Not Form, but Affections

The similarities in outward form between the worship of the true God and some of the pagan deities posed a great danger to the children of Israel, because all that needed to shift for them to become idolatrous, were their affections—nothing else needed to change. Time and again the prophets of Israel found themselves denouncing the worship of Israel even though the outward form of their worship had not radically changed. What had happened was that the people's affections had been seduced and gone whoring after other gods. The kind of idolatry that people embrace is consistent with the form that is prevalent in their surrounding culture. Because we are constantly rubbing shoulders with a society that is idolatrous, our affections are tempted to embrace their idols and thus we need to heed Paul's warning not to imbibe the idolatry of our age.