Greek word · G1497

εἴδωλον

eidōlon

idol

In general Greek: image, likeness, reflection, phantom, ghost: something that looks real but has no substance. In the LXX and Jewish/Christian writing: the image of a foreign god and the god itself, always with contempt.

Appears 11 times in 11 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

εἴδωλον, -ου, τό

(εἶδος), [in LXX for אֱלוֹהָּ, גְּלוּלִים, etc. ;]

1. in cl.

(a) a phantom, image, likeness;

(b) an image in the mind, an idea, fancy.

2. In LXX and NT,

(a) an image of a god, an idol (cf. Polyb., xxxi, 3, 13): Acts 7:41, 1 Corinthians 12:2, Revelation 9:20;

(b) the false god or idol worshipped in an image (ICC, on I Th, l.with): Acts 15:20, Romans 2:22, 1 Corinthians 8:4, 7 10:19 2 Corinthians 6:18, 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 John 5:21.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 2 Corinthians 6:16

Range of meaning

In general Greek: image, likeness, reflection, phantom, ghost: something that looks real but has no substance. In the LXX and Jewish/Christian writing: the image of a foreign god and the god itself, always with contempt.

Against the English

Modern English "idol" usually means anything loved too much (money, career, a celebrity). Here it means literal cult statues and the worship, sacrifices and temple meals that went with them.

How it drifted

Preaching that applies "idolatry" to inner attachments (which Paul himself does in Col 3:5) has pushed the literal sense into the background for modern readers.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX uses eidōlon for the gods of the nations (e.g. Num 25:2; 1 Kgs 11:33; Isa 45:16). Pagans did not call their own statues eidōla; they used agalma or xoanon. Calling them eidōla was a Jewish polemical choice: mere images. Compare 1 Cor 8:4, "an idol is nothing in the world", and 1 Thess 1:9, "turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God".

From the study of 1 Corinthians 8:4

Range of meaning

In classical Greek: an image, a likeness, a phantom, a ghostly double, a reflection, an insubstantial copy (Homer uses it for shades of the dead and for phantom figures made by gods). In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) and Jewish Greek it is the standard term for the images of foreign gods, translating several Hebrew words including ʾĕlîlîm, "worthless things, nothings" (e.g. Ps 96:5 [95:5 LXX], "all the gods of the nations are idols").

Against the English

"Idol" in English now often means a celebrity, or by sermon extension anything put ahead of God, such as money or career. Paul means a physical cult image, and the god it was thought to make present.

How it drifted

English "idol" comes from this word through Latin idolum. In modern use it has drifted toward "admired star" and toward the devotional metaphor "heart-idol". Both are later.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 44:9–20, Jeremiah 10:1–16 and Wisdom of Solomon 13–15 mock images as lifeless things made by craftsmen. Pagan Greeks did not call their statues eidōla; they used agalma (an honoured image) or xoanon. Calling them eidōla was a Jewish polemical choice.

From the study of 1 Corinthians 12:2

Range of meaning

In classical Greek: image, phantom, reflection, a ghost or shade of the dead. In the Septuagint and Jewish Greek: an idol, the image of a foreign god, and so a false god.

Against the English

"Idol" is accurate. A modern reader may miss that the word itself was Jewish mockery. A Greek worshiper would have called the statue an agalma (a sacred image) or a xoanon (a carved cult figure), not an eidōlon.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Septuagint it renders several Hebrew words for idols (e.g. Num 25:2; 1 Kgs 11:33). Compare 1 Cor 8:4 ("an idol is nothing in the world") and 10:19–20 (what pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons). In 1 Thess 1:9 believers "turned to God from idols."

Similar words

Where it appears

Acts · 2

  1. Acts 7:41 εἰδώλῳ idol

    At that time they made a calf and offered a sacrifice to the idol, rejoicing in the works of their hands.

  2. Acts 15:20 εἰδώλων idols

    Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.

    Here: The cult images of the gods in pagan temples. The 'pollutions of the idols' are the defilements that come from them: above all, meat and drink that had been offered to them.

Romans · 1

  1. Romans 2:22 εἴδωλα idols

    You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

1 Corinthians · 4

  1. 1 Corinthians 8:4 εἴδωλον an idol

    So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.

    Here: A cult image of a god, with the Greek sense of an empty likeness or phantom underneath. In Jewish usage the word already implied that the thing has nothing real behind it.

  2. 1 Corinthians 8:7 εἰδώλου idol

    But not everyone has this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that they eat such food as if it were sacrificed to an idol. And since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.

    Here: The cult image and the god it stood for. They are used to the idol, meaning their familiarity is with the god it represented and not merely with an object.

  3. 1 Corinthians 10:19 εἴδωλόν an idol

    Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?

    Here: The cult statue together with the god it was supposed to stand for. The word's oldest sense ('phantom, shadow, unreal image') suits Paul's point: an idol is not a real god.

  4. 1 Corinthians 12:2 εἴδωλα idols

    You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.

    Here: Cult images of the gods. To a Jew the word was an insult. Pagans called their statues by other names, but Jews called them eidōla, "images, phantoms," things without reality (compare 8:4).

2 Corinthians · 1

  1. 2 Corinthians 6:16 εἰδώλων; idols?

    What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”

    Here: The cult images of pagan gods and, by extension, the worship centred on them. A Jewish put-down word: in ordinary Greek it could mean a phantom or mere likeness.

1 Thessalonians · 1

  1. 1 Thessalonians 1:9 εἰδώλων idols

    For they themselves report what kind of welcome you gave us, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God

    Here: Cult statues and the gods they stood for. The word itself is Jewish polemic: it calls them 'images' or 'phantoms', things with no reality behind them.

1 John · 1

  1. 1 John 5:21 εἰδώλων idols

    Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

    Here: In Jewish and Christian Greek, this was the standard word for the cult images of other gods and for those gods themselves. It is placed straight after the triple 'true' of 5:20, so it lands as the opposite of the real God: images and phantoms, unreal stand-ins.

Revelation · 1

  1. Revelation 9:20 εἴδωλα idols

    Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.

    Here: Cult statues of gods. Jewish writers used this word, which originally meant 'image' or 'phantom', to mark them as unreal copies rather than gods.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.