Syncretism

The incorporation into religious faith and practice of elements from other religions, resulting in a loss of integrity and assimilation to the surrounding culture.

Syncretism in Israel

God's claim to exclusive worship, the basis of the rejection of syncretism

Exodus 20:3 parallel Deuteronomy 5:7 See also Deuteronomy 6:13–15; Joshua 24:14–15; 1 Kings 18:21

You shall have no other gods before Me.

Syncretism forbidden to Israel

Exodus 34:15–16 See also Deuteronomy 7:1–6; Joshua 23:16; 1 Samuel 7:3

Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you take some of their daughters as brides for your sons, their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and cause your sons to do the same.

Israelite practice of syncretism

Jeremiah 19:4–5 See also 2 Kings 17:34–41, 2 Kings 21:1–7 parallel 2 Chronicles 33:1–7; Ezekiel 8:9–16

because they have abandoned Me and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense in this place to other gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have ever known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal — something I never commanded or mentioned, nor did it even enter My mind.

The consequence of syncretism

Jeremiah 2:5 See also Deuteronomy 18:9–13; 2 Kings 17:15–17; Isaiah 2:6

This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me? They followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves.

Punishment for syncretism

Zephaniah 1:4–5 See also Deuteronomy 17:2–7; Jeremiah 19:10–13; Hosea 2:2–13

“I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all who dwell in Jerusalem. I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal, the names of the idolatrous and pagan priests — those who bow on the rooftops to worship the host of heaven, those who bow down and swear by the LORD but also swear by Milcom,

Syncretism in NT times

Mediterranean society was syncretistic

Acts 14:11–13, Acts 17:16–23, Acts 19:13–16

NT opposition to syncretism

Hebrews 13:9 See also 1 Corinthians 10:21; Galatians 4:9–10; Colossians 2:18

Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them.

Monotheism is incompatible with syncretism

Isaiah 44:6 See also Deuteronomy 6:4–5; Isaiah 43:10–12; 1 Corinthians 8:4–6

Thus says the LORD, the King and Redeemer of Israel, the LORD of Hosts: “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God but Me.