"You were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak..."

The Epistle reading for this week suggested by the New Revised Common Lectionary (NRCL) is 1 Corinthians 12:1-11.  This reading is part of the much longer discussion of spiritual gifts that extends through the middle of chapter 14.  12:2 reads: You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak.  It is an odd little verse that commentators frequently ignore while moving on to the greater argument about spiritual gifts that Paul develops.

But I do pause over it a moment.  The NRSV translates the phrase referring to idols as idols that could not speak.  Other versions offer the simpler dumb idols.  There is a bridge connecting verse 2 with verse 3, Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.  That connection involves idols that cannot speak and people or spirits that either affirm or blaspheme verbally.  It may be a stretch, but it makes sense to me.

But the thing that captivates me is this identification of dumb idols.  It is true that idolatry is the one great transgression in both the Old and New Testaments.  Knowing that can spin Paul and his readers into the observations about oral expression.

That brings me back to idols that could not speak.  I wonder what that must be like.  I can envision people bowing down and praying before idols.  Some understandings of idols may have compelled worshippers to offer sacrifices in the presence of idols.  My question is, “How does an idol-worshiper receive affirmation?”  I suppose that if the petitioner prays for rain and then it rains that the worshiper could say, “Well, my offering must have been accepted.  The idol has granted my request.  The idol must have approved my offering.”  But, what if the idol-worshiper requests something besides favorable weather or a good harvest?  Does such a person ever ask for direction, or comfort, or other items that we do not objectively measure?

If this idolater feels like the idol’s spirit is leading them down a particular path that gets pretty subjective.  An individual could act in any manner they choose and write it off to, “Well, I feel like the idol is leading me in such-and-such a direction.”

That strikes pretty close to home.  I don’t know that there is a hair’s breadth of difference between the idol-worshiper and any Christian believer who bases their action on some ill-defined “feeling.” 

Does the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob answer prayers?  Does the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ grant petitions?  I say a resounding “yes” to these questions.  Does God give some kind of secret instruction to the few, especially to the few whose thoughts or behavior fly in the face of all we know of the nature of God?  I don’t think so.  Lacking the rending of the heavens and the voice of God booming like thunder, it is our common experience and tradition that directs us along the paths that God chooses.  As is the case with those who worship dumb idols, for people of faith a lack of clear instruction does not mean that we get to make up our own answers.