If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. (Col 3:1-6)Paul indicates that the "new self" is the one that was "raised with Christ" and is obtained by seeking "the things that are above." It's a kind of secret life, "hidden with Christ in God." He describes the contrast -- the "old self." "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." (Col 3:5) He says that because of these things God's wrath is coming.
Our culture disagrees with Paul. And, look, it's not surprising. The new self is a product of dying to self and being raised with Christ. What do you expect? So our culture, alive to self and dead to Christ, embraces and celebrates the old self. Paul calls on Christians to put these things to death, but the culture heralds the joys of sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness. Well, they don't call them "evil" desires, but "if it feels good, do it!" That last one -- "covetousness" -- is literally "greed", and as we all know, "Greed is good." That one is an interesting word in the Greek. It is πλεονεξία -- pleonexia. It means literally "desiring more." Like Rockefeller's answer to "How much is enough?", it is the desire for "a little bit more" where "a little bit" never ends.
There is a debate among scholars about that verse. To what does that last phrase -- "which is idolatry" -- apply? The most common position, of course, is that it refers to the last item -- covetousness or greed. The same concept appears over in Ephesians where Paul writes, "You may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." (Eph 5:5) Greed puts "stuff" above God and, therefore, is idolatry.
I have no doubt that "greed" or "covetousness" amounts to idolatry. I'm okay with that. But I think the argument could be made that all of that list (and the many others like it) could be classified as idolatry. For instance, what is sexual immorality but the blatant declaration that God does not provide sufficient sexual pleasure in the marriage bed and we know better and God is wrong, certainly in the matter of sexual morality? When we declare that the things we are passionate about are more important than what God says we should be passionate about, is that not clearly replacing God in our affections? When we declare that our desires are not evil, even though the Creator and Authority says they are, does that not place our desires as God in our lives? And so it goes.
The discussion of our current culture's growing embrace of all things sinful, a continuous downward spiral, is all well and good, but I hope that Christians can see that embracing as good what God says is not can be only understood, at the bottom of it all, as idolatry. This substitutes "what I think is good" for God and His Word and is simply elevating "I" above God. That's idolatry.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21)
3 comments:
I’d think that applying the idolatry modifier to the whole list, is the approach that makes the most sense.
That's the conclusion I came to.
I can’t see how anyone could possibly come to a different conclusion.
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