Heidelberg Catechism, Question 95
Question 95
What is idolatry?
Idolatry is instead of, or besides that one true God, who has manifested himself in his word, to contrive, or have any other object in which men place their trust (Gal. 4;8).
Scripture references for paragraph 1
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Galatians 4:88Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.
1 Peter 4:33For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.
1 Thessalonians 1:99For 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
Matthew 6:2424No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Philippians 3:1919Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
Source and edition
Heidelberg Catechism. RCA English, E. R. Good & Bro., Tiffin, 1879. RCA English, E. R. Good & Bro., Tiffin, 1879
Public Domain (historic text); CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikisource transcription). Source transcription.
Transcription licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.
Berean Blue opens December 1, 2026 for Bible reading, study, and research. View this work in the app preview.