Narcissism and Nobility

Meditations on 1Corinthians

No. 16b

No Such Thing as Casual Worship (continued)

1Cor 10.14-22

But idols aren’t real, are they?  (continued)

But the fact that idols aren’t God doesn’t mean that idols aren’t anything.  Demons are not God, but demons are not nothing either.  (1Cor 10.20.)  And that’s Paul’s point.  By entering the fellowship of an idol, one is not merely entering the fellowship of something that is inert and non-God, one is entering the fellowship of something that is alive and anti-God (1Cor 10.20-21) — or perhaps we should say antichrist (1Jn 2.22).

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood.

As Paul says in Ephesians, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  (Eph 6.12.)  Paul is not advocating a dualism between God and Satan, angels and demons, two roughly equal powers wrestling in history.  The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus, upon his ascension, expelled Satan from heaven and bound him (Rev 12.7-9 ; 20.2-3).  But that does not mean Satan is inactive or benign.  A handcuffed person is restricted, not incapacitated.  The effect of Satan’s binding is that he is restricted from deceiving the nations and keeping them in the darkness as he had before Christ came (Rev 20.3).  A wounded lion can more dangerous than a healthy one.  So Peter says, “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”  (1Pt 5.8.)

When Jesus commissioned Paul, he told him that he was sending him to the Gentiles “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”  (Act 26.17-18.)  The Great Commission involves more than individuals “accepting Jesus.”  It involves the delivery of the world “from the power of darkness” “into the kingdom of the Son.”  (Col 1.13.)  Pagan idols are Satan’s masks, and the activities surrounding idol worship are tools he uses for keeping the world enthralled.  Paul doesn’t want to see those who have been delivered from Satan’s power slipping back into their shackles.

To be continued . . .