We Become What We Worship

Greg Beale titled his landmark book We Become What We Worship. His thesis is simple: “What people revere, they resemble, either for ruin or for restoration.” He traces the theme throughout Scripture to show that we are worshippers, and that our worship exposes us and changes us. We either revere the world and are conformed to the sinful patterns of the world, or we revere God and are progressively conformed into his likeness. 

Take the book of Romans. Beale points out that the Greek word for representation or image (εἰκόνος) occurs in two places (Romans 1:23, 8:29).

In the first reference, Paul begins with the objects and effects of pagan worship. The pagan worship of an image is an act of God-replacement. Idols are twisted versions of reality. Whenever we worship a created object or person or animal, we are acting unnaturally towards the Creator. And through this unnatural worship of a created thing, the life of the worshipper takes on increasingly unnatural characteristics as well — and that unnatural character is reflected in the unnatural sexual sins that Paul later describes.

The second reference to image is found in Romans 8:29, where Paul speaks of those who revere God. Those who “love God” will be conformed to the image of Christ. This is becoming true right now and will ultimately be fully revealed in glorification.

What Beale sees in Romans is that we are being molded into one of two images: either into the distortion of creation (an idol) or into the image of the Creator.  Continue at Tony Reinke