Although there are various expressions of Christianity, many different denominations, one thing that is common is the belief that idolatry is a sin. In fact, perhaps one of the chief sins.
After all, the Ten Commandments clearly forbids it, and idolatry is clearly taught against all through the Old Testament, especially in the prophetic writings. The Jews were so strongly monotheistic that Rome gave them special leeway to practice their religion. Christians picked this up, of course, and were thus known as “atheists” because they did not believe in the deity of Caesar, only in the one true God.
Against this historical and theological backdrop, it’s interesting to look at Paul’s speech on Mar’s Hill.
When Paul was in Athens, he was very troubled by the amount of idolatry on display there. He started to speak about Jesus in the public square and as a result was asked to speak at the Areopagus, a group of intellectual Greeks. Among the things that they commented on was that he seemed to be speaking of “foreign divinities”.
Given all these things, one would expect a scathing polemic against idolatry and a clear declaration of God as the one true deity, incarnated in the one true Lord, Jesus Christ.
Instead, Paul had only very mild comments to make about their idolatry, even seeming not to challenge it at all, at first. Although some do see an eventual rebuttal in Paul’s speech, it’s certainly not a strong polemic. He made statements about God not being made by human hands, but his listeners would probably have agreed to that concerning Zeus and other Greek deities – intellectuals, at least, did not have such a primitive view of their own gods.
If this perspective is valid, it suggests that Paul’s goal on that hill was not to correct their blatantly sinful beliefs and actions, but to lead them to the only truth that could save them from their own sin natures. Of course, by the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit, their actions would eventually change, but that outward change wasn’t the first step.
The view that Paul focused on the necessary inward change rather than their actions seems consistent with the idea that evangelism is an important part of Christianity. If the primary goal is to bring people into a growing relationship with God, then dealing with secondary issues, such as the effects of the lack of such relationship, might need to be prioritized lower.
It’s not clear that today’s church prioritizes these things the same way. Certainly, the way evangelism is included (or not) in church activities suggests that it’s not considered important. But also, the loud public emphasis on people’s actions can become a barrier to the gospel. This shows up with the way that people see the faith as legalistic, rather than seeing a problem with the cross or resurrection.
In fact, it may be that today’s focus on legalism is an example of one of the warnings in Jesus’ letter to the Laodiceans. In that case, the warning about needing white clothes points to moving away from a reliance on legalism. Another warning, about regaining eyesight, is a more familiar exhortation to be sensitive to spiritual things. In this context, it can refer to being aware of people’s sin natures, their need for a (spiritual) physician.
Idolatry can take many forms, even depending on our own understanding and abilities when we need to be focused on the Spirit. The warnings against idolatry in Scripture are just as applicable today, even though the idols may look different, because the need to be representing God to a darkening world is too great to rely on just our own resources.
Exploring Antioch 