Troublesome TopicI CORINTHIANS 8

1 Corinthians 8:4

Translation

Therefore,

Go to footnote number

concerning the food of the image-sacrifices, we know that an idol [is] nothing in this world and that [there is] no THEOS, if not one. (See comment below.)

Paraphrase

Based on what I just said, I will now give you my response to your question about meat that has been sacrificed to idols. As a starting point, we know that an idol is nothing; the idols of people all around the world are nothing, meaning they have no power and are not really gods. There is no deity figure except one – THE CREATOR AND OWNER OF ALL THINGS.

THESE ARE FOUNDATIONAL STATEMENTS THAT SET THE STAGE FOR WHAT WILL FOLLOW

Keep in mind the point that Paul is making here – eating meat sacrificed to idols is actually a non-issue because idols are nothing; the gods they represent do not exist. The only reason to care about this issue is to show sensitivity to other believers in Jesus who, because of their past, have not yet grasped the reality that this is not a problem.

The two statements in the second half of this verse, “an idol is nothing in this world,” and “there is no God if not one”, form the foundation for what will follow. They cannot be ignored or set aside, rather they create definitions that must be kept in mind as one moves through the rest of Paul’s discussion of meat sacrificed to idols.

Paul’s statement that “an idol is nothing” corresponds with other statements which indicate that demons are behind the worship of other gods. The god as known by the people, with a name, abilities, likes and dislikes, and demands for appeasement, does not exist.

The words “there is no God, if not one” is a very clear indication that other gods do not exist. Michael Heiser’s notion that the Bible allows for a council of friendly gods who have remained loyal to YHVH, is nullified by this verse. Besides that, Heiser is inconsistent because he often speaks of all gods, even rebellious gods, demons and even Satan, as being part of God’s council of gods and he, YHVH I obliged to at least listen to them. But Heiser focuses his attention on the next two verses without properly understanding the foundational concepts presented in this one.

1 Corinthians 8:5

Translation

for even if it be that there are ____ called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many gods and many lords (see comment below),

Go to footnote number

Paraphrase

for even if it is true that there are entities which are thought of and referred to as gods, whether they are perceived to reside in the heavens, or whether they are men here on earth that command their subjects to worship them as if they are gods, and we know there are indeed many entities that are thought of as gods and many leaders that lord it over their subjects in that way,

“MANY GODS AND MANY LORDS” REFERS TO THE ERRONEOUS BELIEFS OF OTHER RELIGIONS

Because of what precedes the statement about many gods and many lords, this must mean that there are many entities that people think of as god and many human leaders (lords) who demand to be called gods or demigods. Notice how the verse begins – “even if it be that there are ____ called gods”. There are a few options for how the blank can be filled in; “even if it be that there are so- called gods,” “even if it be that there are entities called gods,” ‘even if it be that there are beings that are called gods,” “even if it be that there are things called gods.” You get the idea. The fact that he says they are “called gods” means they are not really gods, they are just called gods.

Heiser takes this to mean that there are indeed other gods that have supernatural powers. In so doing he rejects several aspects of the context of this verse, the consistent message of the whole Bible, and the most natural meaning of this statement. He would disagree with my statement about the whole Bible because he has reinterpreted all the pertinent passages to point the direction he wants them to point.

1 Corinthians 8:6

Translation

yet to us [there is] one THEOS, the Father, out of whom [are] all things, and we [exist] unto Him, and [there is] one Lord, JESUS CHRIST, by whom [are] all things, and we [exist] through Him. (See comment below.)

Paraphrase

but in contrast to those ideologies, we hold that there is on one CREATOR AND OWNER OF ALL THINGS, also referred to as “God the Father,” who gave all things their existence and we exist for His glory, and there is only one Lord, YHVH’S SAVIOR who is also THE ANOINTED MESSIAH, by whom all things came into being, and we exist because of Him.

ONLY ONE GOD AND ONLY ONE LORD

“To us” is intended as a contrast between what we believe and what the other religions teach. Michael Heiser uses those to words to argue that God is only the one true God in our eyes, but not in real fact because, in Heiser’s mind, other gods do exist. But remember that verse four sets the stage by declaring the guiding principle for this passage – “there is no God except one”.

After the statement that, for us, there is only one God, and after the statement that there is only one Lord, Paul gave indications of why those statements are true, i.e. that God created all things, and that the Lord Jesus Christ was the means of that creation. The Creator is that owner of what He created.

1 Corinthians 8:7

Translation

But not all [are] in this knowledge. In contrast, some at this time by habit [see] anything sacrificed to an idol as of that idol, and their weak conscience is made dirty. (See comment below.)

Paraphrase

But, unfortunately, not everyone, not even all believers in Jesus, understand that idols do not represent real gods. There are some today who, because of the habits they have had for a long time, still think that anything sacrificed to an idol belongs to the god represented by that idol, and therefore, they think that eating such meat would give them a guilty conscience.

PAUL’S USE OF THE WORD WEAK

For the rest of this passage, Paul uses the word “weak” to indicate those believers who have not yet reached the level of spiritual maturity to understand that other gods do not exist and therefore idols dedicated to them are nothing to be concerned about. Yes, there is deception on the part of demons to make people believe in those false gods, but a believer in Jesus has been set free from such thinking patterns and therefore need not be concerned about whether meat has been involved in a ceremony involving other gods or not. It does not affect the meat in any way. This is the mature position.

Michael Heiser raises the spiritually weak position to the level of truth, meaning that what Paul saw as the spiritually mature position was actually a falsehood, in Heiser’s mind.

1 Corinthians 8:13

Translation

Therefore, if food ensnares

Go to footnote number

my brother, I will no never eat meat to the age, so that I might not ensnare my brother. (SEe comment below.)

Paraphrase

Therefore, if eating food can potentially cause my brother to stumble into sin, I am determined to never eat meat again to the end of time, so that there is no chance I could entice my brother to sin in that way.

PAUL’S CONCLUSION IS THAT HE WILL PRIORITIZE HIS BROTHER’S SPIRITUAL HEALTH OVER HIS OWN LIBERTIES

This verse is Paul’s conclusion of this topic in the letter we call First Corinthians. He has said that eating meat that was involved in a sacrificial ceremony to a pagan god is no problem because those gods don’t exist anyway. However, there are some brothers in Christ who perceive it as a problem and for their sakes he will refuse to eat meat in order to avoid putting them in an inner spiritual conflict.

If those gods do not exist as perceived, but rather are demons pretending to be gods, it fits with what Paul is saying about food sacrificed to them being a non-issue. But if there is a council of gods, and if the Creator God did hand the other nations over to evil gods on His council, as Michael Heiser suggests, then we would not expect Paul to say what he said about such sacrifices. He would have condemned anything associated in any way with such practices.

Footnotes

1: "Therefore"

Paul introduced the topic of food sacrificed to idols in verse one, but he took a quick detour in verses 1-3, so now he is getting back to that topic. There is general agreement that any time Paul wrote the words “now concerning” he was beginning to address another topic of concern that was mentioned in the letter he received from the congregation in Corinth.

2

In footnote number 8 on page 339 of Unseen Realm, Heiser berates the translators of some popular versions of the Bible that render I Cor 8:5, (the part about many gods and many lords) with quotation marks around “gods” and “lords.” His argument is that they are wrong in doing so because “the Greek manuscripts have no such punctuation.” Of course they had no such punctuation! They had no punctuation whatsoever! Therefore, there is no indication of the end of one sentence and the beginning of another one. Furthermore, until about the 9th or 10th century, all the words in Greek manuscripts were crammed together with no spaces between the words; no spaces between sentences either. Sometimes they were all Capital letters, and sometimes there were all minuscules. As an example, do the letters GODISNOWHERE intend to say, “God is now here,” or “God is nowhere”? Because there was no punctuation whatsoever, translators must try to determine what was being said, and what was intended by it. In order to communicate that Paul seems to be calling those entities supposed gods and supposed lords, many translators put them in quotes for the sake of the modern reader. No translator is ever intending to communicate that the Greek version had quotations around those words.

3: "ensnares"

This Geek word means “to ensnare, to cause to stumble physically or spiritually, to entice into sin”. It’s pronunciation sounds like the English word for “scandal.”