From the Glory of God to Idolatry
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Romans 1:22,23
The first sign of the creeping death that follows twisted thinking and a darkened heart is the failure to worship. We are made to worship the living God but have instead created idols. They represent the image of human beings, who are themselves mortal, and subject to decay and death anyway. Not content with these, they worship images of sub-human species. Paul clearly has the Genesis account of creation in mind. ‘Birds and animals and reptiles’ are named in the creation account (Genesis 1:20-25) as are ‘glory,’ ‘image’ and ‘made to look like’ (Genesis 1:26). Paul may have been thinking too of Psalm 106:20 ‘They exchanged their Glory for an image of a bull which eats grass.’ This is a reference to the worship of the golden calf in the wilderness. Paul’s condemnation of idolatry in this passage might extend beyond Gentiles to include the Jews as well.
In the Western world we continue to worship idols, not carved from wood and stone, but idols nonetheless. Sex, money and power are the most obvious. Paul is not saying that every human being does this but rather that the human race as a whole worships parts of our world rather than God Himself. Twisted thinking, a darkened heart and worship of non-gods are symptoms of the inward disease that is killing humanity.
Idolatry can take many shapes. Paul accuses people of turning from the ‘glory’ and ‘truth’ of God to images and lies of their own making (1:23,25). Few of us worship images, but we are all prone to put something in the place that God alone deserves in our lives. That idol may be something evil in itself. But more often the devil is more insidious, using a perfectly good or innocent pleasure to lure us from the wholehearted devotion to God that He deserves and commands.