Monday, May 20, 2024

Andrey A. Romanov on the Ontological Existence of the "gods many" and "lords many" in 1 Corinthians 8:5

  

Robertson and Plummer, as well as Conzelmann, draw a parallel between Paul’s reference to gods in 1 Cor. 8:5 and Gal. 4:8. In Gal. 4:8, Paul reminds the Galatians that they were enslaved to ‘beings that by nature are not gods’ (τοις φυσει μη ουσι θεοις). Paul does not call these beings ‘non-existent’, but merely diminishes their religious significance when compared with that of God (see v.9). Similarly, in 2 Cor. 4:4, Paul refers to ‘the gods of this world’ (ο θεος του αιωνος τουτου) who ‘has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,’ that is, Paul writes about the consequences of the factual work of this ‘gods’ and this implies his real existence. Reference to superhuman beings other than ‘one God’ are found in a number of texts in 1 Corinthians: Paul mentions demons (1 Cor. 10:20-21), idols (which apparently are the material representations of demons; see 12:2 and elsewhere), ‘the rulers of this age’ (2:6,8), and ‘every ruler and every authority and power’ (15:24). The latter two groups should be also understood as supra-human beings. According to these texts, Paul not only affirms the existence of such beings, but even uses it in order to strengthen his argument.

 

It is sometimes argued that Paul’s words και γαρ ειπερ at the beginning of 1 Cor. 8:5 indicate his rejection of the real existence of λεγομενοι θεοι. However, not everyone fully supports this interpretation of ειπερ. (See Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon, §1575.13, who notes that ειπερ is used of ‘a thing which is assumed to be, but whether rightly or wrongly is left in doubt’) It is worth noting that Pual uses the same particle when he affirms the oneness of God (and therefore His real existence) in Orm. 3:30a: ειπερ εις ο θεος. There are some other markers in the text of 1 Cor 8:5 which allow us to assume that Pual considers λεγομενοι θεοι in 1 Cor. 8:5 as truly existing beings. For instance, Pual is quite concrete in his reference to the dwelling place of these beings: ειτε εν ουρανω ειτε επι γης. One can ask whether it would be necessary for Paul to make this specification if his intention was merely to claim the improbability of the existence of these beings. Scholars also draw attention to Paul’s use of ωσπερ in the middle of the verse which links the subsequent text with the preceding one, for ωσπερ εισιν θεοι πολλοι can be rendered as ‘just as indeed there are many gods’. (So BDAG [pp. 1106-07]. Cf. the translation in the NRSV: ‘as in fact there are many gods and many lords’.) In other words, even if Paul’s expression in the first half of the verse regarding λεγομενοι θεοι can be understood as a hypothetical assumption, the second half with the concrete reference to ‘gods’ and ‘lords’ seem to be an affirmative statement. J.F.M. Smit proposes to make GK as implying that the supposition agrees with the fact’ and ‘to relate it first of all to ωσπερ, which introduces the statement that the supposition is indeed a fact’. (See Smit, ‘1 Cor 8.1-6’, 585)

 

One should not overlook the rhetorical significance of αλλημιν in v.6, which sets ‘one God’ and ‘one Lord’ in a contrast to many gods and many lords. Pual seems to distinguish not what is ‘real’ from what is ‘unreal’ but the two co-existing realities. If he considers other ‘gods’ and ‘lords’ as non-existent, it would not be necessary for him to use ημιν: he could just proclaim that in fact there are one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover, the very presence of v.5 would make no sense if Paul in his reply to the Corinthians’ statement in v.4 just wants to stress the reality of only one Go (and only one Lord).

 

Taking into account these considerations, there seems to be no reason to question Paul’s confidence with regard to the real existence of other celestial beings. (Andrey A. Romanov, One God as One God and One Lord: The Lordship of Jesus Christ as a Hermeneutical Key to Paul’s Christology in 1 Corinthians (with a special focus on 1 Cor. 8:4-6) [Early Christian Studies 20; Macquarie Centre, Australia: 2021], 600-3)