. . . we must still account for Paul’s earlier
comments,: “we know that an idol is nothing in this world” (οἴδαμεν ὅτι οὐδὲν εἴδωλον
ἐν κόσμῳ, 8.4). The other gods are only “so-called gods” (λεγόμενοι θεοὶ, 8.5).
Is this an alternate, sceptical position? Probably not. We have already
observed that superficially sceptical language was frequently combined with a
vivid sense of the reality of demons. One need only think back to Pseudo-Philo,
where the idols are mere ‘imaginations’ but are also used to contact the
demons. The scorn which Paul has for idols as useless objects does not reflect
upon the existence or non-existence of demons. There is a fundamental distinction
between the physical object and the spirit which uses it. (Guy Williams, The
Spirit World in the Letters of Paul the Apostle: A Critical Examination of the
Role of Spiritual Beings in the Authentic Pauline Epistles [Forschungen zur
Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments 231; Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2009], 147)