The new issue of Credo Magazine is here: Idolatry
The great church father Augustine once wrote that one of the most
devastating effects of sin is seen in the way we become curved in on
ourselves. God is eliminated from our world as we turn inward to worship
the creature rather than the Creator. As John Calvin said, man has
become an idol-making factory. |
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The irony of idolatry is that those who worship idols turn into the
idols that they worship. As the psalmist observed, “Those who make them
[idols] become like them, so do all who trust in them” (135:18). Today,
idolatry is an offensive word, a word hardly used because it is
considered so dark, so primitive, and so destructive. Yet it’s the
perfect description of mankind apart from the Creator. For only when we
are sobered by how perversely we have robbed the Creator of his glory
and given it to the creature will we understand our desperate need for
liberation from the idols we’ve become.
Featured Articles
Benjamin L. Gladd, Associate Professor of New Testament at Reformed
Theological Seminary, explores the nature of idolatry and God’s
subsequent wrath in Romans 1:18-32, tying it to the fall of Adam and Eve
in the garden and the fall of Israel at Sinai.
James Todd III, Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies
at College of the Ozarks, explains Israel’s rationale for building the
golden calf in light of its narrative and historical context and shows
how their idolatry was a direct breach of the covenant they made with
Yahweh at Mt. Sinai.
Gary Schnittjer, professor of biblical Hebrew and Old Testament at
Cairn University, shows how Isaiah’s reoccurring polemic magnifies the
holy one of Israel by mocking idolatry not in the abstract but within
his presentation of the new exodus.
John F. Kilner, Forman Chair of Christian Ethics and Theology at
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, writes on what it means to be in
God’s image, how idolatry contradicts that image, and how we can be
liberated to be who God made us to be.
Bob Kellemen, Pastor of Counseling and Equipping at Bethel Church and
Vice of Strategic Planning and Academic Dean at Faith Bible
Seminary, develops four portraits of the sin-sick heart of the Prodigal
son and the Pharisaical son.
Featured Interviews
Matthew Barrett, executive editor of
Credo Magazine, talks
with Greg Beale, J. Gresham Machen Chair of New Testament and professor
of New Testament and biblical theology at Westminster Theological
Seminary, about the nature of idolatry and why it is so ironic and
destructive.
Brandon Smith talks with Steven Smith, pastor of Immanuel Baptist
Church, about pastoral wisdom on sermon prep, preaching against
idolatry, and blunders in the pulpit.
More content including articles, interviews, and book reviews can be found in the new issue of
Credo Magazine. Join us!
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