Early Christian Views on Pagan Gods and Idolatry
Early Christians viewed pagan gods and idolatry as a profound departure from the worship of the one true God, often associating it with demonic influence and moral corruption. This perspective was rooted in both Old Testament teachings and the direct experiences of the nascent Christian community in a polytheistic world.
The biblical understanding of idolatry, which heavily influenced early Christian thought, defines it as the worship or divine honor paid to any created object instead of the Creator [1]. This includes a wide range of practices: fetishism (worship of natural objects like trees, rivers, or stones), nature worship (veneration of celestial bodies like the sun, moon, and stars), and hero worship (the deification of deceased ancestors or prominent figures) [1]. Scripture consistently portrays idolatry as originating from heathen cultures and being introduced to the Hebrews through contact with these groups [1]. For instance, Joshua 24:2 indicates that even before Abraham, his ancestors Terah and Nahor were idol worshipers [7]. The worship of the true God through images was considered an act of idolatry and apostasy by the Hebrews, as seen when they asked Aaron to "make us gods which shall go before us," desiring a visible symbol of God similar to pagan practices [8].
Early Christian writers frequently echoed these Old Testament condemnations. Tertullian, for example, noted that Christians refused to consider man-made images as gods, finding it contrary to reason to believe that figures fashioned by "worthless and depraved workmen" could be divine [2]. This rejection of idols was a core distinction for Christians in the Roman world. Augustine further clarified that the issue with pagan rites was not merely the building of temples or offering of sacrifices, but that these acts were directed "for idols and demons" [11]. He emphasized that idols are "wholly devoid of perception," yet when placed in temples, they become objects of worship [11].
The patristic writers also explored the origins and various forms of idolatry. Athanasius of Alexandria described how humanity's understanding "leaped asunder from God," leading them to honor created things instead of the Creator [10]. This descent involved first giving honor to the heavens, sun, moon, and stars, believing them to be gods or causes of other lesser gods [10]. From there, idolatry progressed to the worship of elements, natural objects, mythical creatures, personified lusts, and even living or dead men, citing examples like Antinous and deified emperors [10]. This progression highlights a theological understanding that idolatry is a gradual turning away from God, substituting Him with lesser, created things.
The Apostle Paul, in Romans 1:21-25, provides a foundational theological explanation for the origin of idolatry, stating that people "forsook God, and sank into ignorance and moral corruption" [1]. They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, animals, and creeping things, and "exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator" [1]. This passage underscores the intellectual and moral degradation that accompanies idolatry.
The early Christian understanding also grappled with the implications of idolatry for daily life and community. The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 8, addressed the issue of eating food sacrificed to idols. While acknowledging that "idols were nothing" in themselves, he cautioned against participating in idol-temple feasts due to the potential harm it could cause to "weaker Christians" who might not possess the same level of knowledge [3]. This demonstrates a pastoral concern that even if the idol itself holds no power, the act of participating in idolatrous practices can lead others astray or violate their conscience.
Later theological developments continued to refine these views. John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, argued that idolatry stems from a human tendency to form "a grosser description" of God, leading to the creation of images [4]. Once men imagine they see God in images, they begin to worship Him as being present there, eventually becoming "more and more brutish, gazing and wondering as if some divinity were actually before them" [4]. Calvin saw this as a fundamental corruption of worship, where the visible depiction leads directly to adoration of the image itself [4]. He also noted the rapid resurgence of idolatry even after significant divine judgments, such as the Flood, indicating a deep-seated human propensity for it [7].
Charles Hodge, one theologian, drew parallels between the polytheism of ancient Rome and certain practices he observed in the Church of Rome, particularly the veneration of saints [6]. He argued that attributing divine attributes like omnipresence and omniscience to saints, and making them objects of worship and trust, effectively makes them "gods whom the people worship" [6]. This perspective highlights a concern that even within a monotheistic framework, practices can emerge that functionally resemble idolatry by diverting worship from God to created beings [6]. Hodge also emphasized that the worship of the true God by images has always been considered an act of idolatry by Hebrews, and is denounced as apostasy [8].
The early Christian rejection of idolatry was not merely a theological stance but a defining characteristic that often led to persecution. Their refusal to participate in imperial cults or venerate pagan deities was seen as disloyalty to the state. This steadfast opposition to idolatry, as Athanasius noted, was a "desperate struggle" and a "hardly earned triumph" for the early Church, establishing the essential principle of worshipping only the one true God [5]. The eventual triumph of Christianity over paganism was so profound that John Gill, commenting on Revelation, described the departure of paganism as the "heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together," signifying the end of "Heathen gods, nor Heathen priests; no more idolatry, and idolatrous worship" [9].
Sources
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Idolatry — Image-worship or divine honour paid to any created object. Paul describes the origin of idolatry in Rom. 1:21-25: men forsook God, and sank into ignorance and moral corruption (1:28). The forms of idolatry are, (1.) Fetishism, or the worship of trees, rivers, hills, stones, etc. (2.) Nature worship, the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, as the supposed powers of nature. (3.) Hero worship, the worship of deceased ancestors, or of heroes. In Scripture, idolatry is regarded as of heathen origin, and as being imported among the Hebrews through contact with ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 4: Tertullian IV, Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen — CHAP. V.: Treating of the regulations respecting idolatry as being peculiar to Christianity, Celsus establishes their correctness, saying that the Christians do not consider those to be gods that are made with hands, On the ground that it is not in conformity with right reason (to suppose) that images, fashioned by the most worthless and depraved of workmen, and in many instances also provided by wicked men, can be (regarded as) gods. In what follows, however, wishing to show that this is a common opinion, and one not first discover”
- 1 Corinthians (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 8:7: The apostle, having granted, and indeed confirmed, the opinion of some among the Corinthians, that idols were nothing, proceeds now to show them that their inference from this assumption was not just, namely, that therefore they might go into the idol-temple, and eat of the sacrifices, and feast there with their heathen neighbours. He does not indeed here so much insist upon the unlawfulness of the thing in itself as the mischief such freedom might do to weaker Christians, persons that had not the same measure of knowledge with these pretenders. And here, I.”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 27: God was visibly depicted to their eyes. 9. After such a figment is formed, adoration forthwith ensues: for when once men imagined that they beheld God in images, they also worshipped him as being there. At length their eyes and minds becoming wholly engrossed by them, they began to grow more and 98 more brutish, gazing and wondering as if some divinity were actually before them. It hence appears that men do not fall away to the worship of images until they have imbibed some idea of a grosser description: not that they actually beli”
- CCEL (Patristic) “Athanasius of Alexandria, Select Works and Letters, section 16: His character, not in His Person. Accordingly He is, as a creature, immeasurably far from the Creator; He does not know God, cannot declare God to us. The One God remains in His inaccessible remoteness from the creature. But yet Arians worshipped Christ; although not very God, He is God to us. Here we have the exact difficulty with which the Church started in her conflict with heathenism presented again unsolved. The desperate struggle, the hardly earned triumph of the Christians, had been for the sake of the essential principle o”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 43: from all parts of the earth at the same time; that they know our thoughts and unexpressed desires. This is to assume that they possess divine attributes. In fact. therefore, the saints are the gods whom the people worship, whom they trust, and who are the objects of the religious affections. The polytheism of the Church of Rome is in many respects analogous to that of heathen Rome. In both cases we find gods 285 many and lords many. In both cases either imaginary beings are the objects of worship, or imaginary powers and attributes are as”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 27: of idols. There was a kind of renewal of the world at the deluge, but before many years elapse, men are forging gods at will. There is reason to believe, that in the holy Patriarch’s lifetime his grandchildren were given to idolatry: so that he must with his own eyes, not without the deepest grief, have seen the earth polluted with idols—that earth whose iniquities God had lately purged with so fearful a Judgment. For Joshua testifies ( Josh. 24:2 ), that Torah and Nachor, even before the birth of Abraham, were the worshipers of fa”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 44: the time of Moses until now. The worship of the true God by images, in the eyes of the Hebrews, has ever been considered as much an act of idolatry as the worship of false gods. 3. A third argument on this subject is, that the worship of 293 Jehovah by the use of images is denounced and punished as an act of apostasy from God. When the Hebrews in the wilderness said to Aaron, “Make us gods which shall go before us,” neither they nor Aaron intended to renounce Jehovah as their God; but they desired a visible symbol of God, as the heathen h”
- Revelation (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Revelation 6:14: And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together,.... The manner of writing formerly was on rolls of parchment; hence the word volume is used for a book, which, when rolled up, the writing within could not be seen, not a syllable nor letter of it. In like manner the Roman empire, as Pagan, which was like a large sheet, or rather like the expanse or firmament of the heaven, stretched out over all the earth, was now, as to the Paganism of it, rolled up together, so that there were no more Heathen gods, nor Heathen priests; no more idolatry, and idolatr”
- CCEL (Patristic) “Athanasius of Alexandria, Select Works and Letters, section 54: §9. The various developments of idolatry: worship of the heavenly bodies, the elements, natural objects, fabulous creatures, personified lusts, men living and dead. The case of Antinous, and of the deified Emperors. For now the understanding of mankind leaped asunder from God; and going lower in their ideas and imaginations, they gave the honour due to God first to the heaven and the sun and moon and the stars, thinking them to be not only gods, but also the causes of the other gods lower than themselves 118 118 For the following ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 1: Augustine — Confessions, Letters — TO DEOGRATIAS, MY BROTHER IN ALL SINCERITY, AND MY FELLOW-PRESBYTER, AUGUSTIN SENDS GREETING IN THE LORD. (part 13): those who know the Christian Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testaments do not blame the profane rites of Pagans on the mere ground of their building temples, appointing priests, and offering sacrifices, but on the ground of their doing all this for idols and demons. As to idols, indeed, who entertains a doubt as to their being wholly devoid of perception? And yet, when they are placed in these temples and set on high upon t”