Holiness And The Problem Of Idolatry

By Mark R. Stevenson [1]

Mark Stevenson is a faculty member at Emmaus Bible College and Book Review Editor of The Emmaus Journal.

Introduction

The theme of the 2010 Iron Sharpens Iron conference at Emmaus Bible College was: “The Quest for Holiness.” The word “quest” conjures up images of medieval knights set out on some noble adventure. Naturally, on any serious quest there will be dangers, challenges, opposition, and probably some setbacks along the way. Thus it is essential for those engaged in the quest to know something of the nature of the challenges that will befall them. They need to know what they are up against. What are the dangers? Where are the pitfalls? Who is the opposition? They need to know these things to be prepared—to recognize when they are facing danger and to know how to respond.

The quest for holiness in the Christian life certainly has opposition and challenges; there are dangers and failures. But many Christians today simply are not prepared to face the challenges. They don’t recognize the dangers; they don’t understand the nature of the problems. It may not even bother them that they make little progress in the quest.

At one level we could identify the major challenge we face in the quest for holiness as the problem of sin. We could go further and speak about the world, the flesh, and the devil. But what we would like to attempt here is to get to the root of sin; and at the root of the sin is idolatry.

So part of my thesis is this: at the heart of the challenges we face on the quest for holiness is the problem of idolatry. Now that is part of the thesis, because we don’t just want to look at the problem, we also want to consider the solution. But we need to identify the problem first; and to do so, we turn to Romans 1.

The Root Of The Problem: Idolatry (Romans 1:18-32)

This text is an incredibly profound analysis of the human condition. It provides the interpretive key for understanding why the world is the way it is. What Paul is doing in the larger context of Romans is demonstrating why God’s saving righteousness, revealed in the gospel (1:16-17), is so necessary. We really need the gospel, and it is such glorious news because “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (1:18). [2]

So starting here in 1:18 through 3:20, Paul deals at length with the problem of sin and the fact that that all of us—Gentile and Jew—deserve God’s wrath. For three chapters Paul lays bare our guilt and wickedness and shows our situation is desperate. There is no excuse. There is no defense. Every mouth is stopped. The whole world stands condemned.

Why does Paul do this? Why doesn’t he just say “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23) and move on? Because we need a penetrating diagnosis of the problem in order to be led to the right remedy and cure. If we hold to a superficial doctrine of sin (which many people do today), we won’t really get the gospel and we won’t grasp the import of the cross. Paul talks about the problem at length so we might see the power and wonder of the gospel.

So he begins in 1:19-20 by showing that there is a general revelation of God in creation. The fact that there is a Creator, that he is powerful, that he is God, is clearly seen and understood through creation. Verse 19 indicates that it is plain to them; God has shown it to them. The problem is they suppress this truth. [3]

Verse 21 states: “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” So the root of the matter is that although they knew God, they refused to honor him. In their rebellion they did not give to him in thought, affection, and devotion the place that belongs to him. [4]

Furthermore, they refused to give thanks to him. Cranfield says, “They ought to have recognized their indebtedness to His goodness and generosity, to have recognized Him as the source of all the good things they enjoyed, and so to have been grateful to Him for His benefits.” [5] But they did not. And as a result, they plunged into futility, darkness, and folly.

Sin is ultimately a refusal to honor God as the true and living God. Sin is a failure to glorify the One who created all things for his glory. Sin is not simply a matter of transgressing God’s law. Of course, verses 24-32 show that it includes transgressing God’s law, but the things described in those verses are all rooted first in the rejection of God. [6]

But here is the point I want us to see: when we refuse to glorify God, we don’t just go on our merry way. Inevitably we turn to glorify some dimension of creation instead of God. Verse 23: they “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images.” Verse 25: “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” G. K. Chesterton said that when we “cease to worship God, we do not worship nothing, we worship anything.” [7]

But what a foolish exchange! On the one hand you have the glory of the immortal God. And man sees him and says, “No thanks. I’d rather have images of mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” You have the truth about God that he has revealed and made plain, and man clearly perceives it but says, “No thanks. I’m more comfortable with a lie.” You have the great Creator who brought the world into being, who is powerful, who is God blessed forever, and man says, “I’d rather have the creature.” What folly!

Paul, no doubt, is thinking of Jeremiah 2 where God says: “Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:11-13).

We think we are so sophisticated with our materialistic theories of origin of the universe. We would rather embrace Darwinian evolution, and blind, random chance, and impossible odds, than accept the notion that God made us. The intellectual elite mock and ridicule the mere suggestion of even a nameless intelligent design behind the universe. [8] They refuse to concede that as even a possibility. “They became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.” And the wrath of God is revealed.

There are judicial consequences to idolatry. Notice in the text that three times Paul speaks of mankind’s rejection of God, and each time it is followed by a statement of God’s judgment.

Verse 23: “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images”
-->Verse 24: “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity”

Verse 25: “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator”
-->Verse 26: “For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions”

Verse 28: “Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God”
-->Verse 28: “God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.”

So the judicial consequence of our idolatry is that God hands us over to what we prefer, and the result is the endless multiplication of sin and corruption.

It is interesting that homosexuality is highlighted here (see 1:26-27). Why does Paul focus on homosexuality? Not because it is the unpardonable sin. Some of the Corinthians had been homosexuals, but they were saved. And Paul said to them, “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).

The reason Paul focuses on homosexuality here is because it is the most vivid dramatization [9] or illustration of the perversion of idolatry. The creature is supposed to worship the Creator. That’s natural. That’s God’s design. But idolatry perverts that good order by exchanging the glory of God for creatures. Likewise, sexual relations, in the sanctity of marriage, are to be between a man and a woman. That’s natural. That’s God’s design. But homosexuality perverts that good order by exchanging what is natural for what’s unnatural—women with women and men with men.

That connection is made clear by the way the word “exchanged” [10] is used in verses 25 and 26. Verse 25: “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie”; verse 26: “Their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature.”

But of course, the distortion is not just related to homosexuality. That might be its most vivid dramatization, but the Old Testament prophets again and again and again call Israel’s idolatry harlotry, whoredom, and adultery. Read Hosea. Read Ezekiel 16, a powerful chapter in which the Lord vividly describes how his people have “played the whore” (16:15). “Adulterous wife,” God says, “who receives strangers instead of her husband!” (16:32). That is what idolatry is like in God’s eyes.

However, it is not just at the sexual level that we see distortion. When we exchange the glory of God for other things, all manner of corruption breaks out. When we reject the Holy One, the outcome is not holiness. It is sin (see 1:29-32). Don’t miss the big picture here. The whole dreadful array of sins that plague humanity “has its roots in the soil of…idolatry.” [11] Thus, David Wells is right when he says “all sin…involves idolatry.” [12] All sin says, “I prefer something else to God and his glory.” Idolatry is why we struggle with covetousness and pride and faithlessness and sexual immorality.

Now you might be saying, “This is Romans 1. It’s all about sinful humans outside of Christ. How does that apply to us as believers on the quest for holiness?” In response, what Romans 1 does is help us understand the true nature of sin. Commenting on this text, Greg Beale says: “Paul sees idolatry to be the essence of sin.” [13] So Romans 1:18-32 helps us see that ultimately sin is exchanging the glory of God for other things—which brings us to the question of the nature of idolatry in our day.

The Definition Of Idolatry—What Is It?

When we think of the term idolatry we might picture primitive people bowing down before statues. We might think of the golden calf, or Baal, or Dagon. We might think of the Greek gods, like Artemis. Acts 17 describes the city of Athens as “full of idols” (17:16), so much so that they didn’t want to leave anyone out, so they built an altar “to the unknown god” (17:23).

Most of us are not tempted by that kind of idolatry—bowing before images—and therefore we might not realize that we are tempted to be idolaters every day. That is because there is another, more subtle, form of idolatry. The English Puritan, David Clarkson, called it “soul idolatry,” [14] which he described as follows: “When the mind and heart is set upon anything more than God; when anything is more valued…anything more trusted, more loved, or our endeavors more for any other thing than God,” then we are guilty of soul idolatry. [15] Ezekiel 14 talks about taking idols into our hearts.

Paul called covetousness idolatry (Col. 3:5; Eph. 5:5). Think about that. Do we view coveting as idolatry? No, in America we call it shopping!

In 2 Timothy 3 Paul said that in the last days “people will be lovers of self, lovers of money…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Tim. 3:1-4). First John 2:15 says do not love the world because if you are loving the world, you are an idolater; you are not loving the Father.

So what is idolatry? Timothy Keller, in his recent book Counterfeit Gods, gives this definition: “[An idol] is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.” [16] Similarly Scott Hafemann says, “‘Idolatry’ is the practice of seeking the source and provision of what we need either physically or emotionally in someone or something other than the one true God.” [17] Richard Keyes adds, “An idol is something within creation that is inflated to function as a substitute for God. All sorts of things are potential idols, depending only on our attitudes and actions toward them.” [18]

Most of us probably recognize that you can make a god out of money or work or sports. But we might not recognize that anything can become an idol, even good things. In fact, Keller points out, “the greater the good, the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hopes.” [19] We have the sinful capacity to twist God’s good gifts into idols. So in order to guard ourselves from idols we have to recognize and identify the idols of our hearts. The sad fact is, as Calvin said, “man’s nature…is a perpetual factory of idols.” [20]

So let me ask you this: What are the things that are usurping God’s place in your life? What are the things you are looking to for significance and security and satisfaction? Maybe it is your reputation or your career or “success” in one form or another. Maybe it is your marriage or family—or perhaps a fairytale dream of marriage that you long for to give your life meaning. For some it is technology and the latest gadgets; for others it is a dream house, a new car, and the endless options the advertisers offer our covetous hearts. For many people in our culture it is their physical appearance; we worship at the fitness center. Keller said, “We may not physically kneel before the statue of Aphrodite, but many young women today are driven into depression and eating disorders by an obsessive concern over their body image.” [21]

Even something supremely noble like ministry—serving the Lord—can become an idol, if we engage in it for the wrong reasons. Or maybe isolating and elevating my favorite attribute of God can leave me with a distorted deity and not the true and living God; that too is idolatry. [22] Often our idols are a combination of a number of these kinds of things.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones suggests that the supreme idol is self. [23] I put myself at the center of the universe and see everything and everyone in relation to me. Everything revolves around me and my needs and desires, rather than God being at the center and my life being focused on his glory. My real concern should be that Jesus Christ would increase and I would decrease. What are the idols of your heart? How do we recognize them?

Clarkson suggests that things we most highly value we make our God. The things we most love and trust and fear and desire and delight in, we worship as God. [24] So examine the workings of your heart. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21).

What are the things you cannot do without? What do you spend a great deal of time and money on? Keller asks, “What do you enjoy daydreaming about?… What do you habitually think about to get joy and comfort in the privacy of your heart?” [25] William Temple said, “Your religion is what you do with your solitude.” [26]

What are the idols of our hearts? It is important to identify them.

The Danger Of Idolatry—Why Avoid It?

John ends his first epistle in this way: “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:19-21). John is saying, “The true God is Jesus Christ. Don’t be deceived into accepting a false view of Christ. Don’t love the world, which lies in the power of the evil one. Keep yourselves from idols. Cling to the true God.”

It is helpful to think about the question, why? Why should we keep ourselves from idols? Well, by definition, idols are false gods, which means, of course, they are not real gods. There are several implications from this.

Idols Are Deceptive

We think our idols can provide what we are looking for—happiness, security, meaning; but they cannot deliver, because they are not God. So our idols will always let us down; they will disappoint us. We think following them will lead to more freedom, but in truth, they enslave to greater bondage. Richard Keyes writes, “The message of the Bible is that just as idols deceive us, so also they eventually disappoint and disillusion us. They are silent when we turn to them for insight and impotent when we go to them for help.” [27]

Idols Are Destructive

The history of Israel illustrates the destructive nature of idolatry (e.g. Ezekiel 6:1-7; Hosea 8:4). Idolatry led to exile and captivity and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Think of Tiger Woods, and countless others, who have destroyed their marriages and families through the idolatry of extramarital sex.

Idols Will Never Satisfy

In idolatry we say to God, “You are not enough!” [28] But that is the great lie. We were not made for idols. We were made for God. We were not made to be self-centered; we were made to be God-centered. And as long as we go on chasing our idols, our hearts will be restless. Augustine rightly said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” [29]

Think again of Jeremiah 2 where the Lord exposes idolatry for what it really is: “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” That’s it! Idols are broken cisterns that can hold no water. But Jesus Christ is the fountain of living waters! He said to the woman at the well, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again” (John 4:14). So don’t drink from broken cisterns. The little water they do have is full of salt and poison. Drink deeply from the fountain of living water and you will never thirst again. Scott Hafemann says this: “Those who seek their happiness and security in other gods are condemned to a life of fleeting fulfillment and to an eternity of lasting regret. The reason is clear. Nothing and no one can satisfy the deepest longings of our heart except the One who made us for himself.” [30]

We Become What We Worship

A fourth reason to keep ourselves from idols is the fact that we become what we worship. Psalm 135:18 says of idols, “Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them” (cf. Ps. 115:4-8). If you love the world you become conformed to the world. We become what we worship. [31] In the next issue of EJ we will focus on this particular theme from 2 Corinthians 3:18, because it is key in the quest for holiness.

The Destruction Of Idolatry: How To Fight It

Here we turn from the problem to the solution as seen in Philippians 3:2-11. In this passage, Paul warns the Philippian believers about Judaizers who will come along and tell them that Christ is not quite enough. They need to add circumcision; they need Torah. But Paul shows how profoundly mistaken they really are. He was no stranger to the values of these Jewish teachers. In fact, he had more reason to boast in his Jewish credentials than they did! He was of the right stock; he had the right training; he had risen to a prominent position; he had achieved a very impressive status in Judaism.

But in reality, these things were Paul’s idols—a Jew might not put it that way—but his whole confidence was in these things. His boast was his heritage. His education and training and credentials gave him a certain status in Judaism. His zeal gained for himself a reputation that he cherished, and that gave his life purpose and meaning. Furthermore he thought his law-keeping made him righteous before God. These things were gain, they were profit; they were of ultimate value to him. They were his idols.

But then come verses 7-8: “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

All the things that were so valuable to Paul—the things that were on the “gain” side of the ledger—he now considered loss. And lose them he did. He was written off by his peers. He lost his status and reputation and security in Judaism. He went from persecutor to persecuted. [32]

Why? Because he was captured by something—or Someone—of superior value: Jesus Christ. On one side stood everything his world had to offer, including all the privileges and advantages that came through his status in Judaism. On the other side stood Jesus Christ. And Paul says, “There’s no contest.” Jesus Christ is infinitely and incomparable better. [33] In comparison to the surpassing worth and excellency of knowing Jesus Christ, all his former idols were exposed as rubbish (and that is the polite way to put it), [34] because Paul had learned that righteousness before God comes through faith in Christ, not through faith in your works or your status or your heritage—faith in Christ alone.

Replacing Our Idols

What we see from this text is a key principle. How do we keep ourselves from idols? The principle is this: false gods lose their hold on our hearts only when we are captivated by the true God. You see, idols cannot simply be removed. They must be replaced by something better. [35] And Paul declares that there is nothing better than knowing Jesus Christ. We have to face the fact that we cannot keep ourselves from idols by simply trying harder to avoid them; by giving them up through some raw act of willpower. Our hearts have to be captured by someone of superior worth.

The nineteenth century Scottish preacher Thomas Chalmers brilliantly captured this in a sermon on 1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” The title of Chalmers’ sermon was “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection,” [36] and he made the point that “misplaced affections need to be replaced by the far greater power of the…gospel.” You see, recognizing the danger of idolatry is not enough. You cannot “just say no” to the world and all of its seductions unless there is a greater love to which your heart can say “yes!” Chalmers said,

“We know of no other way by which to keep the love of the world out of our heart than to keep in our hearts the love of God.” [37]

One test of our love for the Lord Jesus Christ is whether or not we could be happy with all the benefits of heaven if Christ was not there. John Piper in his book, God Is the Gospel, puts it like this:

If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauty you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there? [38]

If the answer is “yes” or even “maybe,” we may get a picture of how deep our idols have fixed themselves in our hearts.

Christ Is Always Better

Why should we love Christ more than anything else? Why should Christ capture our heart and affections and devotion and hopes more than the things of the world? Because Jesus Christ is always better! Jesus Christ is infinitely greater than all the world has to offer. In fact, the best things in the world are but echoes of his glory and gifts of his grace.

Idols are broken cisterns that can hold no water; Jesus is the fountain of living waters. Idols leave us hungry; Jesus is the true bread that satisfies and fills us. Idols destroy us; Jesus saves us. Idols are misleading and deceptive; Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Idols cannot deliver on their promises; Jesus always keeps his promises. Our treasures on earth decay through moth and rust, or thieves break in and steal, but the unsearchable riches of Christ will never decay or be stolen. Idols disappoint and let us down; Jesus will exceed our greatest hopes; the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame” (1 Pet. 2:6; cf. Hosea 10:6). Idols offer temporary joy and passing pleasure, but in Jesus’ presence there is fullness of joy; at his right hand are pleasures forevermore.

You see, Christ is better than idols because “all things were created through and for him” (Col 1: 16), including your heart and your life. Christ is better than idols because “he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3). Christ is better than idols because “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God” comes only “in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). Christ is better than idols because in him “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3).

He is better than idols because “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and…he was buried and…he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4). And Christ is better than idols because “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11). It is no wonder that Paul could say, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8).

The great Puritan preacher John Flavel said this of the beauty of Christ:

Put the beauty of ten thousand paradises, like the garden of Eden, into one; put all trees, all flowers, all smells, all colours, all tastes, all joys, all sweetness, all loveliness in one; O what a fair and excellent thing would that be? And yet it should be less to that fair and dearest, well-beloved Christ, than one drop of rain to the whole seas, rivers, lakes, and fountains of ten thousand earths. Christ is heaven and earth’s wonder. [39]

Conclusion

So: little children, keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:21). How? By recognizing the surpassing worth of Christ Jesus our Lord. Pursue him with all your might. Labor to see him and to behold his glory in Scripture. Set your minds on things that are above, where Christ is, not on things that are on the earth (Col. 3:1-2). Let the wonder of the gospel fill your heart and move you to worship and shape your priorities and choices. And as those things happen, we begin to find the satisfaction and joy and security and purpose that we were looking for in all the wrong places. The hymn writer put it this way: “Whom have we Lord, but Thee, Soul-thirst to satisfy? Exhaustless spring! The waters free! All other streams are dry.” [40]

Notes

1. This article was originally delivered as a plenary address at the Iron Sharpens Iron conference hosted on the campus of Emmaus Bible College, May 2010. As much as possible, the original sermonic style has been retained.
2. Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 78.
3. On the question of whether or not this passage describes a particular historical event, Moo points to “the obviously universal thrust of vv. 18 and 32” and observes, “this foolish and culpable rejection of the knowledge of God is repeated in every generation, by every individual. Every person is ‘without excuse’ because every person—whether a first-century pagan or a twentieth-century materialist—has been given a knowledge of God and has spurned that knowledge in favor of idolatry, in all its varied manifestations” [Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 98].
4. John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1968), 41.
5. C. E. B. Cranfield, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, ICC (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1975), 1:117.
6. Schreiner, Romans, 88.
7. Quoted in Richard Keyes, “The Idol Factory,” in Os Guinness and John Seel, eds., No God But God, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1992), 32.
8. E.g. Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008).
9. John Piper, “The Other Dark Exchange, Homosexuality, Part 1” (October 11, 1998), http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByScripture/10/1053_The_Other_Dark_Exchange__Homosexuality_Part_1/, accessed May 5, 2010.
10. Grk: μεταλλάσσω
11. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, 110.
12. David F. Wells, Losing Our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover Its Moral Vision (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 189. Cf. G. K. Beale, We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 138.
13. Beale, We Become What We Worship, 203.
14. David Clarkson, “Soul Idolatry Excludes Men Out of Heaven,” in The Works of David Clarkson (1864; repr., Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1988), 300.
15. Ibid.
16. Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters (New York: Dutton, 2009), xvii.
17. Scott J. Hafemann, The God of Promise and the Life of Faith: Understanding the Heart of the Bible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2001), 35.
18. Keyes, “The Idol Factory,” 32-33. Schlossberg offers this definition: “Idolatry in its larger meaning is properly understood as any substitution of what is created for the creator.” Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction: Christian Faith and Its Confrontation with American Society (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983), 6.
19. Keller, Counterfeit Gods, xvii.
20. Institutes 1.11.8.
21. Keller, Counterfeit Gods¸ xii.
22. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ: Studies in 1 John (Wheaton: Crossway, 2002), 731.
23. Ibid., 731.
24. Clarkson, “Soul Idolatry,” 301-304.
25. Keller, Counterfeit Gods, 168.
26. Quoted in Ibid.
27. Keyes, “The Idol Factory,” 45.
28. Hafemann, The God of Promise and the Life of Faith, 38.
29. Confessions, 1:1.
30. Hafemann, The God of Promise and the Life of Faith, 38.
31. See Beale, We Become What We Worship.
32. D. A. Carson, Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 84.
33. Ibid., 84-85.
34. The Greek word σκύβαλον is used only here (Phil. 3:8) in the NT. While it can refer to refuse in general, it also carries the sense of excrement or dung. Packer states, “Nastiness and decay are the constant elements of its meaning; it is a coarse, ugly, violent word implying worthlessness, uselessness, and repulsiveness” (NIDNTT, 1:480). Lang comments, “The choice of the vulgar term stresses the force and totality of this renunciation” (TDNT, 7:446). The common English translation of “rubbish” (ESV, NASB, NIV, NKJV; the KJV and NET have “dung”) is probably not as forceful as Paul intended. O’Brien says, “Although the apostle’s language is stark, it is inappropriate to weaken its meaning because of embarrassment, as some of the early Church Fathers did” (Peter T. O’Brien, Commentary on Philippians, NIGTC [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991], 390).
35. Keller, Counterfeit Gods, 155.
36. See: www.vorthosforum.com/export/Articles/The%20Expulsive%20Power%20of%20a%20New%20Affection.pdf, accessed July 7, 2011.
37. Ibid.
38. John Piper, God Is the Gospel: Meditations on God’s Love as the Gift of Himself, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2005), 15.
39. John Flavel, The Fountain of Life: A Display of Christ in His Essential and Mediatorial Glory, Vol. 1 of The Works of John Flavel, (1820; repr., Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1968), 68.
40. Mary Bowley Peters, “Whom Have We, Lord, But Thee,” #138 in Hymns of Worship and Remembrance (Belle Chasse, LA: Truth and Praise, 1950).