Ed Walsh
Puritan Board Senior
Greetings beloved of the Lord,
Here is the introduction to three subjects in the title blow. It is on the nature of idolatry as a matter of the heart. It helped me see that I still have some idols to destroy.
It is presented simply, and I think usefully.
If some find this helpful, I will add the commentary of the title's three subjects.
Isaiah doesn’t respect idols. That’s obvious. What’s less obvious is whether his message is relevant to us today. Didn’t modern civilization leave idols behind a long time ago? Doesn’t idolatry belong to primitive cultures? That depends.
If idols were only images and figurines and fertility charms and so forth, Isaiah’s message would be of antiquarian interest only. But the Bible is smarter than that. Even the Old Testament speaks of people taking idols into their hearts (Ezekiel 14:1–11). Idols don’t have to be actual images to work their spell on the human psyche. They can be internalized in our hearts. If we understand that an idol is any heart-level substitute for God, then we can see that the modern world is infested with idols. In fact, John Calvin said that the human heart is a perpetual idol-factory.[1]
Idolatry, therefore, is more than a pagan problem. It’s a human problem. It’s a modern problem. In fact, it’s a Christian problem. The Old Testament repeatedly warns the covenant community against idolatry, beginning with the story of the golden calf (Exodus 32). We know that warning applies to us today because the New Testament says it does (1 Corinthians 10:1–12). The New Testament says to us, “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:14). “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). And the flip side of that warning is the gospel’s glad announcement that “Christ … is your life” (Colossians 3:4).
This is why the Bible attacks idols so aggressively. Christ is serious about being our happiness. His salvation is not a pious slogan; it is our life. The problem is, we have a hard time believing that. We waffle. He can seem more obligatory than satisfying. And we inevitably gravitate toward whatever we believe will make us happy. So, this category idolatry really explains something about us. It explains why we all struggle with persistent, enslaving sins that hold us back. The sin itself is only the surface problem, and mere willpower can’t get rid of it. The real problem causing the sinful behavior is some idol or other captivating our hearts by promising to make us happy, and we fall for it. We tell ourselves that our joy and freedom and significance and security require something more than Christ. Our faith in him is so unimaginative. Our expectations of him are so low. We run from him to stuff ourselves full of counterfeit pleasures and empty salvations. What we need every day is to taste the goodness of the Lord all over again.
The first commandment is, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Why is that one the first? Because if we can give ourselves to God alone, it’s easier to obey the other nine commandments. But if we reverse that, if we open our hearts to idolatrous substitutes, we unleash all kinds of sinful impulses. This is why the Bible says, “Keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 21). Any source of life, any explanation of reality, any strength for living that robs Christ of his exclusive glory in our hearts is an idol and will inevitably degrade us.
But an idol is not a bad thing in itself. It is some good, God-created thing, some gift of God that we use as a substitute for God himself (Romans 1:23, 25). An idol is anything other than God that we absolutize as essential to our peace, our self-image, our contentment, our sense of control, our acceptability. Augustine explained how this worked in his own life and how God liberated him:
Martin Luther’s catechism on the First Commandment helps us all identify with the realities of idolatry:
Our root problem is not social or intellectual or even moral, as we usually think of it. Our root problem in all of life is that we keep going to false gods for their false salvations. More than we realize, our hearts complicate the profound simplicity of faith in God. And then we wonder why we’re disappointed with life. Here’s what we need to see with clarity: There is only one salvation, it belongs to Christ alone, we receive it on his terms, and no one has ever trusted him in vain.
The Bible says that Israel brought foreign idols into the temple of the Lord (2 Kings 21:1–9). God had filled it with his very presence (1 Kings 8:10, 11). Then Israel filled it with idols. We read that Biblical story, shake our heads, and think, “What a bunch of morons.” But is it really that far-fetched? Several years ago the Episcopal Church confirmed a declared homosexual in the office of Bishop. God loves homosexuals as much as he loves anyone else. But that decision was wrong. Why? It sanctified within the church an alien ideal—a worldly ideal of self-defined sexuality in defiance of God’s design for human sexuality. It brought a foreign idol into the temple. But idolatry can cast its spell on any church, even a conservative church. In Galatians 4:8–10 Paul writes:
These legalistic believers were re-enslaving themselves to their old idols of self-defined righteousness in defiance of Christ’s righteousness. They too were bringing an alien ideal into the church—“the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world.” It was the idol of works-righteousness. So whether you come from a progressive background or a conservative background, if Jesus Christ is not the defining confidence of your heart, you have a problem with idols.
But God loves us idolaters and wants us to experience his salvation, the way Augustine did. And we can. God’s whole purpose for human history is to establish his glory as our highest joy and deepest resource. In this passage Isaiah shows us three things: a delusion, a servant, and a new song. He shows us how stupid our idols are, how worthy God’s alternative is, and how desirable it is to dump our idols and embrace his alternative with all our hearts.
Ortlund, R. C., Jr., & Hughes, R. K. (2005). Isaiah: God saves sinners (pp. 266–270). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
–––––––––––––––––
1 Institutes, 1.11.8.
2 Henry Chadwick, trans., Augustine’s Confessions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 201.
3 Robert H. Fischer, trans., The Large Catechism of Martin Luther (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), p. 9.
Here is the introduction to three subjects in the title blow. It is on the nature of idolatry as a matter of the heart. It helped me see that I still have some idols to destroy.
It is presented simply, and I think usefully.
If some find this helpful, I will add the commentary of the title's three subjects.
A Delusion, a Servant, a New Song
Isaiah 41:21–42:17
Introduction to the three sections that follow
Isaiah 41:21–42:17
Introduction to the three sections that follow
Isaiah doesn’t respect idols. That’s obvious. What’s less obvious is whether his message is relevant to us today. Didn’t modern civilization leave idols behind a long time ago? Doesn’t idolatry belong to primitive cultures? That depends.
If idols were only images and figurines and fertility charms and so forth, Isaiah’s message would be of antiquarian interest only. But the Bible is smarter than that. Even the Old Testament speaks of people taking idols into their hearts (Ezekiel 14:1–11). Idols don’t have to be actual images to work their spell on the human psyche. They can be internalized in our hearts. If we understand that an idol is any heart-level substitute for God, then we can see that the modern world is infested with idols. In fact, John Calvin said that the human heart is a perpetual idol-factory.[1]
Idolatry, therefore, is more than a pagan problem. It’s a human problem. It’s a modern problem. In fact, it’s a Christian problem. The Old Testament repeatedly warns the covenant community against idolatry, beginning with the story of the golden calf (Exodus 32). We know that warning applies to us today because the New Testament says it does (1 Corinthians 10:1–12). The New Testament says to us, “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:14). “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). And the flip side of that warning is the gospel’s glad announcement that “Christ … is your life” (Colossians 3:4).
This is why the Bible attacks idols so aggressively. Christ is serious about being our happiness. His salvation is not a pious slogan; it is our life. The problem is, we have a hard time believing that. We waffle. He can seem more obligatory than satisfying. And we inevitably gravitate toward whatever we believe will make us happy. So, this category idolatry really explains something about us. It explains why we all struggle with persistent, enslaving sins that hold us back. The sin itself is only the surface problem, and mere willpower can’t get rid of it. The real problem causing the sinful behavior is some idol or other captivating our hearts by promising to make us happy, and we fall for it. We tell ourselves that our joy and freedom and significance and security require something more than Christ. Our faith in him is so unimaginative. Our expectations of him are so low. We run from him to stuff ourselves full of counterfeit pleasures and empty salvations. What we need every day is to taste the goodness of the Lord all over again.
The first commandment is, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Why is that one the first? Because if we can give ourselves to God alone, it’s easier to obey the other nine commandments. But if we reverse that, if we open our hearts to idolatrous substitutes, we unleash all kinds of sinful impulses. This is why the Bible says, “Keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 21). Any source of life, any explanation of reality, any strength for living that robs Christ of his exclusive glory in our hearts is an idol and will inevitably degrade us.
But an idol is not a bad thing in itself. It is some good, God-created thing, some gift of God that we use as a substitute for God himself (Romans 1:23, 25). An idol is anything other than God that we absolutize as essential to our peace, our self-image, our contentment, our sense of control, our acceptability. Augustine explained how this worked in his own life and how God liberated him:
Late have I loved you, Beauty so old and so new; late have I loved you. And see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things which you made. You were with me, and I was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you, though if they did not have their existence in you, they had no existence at all. You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.[2]
Martin Luther’s catechism on the First Commandment helps us all identify with the realities of idolatry:
What is it to have a god? What is God? Answer: A god is that to which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in every time of need. To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe him with our whole heart. As I have often said, the trust and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. If your faith and trust are right, then your God is the true God. On the other hand, if your trust is false and wrong, then you have not the true God. For these two belong together, faith and God. That to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is, I say, really your God.[3]
Our root problem is not social or intellectual or even moral, as we usually think of it. Our root problem in all of life is that we keep going to false gods for their false salvations. More than we realize, our hearts complicate the profound simplicity of faith in God. And then we wonder why we’re disappointed with life. Here’s what we need to see with clarity: There is only one salvation, it belongs to Christ alone, we receive it on his terms, and no one has ever trusted him in vain.
The Bible says that Israel brought foreign idols into the temple of the Lord (2 Kings 21:1–9). God had filled it with his very presence (1 Kings 8:10, 11). Then Israel filled it with idols. We read that Biblical story, shake our heads, and think, “What a bunch of morons.” But is it really that far-fetched? Several years ago the Episcopal Church confirmed a declared homosexual in the office of Bishop. God loves homosexuals as much as he loves anyone else. But that decision was wrong. Why? It sanctified within the church an alien ideal—a worldly ideal of self-defined sexuality in defiance of God’s design for human sexuality. It brought a foreign idol into the temple. But idolatry can cast its spell on any church, even a conservative church. In Galatians 4:8–10 Paul writes:
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods [idols]. But now that you have come to know God … how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years!
These legalistic believers were re-enslaving themselves to their old idols of self-defined righteousness in defiance of Christ’s righteousness. They too were bringing an alien ideal into the church—“the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world.” It was the idol of works-righteousness. So whether you come from a progressive background or a conservative background, if Jesus Christ is not the defining confidence of your heart, you have a problem with idols.
But God loves us idolaters and wants us to experience his salvation, the way Augustine did. And we can. God’s whole purpose for human history is to establish his glory as our highest joy and deepest resource. In this passage Isaiah shows us three things: a delusion, a servant, and a new song. He shows us how stupid our idols are, how worthy God’s alternative is, and how desirable it is to dump our idols and embrace his alternative with all our hearts.
Ortlund, R. C., Jr., & Hughes, R. K. (2005). Isaiah: God saves sinners (pp. 266–270). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
–––––––––––––––––
1 Institutes, 1.11.8.
2 Henry Chadwick, trans., Augustine’s Confessions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 201.
3 Robert H. Fischer, trans., The Large Catechism of Martin Luther (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), p. 9.