1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 8.
Christian Liberty in the Matter of Eating Meat Offered to Idols. 1 Cor. 8, 1—13.
The knowledge of idols and the knowledge of God: V. 4. As concerning, therefore, the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. V. 5. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many and lords many,) v. 6. but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things and we by Him.
After the parenthetical sentence the apostle here returns to his subject: Concerning now the food of idol sacrifices, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, that no idol has any existence in the world. The horror which the Christians, especially the weaker ones in their midst, felt with regard to the meat which had been offered to idols, is very easily explained, since they had turned from them as from the powers of darkness. This feeling, therefore, is not only justifiable, but highly commendable.
At the same time it serves for the reassurance of the readers that all the strange gods which were described in the hymns of the day were not realities into whose power one would come in case he partook of the meat of the sacrifices, but were nothing; they had no existence, there was really no such thing.
For all times it stands as incontrovertible truth: There is no God but the One. Compare Deuteronomy 6, 4. Monotheism is the one true religion, as revealed in the Bible, the only religion which has the right to exist.
The apostle expands this thought for the sake of clearness and emphasis: For indeed, if one should grant the existence of so-called gods, although indeed one speaks of those pictures of man's fantasy in this way, whether they are supposed to be in heaven or on the earth. The Greeks and Romans had filled both earth and sky with their idols, with the products of their imagination, an astonishing multitude of reputed deities.
And the Bible itself, for the sake of argument, sometimes speaks of idols as gods, in order to show their nothingness beside the true God, Deut. 10, 17; Ps. 136, 2. Thus the word "gods" would apply to the assumed deities of the Gentiles, and the word "lords" to their assumed dominion.
But to us Christians there is only one God, namely, the Father, of whom are all things and we for Him, and one Lord, namely, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through Him. There is only one God, and He is distinguished by the fact that He is the Father, the eternal Father of the eternal Son, who is the Source of all things and has destined all things for His use and glory. Therefore we also are to Him, the aim and object of our life should be to serve Him as His true children and thus to hallow His name, 1 Pet. 2, 9; Jas. 1, 18; John 17, 9. 10. And Christ, whose true deity is here testified to, is the Lord in the absolute sense, for through Him is everything, the universe is a work of His creative power. Cp. Col. 1, 16; Rev. 4, 11; Heb. 1, 3.
And we are through Him, Rom. 11, 36, we owe our Christian state to Christ's work of redemption, Eph. 2, 18; Rom. 8, 29. There are not two gods or two lords, but there is only one God and one Lord. Our new life is directed toward God, a result of Christ's mediation in our behalf, and these two are one; the Father and the Son, the Triune God, is the Mediator of our salvation.
Note how clearly and emphatically a part of the doctrine of God, of His person and of His chief work toward us, is here brought out. And there is not the smallest spot in all the universe left for other deities.