Lessons #339 and 340
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
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+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Prohibition of idolatry and reasons (1 Cor 10:14-22)
... 18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
Recall the message of this passage of 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 that we have been considering is that Believers should avoid idolatry since everything associated with it is incompatible with the Christian faith, exposes one to demons, and so harms one’s fellowship with the Lord. We asserted that there are three general reasons the Holy Spirit provided through Apostle Paul about the prohibition against idolatry. The first is because of the uniqueness of the Lord’s Supper as described in verses 16 and 17. This uniqueness is conveyed in the significance of the elements of cup and bread used in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The cup, as stated previously, signifies sharing in the blessings of the death of Christ that includes forgiveness of sins while the bread signifies belonging to the church of Christ. Consequently, because of the uniqueness of Lord’s Supper that believers partake that indicates they share the benefits of the death of Christ on the cross and belong to the church of Christ, they should not be involved in idolatry. A second reason is the nature of sacrifices in general, both in ancient Israel and among the pagans, described in verses 18 to 20. In our last study, we considered the nature of sacrifices in ancient Israel that we indicated were such that they created unity between them and God and each other. Therefore, idolatry is unbecoming of those who have such a relationship with God since it would be an affront to God. Having considered the nature of the sacrifices of the ancient Israel, we proceed to consider the nature of sacrifices among the pagans. It is with this we begin our study this day.
There are two declarations of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul regarding the nature of sacrifices among the pagans. The first declaration regarding the nature of the sacrifices the pagans offered to their idols is that there is no reality to them because idols that are reflections of the gods the pagans worship are not real. This declaration of the nature of the sacrifices of the pagans is given in a rhetorical question in 1 Corinthians 10:19 I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?
It all depends on the English versions you have as to how the rhetorical question begins. Some English versions use the word “say” others, such as the ESV, use the word “imply” because of the meanings of the Greek word used. The word “mean” of the NIV is translated from a Greek verb (phēmi) that is concerned with stating something either orally or in writing so it may mean “to say” as it is used in Apostle Paul’s quotation from the OT cited in 1 Corinthians 6:16:
Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”
It can also mean “to declare” as Apostle Paul used it to indicate what will not happen as it pertains to the eternal future in 1 Corinthians 15:50:
I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
The word may mean “to claim, affirm” as it is used by Apostle Paul in stating what others charge him of as we read in Romans 3:8:
Why not say—as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved.
The word may mean to say something that provides a fuller explanation of a statement hence means “to mean, imply.” It is this meaning of “to mean,” that is, “to intend to express or convey” something that is used in our passage 1 Corinthians 10:19. Thus, the apostle’s rhetorical question implies that he does not intend to assign any reality to a sacrifice made to an idol simply by acknowledging that pagans do indeed offer sacrifices. If anything, he intended to convey that there is no reality to the pagan sacrifices to their idols, implying that his thought went back to what he had previously stated in 1 Corinthians 8:4:
So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.
Sacrifices made to pagan idols involve something that is real or tangible because of the phrase of 1 Corinthians 10:19 a sacrifice offered to an idol. The expression a sacrifice offered to an idol is translated from a Greek word (eidōlothyton) that refers to something offered to an idol in form of religious service or worship. Thus, it refers to a sacrificial meat, of which part of it was burnt on the altar of a deity and the remaining portion was either eaten as a sacred meal in the temple or was sold in the market for normal consumption by people or both. Because the Jews were careful at the time of the NT to avoid any appearance of idolatry, it was forbidden for them to eat or trade in it because such meat was defiling. Consequently, the early church rendered the decision that Gentile believers should avoid such meat as we read in Acts 15:29:
You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
There is no doubt that God abhors believers eating such meat or food as part of worship to an idol. This we first noted with the anger of God towards some Israelite men who participated in worship and food offered to idols by the Moabites as we read in Numbers 25:2–3:
2 who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. 3 So Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the LORD’s anger burned against them.
That God is displeased with believers participating in eating meat or food offered as part of idolatry is clear from the Lord’s denunciations of two of the seven Asiatic churches. He rebuked the church in Pergamum for such practice in Revelation 2:14:
Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.
The same rebuke is levied against the church of Thyatira, as recorded in Revelation 2:20:
Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.
The point of Apostle Paul in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 10:19 a sacrifice offered to an idol is that the sacrificial element of pagans to their idols is real but the sacrifice itself as offered to idol is not real, that is, it does not have any significance to it. In effect, when the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:19 I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything…he intended that the Corinthians should not think that because sacrificial meat is real that the sacrifice itself has any significance as that of the ancient Israel to their God, the supreme God of the universe. This is what the apostle meant when he said in effect that the sacrifice is nothing or in the words of the NIV is anything. To support my interpretation, let me focus on the verbal phrase is anything that is literally to be something. Interestingly, the expression “to be” in the literal translation or “is” in the NIV is translated from a Greek verb (eimi) that may mean “to exist” as it is used in belief in the existence of the supreme God in Hebrews 11:6:
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
The Greek verb when used with an indefinite pronoun in the Greek, as it is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:19, it may mean “to be of relative significance, be of moment or importance, amount to something” as it is used by Apostle Paul in his statement in Galatians 6:3:
If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
The clause If anyone thinks he is something is to be understood to mean that one regards himself as important. That aside, it is in the sense of being of significance that the word is used in 1 Corinthians 10:19, implying that verbal phrase is anything in our passage is to be understood to mean that sacrifice offered to an idol is of no significance. Again, because the rhetorical question 1 Corinthians 10:19 I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything…? of the apostle expects the answer “no,” it is fitting to realize that the apostle meant that the sacrifice made to idols is nothing, that is, that such sacrifice has no significance to it although the meat or food offered is tangible or real.
It is not only that a sacrifice offered to an idol is nothing because it has no significance but the idol itself lacks any reality or significance to it as conveyed in the clause of 1 Corinthians 10:19 or that an idol is anything. To understand that the apostle meant to convey that there is no reality to an idol that pagans offered their sacrifice, we need to review first what we said about the verbal phrase is anything. Recall we said that the Greek verb translated “is” in the NIV can also mean “to exist” or “to be of relative significance, be of moment or importance, amount to something.” Thus, there are two possible ways of understanding the Greek verb used. It could be understood to mean “to exist” so the implication would be that an idol has no real existence. Or the verb could mean “to be of no significance,” implying that an idol has no true significance. The next thing we need to review to understand what the apostle meant in the clause that an idol is anything is what we said in the eighth chapter of 1 Corinthians about the word “idol,” especially in the interest of those who were not here when we considered it. Even those who heard it probably need their memory refreshed even if you have what is described as photographic memory.
To understand how a Jewish mind that read the Septuagint, viewed the Greek word, we should note some of the Hebrew words that are translated with our Greek noun in the Septuagint. Our Greek word is used to translate a Hebrew word (gillűlîm) that is always a derogatory and pejorative term criticizing idol worship, so we are told the word refers to the physical objects of idols, probably with the connotation that the idols are piles of excrement. It is with the meaning of “idol” that the word is used in the description of Josiah’s effort to rid Judah of idolatry, as recorded in 2 Kings 23:24:
Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the LORD.
Our Greek word is used to translate a Hebrew word (ʿāṣāḇ) that refers to a formed and fashioned object believed by its maker to contain or represent a deity, and so an object of worship and reverence hence means “image, idol” as it is used in Prophet Hosea’s indictment of Israel’s involvement in idolatry as we read in Hosea 13:2:
Now they sin more and more; they make idols for themselves from their silver, cleverly fashioned images, all of them the work of craftsmen. It is said of these people, “They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calf-idols.”
Our Greek word is used to translate a Hebrew word (ʾělōhîm) that although may mean “God, gods” but a Hebrew passage where our Greek word is used in the Septuagint indicates that the Hebrew word refers to an object one made that was thrown into fire, according to Isaiah 37:19:
They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.
Our Greek word is used to translate in the Septuagint a Hebrew word (terāp̄îm) that means “household god” as it is used in connection with Laban as we read in Genesis 31:19:
When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods.
It is the same meaning that is used in relation to Micah, an Ephraimite, that had in his possession a carved image that was an object of worship in Judges 18:18:
When these men went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the other household gods and the cast idol, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”
The Hebrew word may mean “idol” as a general word to describe carved images that include household gods as it is used in the description of idolatry that Micah was involved in as narrated in Judges 17:5:
Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some idols and installed one of his sons as his priest.
The phrase some idols refers to that described in Judges 18:18 as carved image, household gods and cast idol. But the Hebrew word is used in such a way that it could be interpreted to be distinct from the Hebrew word (gillűlîm) we cited previously that means “idol” or that the expression “household gods” is explained as referring to “idols” as the word is used to describe the reformation of King Josiah in his effort to get rid of idolatry in Judah in the passage we cited previously, that is, 2 Kings 23:24:
Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the LORD.
The phrase the household gods, the idols is literally the household gods and the idols. Thus, it is possible to understand the Hebrew particle translated “and” in the literal translation to be used as a marker of explanation so that the literal phrase may be fully translated the household gods, that is, the idols so we get the idea that what is described as “household gods” are nothing but “idols.” The Hebrew word (terāp̄îm) is translated “idolatry” in 1 Samuel 15:23:
For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.”
Thus, the Hebrew word describes an object carved that is small enough to be hidden underneath Rachel who sat on it as mentioned in Genesis 31:34:
Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel’s saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing.
But it is large enough to be used as a decoy by Michal, David’s wife, to represent David sleeping in his bed in 1 Samuel 19:13:
Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head.
The Hebrew word describes objects used to determine divine will as we may gather from its consultation of objects of idolatry by the Babylonian king as state in Ezekiel 21:21:
For the king of Babylon will stop at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He will cast lots with arrows, he will consult his idols, he will examine the liver.
Another Hebrew word that is translated in the Septuagint with our Greek word is a Hebrew word (hěḇěl) that means “meaningless” as it is used once in Job and thirty-three times in Ecclesiastes where the meaning is better understood as “incomprehensible.” The word may mean “breath” of humans as in Psalm 39:11:
You rebuke and discipline men for their sin; you consume their wealth like a moth—each man is but a breath.
The Hebrew word means “vain” as it is used to describe the hustle of humans in Psalm 39:6:
Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.
The word means “idol” in the NIV in describing idols of nations in Jeremiah 14:22:
Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, O LORD our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.
Still another Hebrew word translated by our Greek word is a Hebrew word (ʾělîl) that describes something as weak or worthless so the word may mean “worthlessness” as the word is used in the mouth of Job to describe his three friends in Job 13:4:
You, however, smear me with lies; you are worthless physicians, all of you!
The phrase worthless physicians is literally healers of worthlessness. The word may mean “idol” as it is used to describe the gods of nations in Psalm 96:5:
For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
The word may mean “image” as it is used in connection with idolatry in Egypt, as we read in Ezekiel 30:13:
“‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “‘I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images in Memphis. No longer will there be a prince in Egypt, and I will spread fear throughout the land.
These various Hebrew words translated by our Greek word in the Septuagint help to shape the view of a Jew who used our Greek word. Such a person would recognize our Greek word as used to describe images of the pagan deities as contemptible and worthless. In any event, the OT Scripture is clear that idols are not gods as we read in Jeremiah 16:20:
Do men make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!”
The implication is that the idols that are supposed to represent pagan gods are not indwelt by their gods. We should, of course, be careful to understand that what is called “gods” of the pagan people in the Septuagint using the Greek word we considered are the images not the gods represented by the images. Hence, the word “idol” as used by Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:19 is to be understood as that which represent pagan gods that are real but the idols themselves are not real because they are not living objects but objects that are worthless or of no value. What this means is that when the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:19 or that an idol is anything that he meant the representation of a god that exists by an idol is not real since it is an image that is produced by humans that could not possibly represent a god that those who try to represent do not know what it looks like as to have an image of it. This being the case, an idol has no true significance.
Apostle Paul certainly knew that there is no reality to any sacrifice pagans make to their idols not from his observation but from the Scripture. It is very likely that when the apostle wrote the clause of 1 Corinthians 10:19 or that an idol is anything that the Holy Spirit took his mind to the description of idols given in Psalm 115:4–7:
4 But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. 5 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; 6 they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; 7 they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
The word “idols” is translated from a Hebrew word (ʿāṣāḇ) we cited previously as one of the words translated in the Septuagint with our Greek word (eidōlon) that means “idol.” The descriptions of idols given in this passage of psalm indicate that idols are lifeless, powerless, and ineffective and so are not real or do not have any significance. Anyway, it is a passage such as this that enabled the apostle to declare that the nature of the sacrifices, pagans offered to their idols is that there is no reality to them, or they have no significance just as the idols themselves are not real. Therefore, it would be senseless to be involved in idolatry. All the same, the first declaration regarding the nature of the sacrifices the pagans offered to their idols is that there is no reality to them because the idols that are reflections of the gods the Pagans worship are not real.
The first declaration of the apostle about the nature of the sacrifices the pagans offered to their idols is simply an acknowledgment that idols are not real but that does not mean that they are not intended to represent something that is real. Idols are intended to represent the gods the Pagans worship. An idol is an image but a physical object that is considered an image intended to represent the external form of a person or a thing. Take for example, a picture is an image of the external form of a person so that it should help to identify the actual person later. This being the case, an idol being an image of a god should capture the external form of whatever god that is being represented. However, gods are transcendent beings as the apostle has already communicated to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 8:5:
For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”),
If the gods the Pagans worship are transcendent beings, it is impossible to have images or idols that represent them. It is in part for this reason that God forbids any attempt to represent Him as conveyed in what Moses stated to Israel in Deuteronomy 4:15–18:
15 You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, 16 so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, 17 or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, 18 or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below.
The point is that it is impossible to represent a transcendent being with an image or idol. Such representation would not be real since it could not capture the form of the god in view. So, when the apostle stated that idols are nothing, he does not mean that there are no gods that the Pagans were trying to represent, only that the representations are not real. It is so that there is no misunderstanding of what the apostle was teaching that he began 1 Corinthians 10:20 with Greek particle (alla) that the translators of the NIV rendered No, but. Although the Greek particle has several meanings or usages but, in our passage, it has the meaning “but” to indicate that what the apostle stated in 1 Corinthians 10:19 is a settled matter that sacrifices made to idols have no reality or significance and so what he stated forms the basis for the apostle to make a transition to something new that he wants the Corinthians to become aware regarding the nature of the sacrifices the Pagans offered. There is a sense that the Greek particle is used to add another fact in verse 20 that the Corinthians should become aware. Thus, the Greek particle brings us to the second declaration of the apostle regarding the nature of the sacrifices the Pagans offered.
The second declaration of Apostle Paul regarding the nature of the sacrifices the Pagans offered to their idols is that they expose the participants to demons and not the supreme God of the universe. It is this fact that is given in the clause of 1 Corinthians 10:20 the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. There is a manuscript problem with this clause as we may note from the fact that some English versions, such as the LEB and the HCSB, read No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. It is generally accepted that although some older manuscripts contain the Greek phrase translated pagans or Gentiles in our English version that such reading was introduced to avoid any confusion of what a reader may encounter in trying to interpret what the apostle meant. It is also accepted that the reading that is found in most ancient manuscripts although may have been a gloss but that it accurately interprets what the apostle meant. That notwithstanding, it is the reading reflected in some Greek manuscripts that reads literally but that which they sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God that was the original thing the apostle wrote.
The original clause the apostle wrote that reads literally but that which they sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God raises an important question of who is meant in the pronoun “they?” This question is necessary because of two facts that complicate the identification of those the apostle had in mind. The first fact is that the last noun mentioned in the passage we are considering is Israel in 1 Corinthians 10:18:
Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?
This would suggest the apostle was referring to Israel. The second fact is that the apostle quoted or used words from the Septuagint of Deuteronomy 32:17:
They sacrificed to demons, which are not God— gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear.
This passage in Deuteronomy is part of the song of Moses in which he indicted Israel of rebellion against their God despite His faithfulness to them. He blessed them as indicated by the concept of “fatness” in Deuteronomy 32:15:
Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, he became heavy and sleek. He abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior.
Instead of Israel remaining faithful to their God, they opted to serve foreign gods and so sacrificed to these foreign gods that are designated “demons.” Similar unfaithfulness of the Israelites sacrificing to demons is mentioned by the psalmist in Psalm 106:37:
They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.
The implication of these two charges is that Israel of the past indeed sacrificed to demons but that was not what was expected of them. They did this once they rebelled against their God. Nonetheless, the pagans were those who normally sacrificed to their gods or demons.
The two facts that we considered presented a confusion as to who the apostle had in mind when the wrote in the Greek what is translated literally as but that which they sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God. As we have stated previously, to remove this confusion some ancient Greek manuscripts inserted the Greek phrase that may be translated the pagans or the Gentiles so that it would be clear the apostle was not speaking of ancient Israel but pagan Corinthians as those who sacrificed to their gods, the apostle described here as demons. A problem with this insertion in the Greek text is that it does not fit the Greek grammatical rule where a neuter plural in the Greek usually takes a singular verb. That notwithstanding, the addition or the gloss as some describe it appears to correctly interpret what the apostle meant. In effect, he was not referring to ancient Israel but to pagans as those who sacrifice to demons. There are at least two reasons for this interpretation. The apostle was concerned with contrast in verse 20 so that the contrast makes better sense if he were contrasting the pagan Corinthians to ancient Israel. Furthermore, the word “sacrifice” the apostle used is in the present tense in the Greek. The implication is that the apostle was thinking of something that was still going on in Corinth than in Jerusalem since it is clear Israel no longer got involved in idolatry after their return from exile. Of course, one could argue that a present tense was also used in verse 18 but the present tense the apostle used in verse 18 was in connection with a participle that described those who ate the sacrifices Israel offered and so the present tense of verse 18 is different from that of verse 20. In any event, we agree that the pronoun “they” the apostle used in 1 Corinthians 10:20 refers to pagans or Gentiles.
All the same, the apostle when he wrote the clause of 1 Corinthians 10:20 the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God gave the truth about what the pagans do when they sacrifice to their idols that in and of themselves are not real. When pagans offered their sacrifices before their idols, they believe that they are offering to the true divine being that is their creator, but the apostle indicates that that is not the case. Their sacrifices are not to the supreme God who is the creator of the universe. Instead, their sacrifices are made not just to lesser gods but those that are enemies of the supreme God described with the word “demons.”
The word “demons” is translated from a Greek word (daimonion) that may refer to transcendent incorporeal being with status between humans and deities hence means “semi-divine being,” “inferior deity” as it is used to describe pagan gods in Acts 17:18:
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
The phrase foreign gods may be translated foreign deities. The word may refer to a hostile transcendent being and so means “demons, evil spirit.” It is the meaning “demon” that is predominantly used to translate our Greek word in the NIV. We will say more about demons later but for now, we are concerned with the implication of the sacrifices of the pagans.
The sentence of 1 Corinthians 10:20 the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God implies a contrast between Israel and the pagans. Israel when not in apostasy offered sacrifices to the supreme God, the creator, in contrast to demons that the pagans offered their sacrifices. You see, the word “God” is translated from a Greek word (theos) that in Greco-Roman world may refer to a supernatural being who exercises extraordinary control in human affairs or is responsible for bestowal of unusual benefits hence means “deity, god, goddess” as the word is used by the islanders of Malta to change their view of Apostle Paul when a viper coiled on his hand without him being bitten as we read in Acts 28:6:
The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.
However, in our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:20, the word is used for the one supreme supernatural being as creator and sustainer of the universe, that is, “God.”
The sentence of 1 Corinthians 10:20 the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God
should remind us that we humans often have the tendency to believe that we are right in what we do. The Scripture asserts this truth severally. For example, this truth is stated in Proverbs 21:2:
All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.
The word “ways” refers to action, conduct. The application of this sentence in Proverbs is that those who are involved in idolatry as indicated by sacrifice to idols were convinced, they were right. They thought they were sacrificing to the creator, but they were mistaken. In fact, as we have stated, it is not even that they were sacrificing to lesser gods but the lesser gods that are inimical to God. For the lesser gods that are not hostile to God know that they are never object of worship as we may learn, for example, from the reaction of the angel that gave Apostle John his visions as we read in Revelation 19:9–10:
9 Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he added, “These are the true words of God.” 10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Anyway, the sentence the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God we are considering should remind us that we should evaluate what we do by the Scripture. The pagans do not know the supreme God and so there is no way for them to know that their sacrifices were offered to demons. We would not have known this except that the Holy Spirit has revealed that to us through Apostle Paul in the passage we are studying.
The apostle stated that the pagans sacrificed to demons, but we indicated that their sacrifices exposed them to demons. We say this because of the implication the apostle had already conveyed in verse 18 regarding the significance of the sacrifices of the ancient Israel. We noted that their sacrifices meant they were identified with the true God, or they were in fellowship with Him. This being the case, it is proper to understand that when pagans offered their sacrifices that they came into contact with demons since they are the ones that would want unbelievers to worship them instead of the supreme God. Thus, we contend that the second declaration of Apostle Paul regarding the nature of the sacrifices the Pagans offered to their idols is that they expose the participants to demons and not the supreme God of the universe.
The fact that the sacrifices offered by pagans expose them to demons is supported by what the apostle did not want to be true of believers in Corinth and so believers everywhere. He did not want them to have fellowship with demons by sharing any part of the sacrifices made to idols as we read in the last clause of 1 Corinthians 10:20 and I do not want you to be participants with demons. The apostle’s desire expressed here is simply that he did not want the Corinthians to be partakers of the demons. In effect, he does not want them to have fellowship with demons. Of course, it is true the apostle stated what we have but indeed, it is God the Holy Spirit that conveyed to the apostle what he stated and so we know that God the Holy Spirit does not want believers to have fellowship with demons. Such would be the case if the Corinthians shared in the sacrifices of pagans they offer to their idols. This would involve eating meat in the restaurants attached to pagan temples. The implication is that whether we know it or not, any time we participate in a celebration that has to do with idolatry such as Christmas or Halloween, we have exposed ourselves to demons. It is important that we be careful not to expose ourselves to demons by the celebrations of this world that are tied to idolatry.
Celebrations associated with idolatry are not the only things that expose a believer to demons but any visit to where idolatry is practiced has certainly the same effect. This fact is demonstrated by an account I read of a little boy in India that suddenly lost his power of speech and showed signs of fits. To many people such an experience would be dismissed as chance happening. As the narrative was given in the book “Demon Experiences in many Lands” compiled by Moody Press (p.22), it was determined that the boy played under a tree where Hindus worshipped spirits. The implication is that because the boy was under such a place, he came into contact with demons that were responsible for his condition. Thankfully, through prayer the boy was healed. The point is that merely exposing oneself where idolatry is practiced exposes one to demons and their activities. Thus, when the apostle conveyed to the Corinthians that he did not want them to be partners to demons, he implied that the Corinthians should avoid any place associated with idolatry and so associated with demons. Again, we apply the declaration of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul regarding participation with demons to mean that you should be careful not to expose yourself to anything that has to do with idolatry since such exposure leads to exposing self to demons. In any event, a second general reason the apostle supplied to the Corinthians and so to us, to avoid idolatry is the nature of sacrifices that indicate a relationship between the offeror and the recipient of the sacrifices, specifically that such sacrifices offered to idols expose one to demons. Consequently, if you do not want to expose yourself to demons then you should avoid idolatry. This brings us to the third general reason for prohibition against idolatry but before we do so we need to review the doctrine of demons and this we will do in our next study. However, let me end by remind you of the message of 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 which is Believers should avoid idolatry since everything associated with it is incompatible with the Christian faith, exposes one to demons, and so harms one’s fellowship with the Lord.
08/20//21