God

Against Idols

35 passages, 6 quoted here · Broad agreement in this library

Why Christians would not worship statues or the gods of Rome, and how they argued with those who did.

Where they stood

Each row is one claim. Each name is a writer, placed at the date of the passage. Select a name to read what they said.

3 of the 3 writers here teach: “Idols are soulless made things.” They answer a rival view: “Many gods existed from the beginning.”

teaches it partly rejects it later writer, summary only

Idols are soulless made things3 teach

Diognetus Justin Athenagoras ×2

Demons work through the images1 teach

Athenagoras

Many gods existed from the beginning1 reject

Athenagoras

What each writer said, earliest first

Justin Martyr Teaches: Idols are soulless made things

c. 100–c. 165 AD · First Apology 9

We do not honor the images that human beings have carved and set up in temples with crowds of sacrifices and garlands of flowers. We know that such objects are lifeless and dead, and that they lack the form of God.

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Greek

Ἀλλ᾿ οὐδὲ θυσίαις πολλαῖς καὶ πλοκαῖς ἀνθῶν τιμῶμεν, οὓς ἄνθρωποι μορφώσαντες καὶ ἐν ναοῖς ἱδρύσαντες θεοὺς προσωνόμασαν, ἐπεὶ ἄψυχα καὶ νεκρὰ ταῦτα γινώσκομεν καὶ θεοῦ μορφὴν μὴ ἔχοντα (οὐ γὰρ τοιαύτην ἡγούμεθα τὸν θεὸν ἔχειν τὴν μορφήν, ἣν φασί τινες εἰς τιμὴν μεμιμῆσθαι), ἀλλ᾿…

Letter to Diognetus Teaches: Idols are soulless made things

c. 150 AD · Epistle to Diognetus 2

Come then. Cleanse yourself from all the thoughts that preoccupy your mind, strip off the habit that deceives you, and become like a new person from the beginning, since you are about to hear a new word, as you yourself have admitted.

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Greek

Ἄγε δή, καθάρας σεαυτὸν ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν προκατεχόντων σου τὴν διάνοιαν λογισμῶν καὶ τὴν ἀπατῶσάν σε συνήθειαν ἀποσκευασάμενος καὶ γενόμενος ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς καινὸς ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ἂν καὶ λόγου καινοῦ, καθάπερ καὶ αὐτὸς ὡμολόγησας, ἀκροατὴς ἐσόμενος: ἴδε μὴ μόνον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, ἀλλὰ…

Athenagoras Teaches: Idols are soulless made things

fl. c. 177 AD · Plea for the Christians 15

Since the many cannot distinguish what is matter, what is God, or how much lies between them, they approach idols made of matter. Shall we, who distinguish and separate the uncreated from the created, true being from non-being, the intelligible from the sensible, and assign to each its proper name, also approach and…

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Greek

Ἀλλ᾿ ἔστωσαν τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἄγοντες. Τί οὖν; Ἐπεὶ οἱ πολλοί, διακρῖναι οὐ δυνάμενοι τί μὲν ὕλη τί δὲ θεὸς πόσον δὲ τὸ διὰ μέσου αὐτῶν, προσίασι τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς ὕλης εἰδώλοις, δι᾿ ἐκείνους καὶ ἡμεῖς, οἱ διακρίνοντες καὶ χωρίζοντες τὸ ἀγένητον καὶ τὸ γενητόν, τὸ ὂν καὶ τὸ οὐκ ὄν, τὸ…

Athenagoras Teaches: Idols are soulless made things

fl. c. 177 AD · Plea for the Christians 17

A defender must offer a more precise account not only of the names — because they are recent — but also of the images, since they came into being, so to speak, only yesterday and the day before. You yourselves recognize these facts as even more weighty, since they harmonize with all the ancients and surpass them.

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Greek

Ἀνάγκη δὲ ἀπολογούμενον ἀκριβεστέρους παρέχειν τοὺς λογισμοὺς καὶ περὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων, ὅτι νεώτερα, καὶ περὶ τῶν εἰκόνων, ὅτι χθὲς καὶ πρώην γεγόνασιν, ὡς λόγῳ εἰπεῖν· ἴστε δὲ καὶ ὑμεῖς ταῦτα ἀξιολογώτερον, ὡς ἂν ἐν πᾶσι καὶ ὑπὲρ πάντας τοῖς παλαιοῖς συγγινόμενοι.

Athenagoras Teaches: Demons work through the images

fl. c. 177 AD · Plea for the Christians 26

The demons already mentioned are the ones who drag people toward idols: they have been consecrated with the blood of sacrifices and lick it up. The beings that please the crowds and are called gods and attached to images have, as their own histories show, become mere men.

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Greek

Καὶ οἱ μὲν περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα αὐτοὺς ἕλκοντες οἱ δαίμονές εἰσιν οἱ προειρημένοι, οἱ προστετηκότες τῷ ἀπὸ τῶν ἱερείων αἵματι καὶ ταῦτα περιλιχμώμενοι· οἱ δὲ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀρέσκοντες θεοὶ καὶ ταῖς εἰκόσιν ἐπονομαζόμενοι, ὡς ἔστιν ἐκ τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτοὺς ἱστορίας εἰδέναι, ἄνθρωποι γεγόνασιν.

Athenagoras Rejects: Many gods existed from the beginning

fl. c. 177 AD · Plea for the Christians 8

Consider the reasoning of our faith in this way: from the beginning there is one Creator of this universe, and he is God. If two or more gods had existed from the beginning, they would either have been in one and the same place or each would have been separate.

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Greek

Ὅτι τοίνυν εἷς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὁ τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς ποιητὴς θεὸς οὑτωσὶ σκέψασθε, ἵν᾿ ἔχητε καὶ τὸν λογισμὸν ἡμῶν τῆς πίστεως. Εἰ δύο ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἢ πλείους ἦσαν θεοί, ἤτοι ἐν ἑνὶ καὶ ταὐτῷ ἦσαν ἢ ἰδίᾳ ἕκαστος αὐτῶν. Ἐν μὲν οὖν ἑνὶ καὶ ταὐτῷ εἶναι οὐκ ἠδύναντο.

Other passages filed here (29)