Original collection
Early Christians / Temple and Instruments?
Scripture repeatedly forbids idolatry and worship of created things. Israel was forbidden to make images for worship and bow down to them; Paul condemned exchanging God's glory for created images; John was forbidden to worship an angel. Catholic or Orthodox distinctions between worship and veneration should first be represented accurately, then tested by biblical authority.
Key KJV Scriptures:
Exodus 20:3-6; Deuteronomy 4:15-19; Romans 1:22-25; Acts 17:24-29; Revelation 22:8-9
Key KJV Scriptures: Full Text
21 indexed verses · Showing 1–21. Read each passage in its chapter context.
Exodus 20:3 (KJV)
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exodus 20:4 (KJV)
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exodus 20:5 (KJV)
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exodus 20:6 (KJV)
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Deuteronomy 4:15 (KJV)
Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
Deuteronomy 4:16 (KJV)
Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
Deuteronomy 4:17 (KJV)
The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
Deuteronomy 4:18 (KJV)
The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
Deuteronomy 4:19 (KJV)
And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
Acts 17:24 (KJV)
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Acts 17:25 (KJV)
Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
Acts 17:26 (KJV)
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
Acts 17:27 (KJV)
That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
Acts 17:28 (KJV)
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Acts 17:29 (KJV)
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
Romans 1:22 (KJV)
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Romans 1:23 (KJV)
And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Romans 1:24 (KJV)
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Romans 1:25 (KJV)
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Revelation 22:8 (KJV)
And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Revelation 22:9 (KJV)
Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.