Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
The three estates of the Galatian Church
I. Before their conversion.
1. Ignorance of God. There is a twofold knowledge of God.
(1) Natural (Acts 14:17; Romans 1:20), but this is
(a) imperfect,
(b) weak.
(2) Revealed: of the Father in Christ; neither of which did the Galatians possess.
2. Idolatry.
(1) False gods are set up in two ways,
(a) when that which is not God is worshipped as God,
(b) when men acknowledge the true God but do not conceive of Him as He will be conceived.
(2) There is a spiritual idolatry. What a man loves most is His god--wealth, pleasure, sin.
(3) That the sin of idolatry be rooted out there must be
(a) an illumination of the mind,
(b) a renovation of the heart.
II. In their conversion.
1. They knew God.
(1) The foundation of this knowledge: the revelation of God in Christ (Hebrews 1:2; 2 Corinthians 4:6).
(2) Its properties
(a) special: whereby we acknowledge Him to be our God in Christ through faith;
(b) distinct, not confused: His presence with us, providence over us, will concerning us; life is as
(c) effectual (1 John 2:4; 1 John 3:6).
2. God knew them.
1. This knowledge is the root of ours. We know Him because He first knew us.
2. The ground of all our hope and comfort (Isaiah 49:15).
III. In their apostasy, which was--
1. An intolerable sin.
2. A voluntary sin.
3. A senseless sin.
4. A common sin. (W. Perkins.)
Idolatry: its commonness
Many people have their own god; and he is much what the French mean when they talk of le bon Dieu,--very indulgent, rather weak, near at hand when we want anything, but far away out of sight when we have a mind to do wrong. Such-a god is as much an idol as if he were an image of wood or stone. (Archdeacon Hare.)
Idolatry: misrepresentation of God
It is, as it were, putting a mask on the face of God. Now if we do not make idols, still we may misrepresent God. We often speak as though God did not rejoice to see us enjoying ourselves. (T. T. Lynch.)
Idolatry: its power
Idolatry is one of the most unconquerable of all the corrupt propensities of the human soul. Miracles under the new dispensation had scarcely ceased, the apostolic fathers were scarcely cold in their graves, before idolatrous forms were superinduced upon the pure spirituality of the holy gospel. (J. B. Walker, M. A.)
Idolatry: its folly
How senseless it is! We should think that artist beside himself who would undertake to draw a likeness of something which he had never seen, nor ever could see; to paint a portrait of the air, the wind, the fragrance of flowers. And God is a Spirit. To what shall we liken Him? (D. Thomas, D.D)
The testimony of idolatry
It is a very important truth that the prevalence of idolatry is in itself a strong testimony for the existence of one supreme God. For we find idolatry in some form amongst all but the most degraded and debased of nations, such as are some of the African tribes, and it is not certain that its remnants are not traceable there. As Luther puts it: “All idolatry in the world arises from this, that people by nature have had the common knowledge that there is a God, without which idolatry would remain unpractised. With this knowledge engrafted in mankind, they have (without God’s Word) fancied all manner of ungodly opinions about God.” (Biblical Treasury.)