ABSTRACT
The Old Testament sin of worshiping other gods in violation of the first commandment and of making graven images in violation of the second is redefined by the psychological understanding of eidōlon (Gr ‘phantom, image idol’) given by the early church and repeated by Calvin. An idol may be an internal mental image that perverts spiritual vision by focusing on material phenomena. Since ‘the inventing of idoles [is] the beginning of whoredome’ (Wisd of Sol 14.11), or adultery (Eph 5.5, Rom 2.22, Col 3.5), and under the new law, adultery may be committed in the heart (Matt 5.28), idolatry may be found even in one who does not worship ‘graven images.’
