Prophetic traditions hostile to
the gods underlie Paul’s letters. As he traveled the eastern Mediterranean spreading
his evangelion (“good news”), Paul perforce dealt with pagan gods at
close quarters: After all, he roamed in their territories. For example,
corresponding with his gentile community in Corinth, he complained that “the
god of this age” (theos tou aiōnos
toutou) had blinded the minds of unbelievers (2 Cor 4:4). Modern
commentators will insist that by “god” in this sense, Paul must intend “the
devil,” that is, Satan. But that is not what Paul says. He is perfectly capable
of naming Satan when he wants to: 1 Thessalonians 2:18 (cf. 3:5); 1 Corinthians
5:5, 7:7; 2 Corinthians 2:11, 11:14, 12:7; Romans 16:20. His frequent recourse
to “Satan” in fact makes Paul’s use of theos, “god,” in 2 Corinthians
4:4 that much more striking, because deliberate. Which particular god did Paul
have in mind? He does not say.
Elsewhere, Paul simultaneously
sounds the biblical tropes of denial and defiance when speaking of these gods.
Thus, at 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, instructing his ex-pagan gentile assembly, he
states: “We know that ‘an has no being in the world’ and that ‘there is no god
but one.’ 5For Evern if there are so-called gods either in heaven or
on earth—as indeed there are many gods and many lords—6yet for
us there is one God, the Father, . . . and one lord, Jesus Christ” (au. trans.).
Verse 6 does not deny the truth of verse 5, which plainly acknowledges the
theological congestion of the first-century cosmos. Rather, it situates Paul’s
hearers within their newly Judaized cosmos: The existence of these
many gods and other deities (kyrioi, “lords”) notwithstanding, Paul’s
people are to adhere solely to Paul’s god, enabled to do so through the spirit
of that god’s son, the messiah (christos). (Paula Fredriksen, “Pauline
Polytheism and the Triumph of the Davidic Messiah,” in Paul Within Paganism:
Restoring the Mediterranean Context to the Apostle, ed. Alexander
Chantziantoniou, Paula Fredriksen, and Stephen L. Young [Minneapolis: Fortress
Press, 2025], 79-80, emphasis in bold added)
