist, but live forever — because he came into the world to give us life by his death on the cross for our sins. To highlight this even more, Paul referred to our Savior, not merely as the Son of God, but as Jesus, which means Savior, and Christ, the anointed Messiah of God, sent to be our prophet, priest and king.

So, when you face the temptation to turn to something other than the true and living God for help, meaning or purpose, make the comparison. Did your something else create you? Does it give you value and importance beyond what the world vainly thinks? Did your something else take upon himself your flesh, to suffer and die for the sins you committed, and thereby redeem you from everlasting punishment?

The answers to these questions are obvious. Rhetorical questions aren’t meant to be answered, but to make you think. In this case, their goal is to emphasize that the gods men fear have no power at all. Eating meat sacrificed to idols cannot harm you. It won’t contaminate your soul or your body because idols are nothing and the triune God of the Bible is everything! He gives you the universe through his Son!

Now, what’s really practical — the doctrines of Christianity or the ignorance of those doctrines? John put it this way: Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son (2 John 9). We need the doctrine of Christ, which the doctrine of the Trinity. There is no hope without them. Amen.