1 Corinthians 10:14
1 Corinthians 10:1414Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
The Watchtower reads 10:14 ("flee from idolatry") as broadly supporting the JW position that representational art tied to worship, including the cross, is idolatrous. Combined with , this verse forms part of the cluster rs uses (pp. 89-93) to argue that cherishing a cross-shaped representation of Christ's death is cultic idolatry that Christians must flee. The verse thus becomes a general-purpose prohibition on religious imagery rather than the specific warning Paul issues.
10:14 is Paul warning the Corinthian church against the actual idolatry around them — participation in pagan sacrificial meals in the temples of Greek and Roman gods. The immediate context (10:14-22) is about eating food offered to idols in idol temples, not about religious art in the abstract. Paul is not banning representational art. The proof is inside his own canon: the God who inspired this verse also commanded Moses to make golden cherubim on the ark (), cherubim woven into the tabernacle curtains (), and the bronze serpent on a pole that Jesus later used as the pattern for his own crucifixion (, ). At the door: "Flee from idolatry is flee from worshipping created things as gods — not flee from representing God's saving acts. The Watchtower has conflated the two."