We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry

Christopher Wright makes a virtually identical conclusion about the significance of Genesis 3:22:God accepts that humans have indeed breached the Creator-creature distinction. Not that humans have now become gods but that they have chosen to act as though they were-defining and deciding for themselves what they will regard as good and evil. Therein lies the root of all other forms of idolatry: we deify our own capacities, and thereby make gods of ourselves and our choices and all their implications.

People will always reflect something, whether it be God's character or some feature of the world. If people are committed to God, they will become like him; if they are committed to something other than God, they will become like that thing, always spiritually inanimate and empty like the lifeless and vain aspect of creation to which they have committed themselves.

Paul himself affirms later that idolatry may take such forms as trusting in money: "Immorality, uncleanness, passion, evil desire and greed ... is idolatry (Col 3:5).

Wanting to reflect an idol of ourselves and to make ourselves appear greater leads to being made small because of judgment.

People may "resort to [empty] idols" for security (Is 19:3), but such idols will "vanish" and be "cast away" to the trash because they are worthless and cannot provide any security at all, except false security (Is 2:18-20).42 We may commit ourselves to some earthly idol for fulfillment, but there will be none, since such idols are truly empty and have no spiritual reality except a demonic one (see also Is 41:29).43

The accusation of the king of Tyre, who was a recapitulation of Adam and thus a representative of every proud human, connotes the idea that when people put themselves at the center of all things, they reflect a greater image of themselves by artificially inflating themselves.

Do we realize how almost exactly the Baal culture of Canaan is reproduced in American church culture? Baal religion is about what makes you feel good. Baal worship is a total immersion in what I can get out of it. And of course, it was incredibly successful. The Baal priests could gather crowds that outnumbered followers of Yahweh 20 to 1. There was sex, there was excitement, there was music, there was ecstasy, there was dance. "We got girls over here, friends. We got statues, girls, and festivals." This was great stuff. And what did the Hebrews have to offer in response? The Word. What's the Word? Well, Hebrews had festivals, at least! ...

Friedrich Nietzsche could have been describing Adam, the king of Tyre or all self-centered people-including contemporary humanity, who exalt the self above everything else-when he describes what he calls the "master-morality":The noble type of person feels that he determines value, he does not need anyone's approval, he judges that "What is harmful to me is harmful in itself," he knows that he is the one who gives honor to things in the first place, he creates values. He honors everything he sees in himself: this sort of morality is self-glorifying."This is, in reality, none other than the description of an idolatrous race who makes idols of themselves.