Ted Grimsrud—December 4, 2023
The Christian Bible gives us quite a bit of material about what are human problems. It presents idolatry as perhaps the most fundamental human problem, the root of many other problems. But what is idolatry? I’m not sure the Bible is totally clear about that. But this is what I think: Idolatry is giving ultimate loyalty to things other than God. When things become idols, even if they are generally good things, they tend to become too important, too demanding, and too likely to push people to hurt other people and to hurt nature.
That leads to another question, though, what does it mean to be called to give loyalty to God above everything else? Is this call about believing in a certain doctrine? Belonging to a certain religion? Having some kind of mystical connection? Or is it something else? I will opt for the “something else” in this blog post by reflecting on one of the Ten Commandments: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). What might that command mean for us today?
What kind of God?
The first issue might be to reflect on what we have in mind when we say “God” as the object of our trust. Typically, Christians view God as a transcendent “person,” a being who exists outside of time and outside of our physical space. This God is understood to be the one and only God. However, these notions of God are not all that apparent in the Bible. They owe more to post-biblical creeds, confessions, and other doctrines.
Note that Exodus 20:3 does not say, “you shall believe in the existence of only one God.” It actually seems to assume the presence of other gods—competitors to the true God, actual entities. The idea of idolatry only makes sense if we do recognize the reality of other gods. There are real things that do demand our ultimately loyalty, that do seek to be “before” the biblical God—that is, who seek to be the highest priority. And, as we must admit, we see a lot of evidence in history and around us today of loyalties and commitments and ideologies that have taken and do take a place of higher priority than the biblical God.
The Bible cares more about presenting God in terms of what God does, of what God stands for, and of what God asks of those who profess trust in this God. The question, then, is what is the God of the Bible like? What are the characteristics that mark the distinctiveness of this God? In what sense is the God of the Commandments different from the other gods? Only by answering that question may we make progress in discerning what it means to put this God first.
The God of the Bible is not an autonomous being separate from life here on earth that we characterize by abstract concepts such as these from the Westminster Confession of Faith: “There is but one only, living, and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions; immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute.” Rather, the God of the biblical story is directly engaged with human life, emotionally engaged, responsive to human beings and the dynamics of historical life, and profoundly compassionate.
The deeds by which God is known in the Bible include most centrally the liberation of slaves in the exodus story. God is characterized by restorative justice, intervening to reconcile when there is a breakdown of relationships, to heal the wounds of the oppressed, and to require those who hurt others to face the realities of their actions. God reveals the nature of shalom (interhuman peace) as the kinds of healthy communities envisioned in the teaching of Torah. God is also revealed through the witness to faithful living embodied by the Hebrew prophets—living justly and mercifully and turning from trusting in horses and chariots, in silver and gold, and in nation-states. The God of the Old Testament is seen most clearly in works of healing, the binding of wounds and compassion for the vulnerable and oppressed.
In terms of a God such as this, it appears that the First Commandment is a call most of all to sharing in the character of this liberating and healing force in the world. The challenge it provides is a challenge to share in a Torah-like vision for social justice. Note that the Ten Commandments, in the book of Exodus, are the preface to the rest of Torah. Their intent is to help facilitate a God-like way of life for the peoplehood. With Torah in mind, we will realize that the Ten Commandments, including the first, are more about how to live than about doctrines.
This God is different from the other gods by being the one who overthrows the mighty and powerful oppressors (who usually are served by the gods). This God is different in focusing concern on the vulnerable and the oppressed, not the social elites, the rich and powerful. This God is different in energizing egalitarian and compassionate communities, not in reinforcing and providing a justification for social inequality and coercive status quos.
What the command is not
In light of the broader context of the command not to have other gods before God, we may note what the command is not. This is not an authoritarian demand by an all-powerful god whose agent of enforcement is a coercive state or religious institution. In the history of Christianity, any time Christian churches have affiliated formally as state churches, they have either implicitly or explicitly drawn on this commandment as a rationale for requiring adherence to their doctrinal formulations about God—and made it costly for dissenters. Such a use of the First Commandment has actually turned on its head the dynamics of its original context. The exodus was an act of liberation from state religion and the coercive enforcement of certain beliefs about the gods.
The command to have no other gods before the biblical God is also not a call to give supreme loyalty to any human institution. It is not a call to give loyalty to one particular nation/state, even one that has Christianity as its official state religion nor one that is acclaimed as a “Christian nation.” It is not a call to give loyalty to one particular ethnic group that claims some kind of unique connection with god. It is not a call to give loyalty to any particular religion. To say “no gods before me” is not a warrant to equate the biblical God with the Christian religion (or any other religion).
We should note in the story of Jesus that it was precisely these three types of human institutions that colluded in his execution. The Roman Empire, the elements in Judaism that had weaponized their interpretation of the law, and the Jerusalem Temple were the structures that Jesus threatened. They responded with death-dealing violence that made clear that they were not God’s agents but in fact were God’s enemies (i.e., that they were idols).
What the command is
What the command to have no other gods before God is is a call to turn from all idols. Idols are to be discerned by how they push us to do violence against persons or nature in the name of some loyalty or commitment that makes such violence justifiable. This command is a call to embrace a different kind of faith, a different kind of God, and a different kind of political loyalty. It is a call to place at the center of life love of neighbor, embrace of the preciousness of all life, and liberation of the oppressed and caring for the vulnerable.
Thinking Pacifism 
Beautiful, Ted. Thanks.
Typo alert:
“Idols are to be discerned by how they push us to do violence against persons or nature in the *same* of some loyalty or commitment…”
Thanks, Rob. Fixed it.