Chapter III — The nature of idolatry, and the gravity of its malice, are here set forth

I. St. Paul charges all sinners with idolatry — above all the sensual, whose god is their belly, and the greedy, who serve the idol of money. This idolatry, however, taken in this general sense — one that runs through every mortal sin, inasmuch as anyone who sins mortally sets a creature up as his ultimate end — is not a distinct, particular sin in itself, separate from the sin actually committed. Idolatry, as a distinct species of superstition, is described by St. Thomas (II-II, q. 94, art. 1) as occurring "when divine worship is exhibited to a creature." For the crime of idolatry properly to be committed, the worship shown a creature must be a truly divine worship; for if a lesser honor — one not owed to God alone — is offered a creature, it will not be idolatry, but merely a superstition. By the term "creature" is meant a creature considered absolutely as such. But if a creature is taken as an image of the Creator, and worshipped as such, there is no superstition at all in showing it divine worship — since God is worshipped in his image, as has already been said elsewhere.

II. St. Thomas assigns five ways in which idolatry may be committed. The first is the worship of creatures — the heavens, the earth, and the like. The second is the worship of images. The third is the worship of the dead. The fourth is the worship of immaterial creatures — namely, demons. The last is the worship of the world as though it were animate. To these five species, as it were, all idolatry ever devised can be reduced. See St. Thomas, who treats the whole matter at length here, and praises St. Augustine, who discusses this subject in several chapters of Book VIII of the City of God.

III. St. Thomas (loc. cit., art. 4) assigns a twofold cause of idolatry: one on the part of man, the other on the part of the demon. He teaches that the first, on man's part, is threefold. The first, he says, arises "from a disordered affection — namely, when men, either loving or venerating some man excessively, paid him divine honor." And this cause is assigned in Wisdom 14: a father, grieving bitterly, made an image of the son suddenly snatched from him, and began to worship as a god one who had shortly before been but a dead man; and it is added there that men, whether serving their own passions or their kings, bestowed the incommunicable Name — that is, of divinity — upon stones and wood. Secondly, this occurs because man naturally delights in representation, as the Philosopher says in his Poetics; and so from the very beginning, uncultivated men, seeing through the skill of artists lifelike images of men expressively made, paid worship to them in imitation. Thirdly, this occurs through ignorance of the true God, whose excellence men, failing to consider, attributed to certain creatures on account of their beauty or power, the worship due to divinity. Another cause of idolatry, consummating it from the side of the demons, was that these showed themselves worthy of worship to erring men, giving them oracular responses, and performing certain things that seemed marvelous to men. As to the time when the crime of idolatry first arose in the world, commentators are not agreed; St. Thomas, in the second objection of the cited article, reviews various opinions, and finally answers as follows: in the first age there was no idolatry, on account of the still-recent memory of the world's creation, from which the knowledge of the one God still flourished vigorously in men's minds. In the sixth age, idolatry was excluded through the power and teaching of Christ, who triumphed over the devil.

IV. That the crime of idolatry is most grave is proved by the same St. Thomas (loc. cit., art. 3), on the grounds that by its very nature it is directed against God, from whom the worship owed him is stolen away and bestowed instead upon a creature. For whoever gives to a creature the worship owed to God treats that creature as God. Let us hear the Angelic Doctor himself, who draws the gravity of this sin both from the nature of the sin itself and from the disposition of the sinner. "The gravity of a sin," he says, "can be considered in two ways: in one way, on the part of the sin itself; and thus, just as in an earthly commonwealth it seems a most grave matter for someone to render royal honor to another than the true king — since, so far as lies in him, he thereby overturns the whole order of the state — so too among the sins committed against God (which are nonetheless the gravest of all), it seems the gravest of all that someone should render divine honor to a creature: for, so far as lies in him, he sets up another god in the world. In another way, the gravity of a sin may be considered on the part of the sinner; and in this respect it is said to be graver for one to sin knowingly than for one who sins in ignorance. Accordingly, nothing prevents heretics, who knowingly corrupt the faith they have received, from sinning more gravely than idolaters who sin in ignorance. And likewise, other sins can be graver on account of the greater contempt of the sinner."

V. Idolatry is, therefore, the gravest of all the crimes opposed to religion, being a crime of high treason against the divine majesty. It should be noted, however, that idolatry admits of a threefold degree. The first is when idolatry is joined with actual unbelief, as when someone truly believes a creature to be God, and worthy of divine honor; and this, on the side of the sin itself, involves the highest degree of malice. The second is when someone, without such unbelief, nonetheless offers to a creature — say, to a demon whom he knows not to be God — the worship due to God, in order to render that demon favorable to himself; this too is an enormous crime. The last degree is when someone, to avoid the danger of death or of some other grave harm, outwardly worships and adores a creature with external divine worship, but without any internal unbelief; this too is a grave crime, but is not true idolatry in the strictest sense. From this you may gather that idolatry, in malice, surpasses all other sins opposed to the theological virtues, but not necessarily all other vices opposed to the moral virtues — except insofar as the Angelic Doctor, in the passage cited, considers idolatry together with all that is committed directly against God, as when he treats it alongside unbelief and hatred of God, from which it proceeds, and as the culmination of all other crimes. Elsewhere, however, the Angelic Doctor plainly teaches (II-II, q. 10, art. 3) that hatred of God, heresy, unbelief, and despair are the gravest of all crimes, being opposed to the theological virtues, which far surpass the moral ones. If, then, idolatry is considered in its second and third degrees, greater malice can appear on the part of the sinner in the first degree, to which is attached a culpable ignorance of the true God. For this reason, one who sins knowingly sins more gravely than one who errs through ignorance.