For though there be that are called gods,
whether in heaven or in earth, (as there
be gods many [ὥσπερ εἰσὶν θεοὶ πολλοὶ], and lords many,) (1 Cor 8:5)
Commenting on
the phrase “as there be gods many,” Paul Rainbow argued that this phrase shows
that Paul did accept the ontological existence of these θεοι, contra many commentators who
errantly claimed non-existent idols were in view in this text:
ὥσπερ εἰσὶν θεοὶ πολλοὶ (v 5)
The second clause in v 5 transfers what is
conceded out of the realm of hypothesis into that of actuality. The change from
εἴπερ εἰσὶν to ὥσπερ εἰσὶν effects the transfer: 'even if there should be—as
in fact there are'. This rules out the view that Paul denies the existence of
the gods and recognizes them as forces of evil only because people wrongly believe in them. He thinks they are really there in some sense.
The qualification λεγόμενοι carries over in
thought from the preceding phrase into this one as well: in comparison with the
one God, these beings are wrongly spoken of as divine. Yet that is not to deny
that they are gods in a secondary sense. Paul's use of the compound phrase καὶ
εἴπερ at the beginning of v 5 shows that he wishes to concede the extreme case
of the side of polytheism in order rhetorically to enhance his contrasting
confession of monotheism in v 6. hence the mounting tension as he moves from
hypothesis (εἴπερ) to actuality (ὥσπερ) in v 5. In view of the fact that Paul,
like other Jews of the period, was aware of the broad Hellenistic usage of the
word θεος for superhuman beings, and was able in another passage himself to use
the word in this way for Satan (II Cor .4.4), it is likely that here too he
intends to grant these beings some genuine power. The title 'gods' is not
entirely unjustified. Paul for a moment allows the word to have its wider
reference. O. Everling struck the nail on the head: these beings have an
objective existence but are improperly regarded as gods when compared to the
one God, nevertheless it is not illegitimate to call them θεοι, κυριοι. (Paul
Andrew Rainbow, Monotheism
and Christology in 1 Corinthians 8.4-6 [Oxford, D. Phil. Diss., 1987], 144-45)