For us there is but one God and one Lord
1 Corinthians 8:5-6 The Apostle Paul buries polytheism once and for all
Raphael, Council of the Gods, 1518 — Via Wikimedia, Public Domain
“For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many Lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”
1 Corinthians 8:5-6 NASB1995
We’re looking at another of Paul’s epistles today. At this point in his first epistle to the church of Corinth, Paul is addressing the pagan religions (like those practiced by the Romans and Greeks at the time) as opposed to Christianity.
These “so-called gods” of the pagan religions were numerous, and they were quite similar. Here’s a comparison of the Greek and Roman pantheons (see image at the top of today’s devotional):
Greek Roman Function
Zeus Jupiter King of the gods and ruler of Mount Olympus
Hera Juno Queen of the gods
Poseidon Neptune God of the seas, water, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc…
Demeter Ceres Goddess of the harvest, fertility, agriculture, etc…
Apollo Apollo God of sun, light, philosophy, prophecy, and more
Artemis Diana Goddess of the hunt, the Moon, virginity, etc…
Ares Mars God of war, violence, bloodshed, and manly virtues
Athena Minerva Goddess of wisdom, handicraft, and warfare
Hephaestus Vulcan God of the forge, craftsmanship, fire and volcanoes
Aphrodite Venus Goddess of love, pleasure, procreation, beauty, etc…
Hermes Mercury Messenger of the gods, god of travel, commerce…
and these were just the major gods. Worship must have been quite complex; depending on what a person needed help with, you made an offering at the temples of one or more gods.
Unique to the area of Canaan (modern-day Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon) were other gods, some of which are noted in the Bible (Ba’al, Asherah, Adrammelech, Amon, Marduk, Moloch, Nebo, Ishtar, Succoth Benoth, and Tarmuz, to name a few).
Notice that Paul makes the comment that “indeed there are many gods and many Lords”. That does not mean that he was admitting to the Corinthians that there were many gods that should be worshipped; instead, it was an admission that there were a number of these false gods being worshipped.
The use of the words “gods” and “Lords” by Paul is also quite fascinating. In the original Greek, the word θεός (theos) was defined as a general name of a deity or deities — a god. In the Jewish tradition, the word referred to the only and true God — Yahweh — and after the death and resurrection of Christ, followed by Pentecost, it refers to the Trinity; God the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Trinity, painting by Spyridon Romas, 1764. Public Domain
What about “Lords”? The Greek word for this is κύριος (kyrios), defined in the Strong’s Concordance as:
he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord
the possessor and disposer of a thing
the owner; one who has control of the person, the master
in the state: the sovereign, prince, chief, the Roman emperor
is a title of honour expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master
this title is given to: God, the Messiah
After all of this exhaustive explanation, we come to one conclusion — Paul is pointing out that we have but one God (in the words of the Nicene Creed, “the creator of all things visible and invisible”) and that we were created for Him as Christians to promote His honor and glory.
The second part of this conclusion is that we have one Lord, Jesus Christ, “by whom are all things”. But, didn’t we just say that God created everything? Here’s a wonderful explanation found in Barnes’ Notes on the Bible:
By whom ... - δἰ οὗ di' hou. By whose "agency;" or through whom, as the agent. The word "by" (δι ̓ di') stands in contradistinction from "of" (ἐξ ex) in the former part of the verse; and obviously means, that, though "all things" derived their existence from God as the fountain and author, yet it was "by" the agency of the Lord Jesus. This doctrine, that the Son of God was the great agent in the creation of the world, is elsewhere abundantly taught in the Scriptures; see the note at John 1:3.
Are all things - The universe; for so the phrase τὰ πάντα ta panta properly means. No words could better express the idea of the universe than these; and the declaration is therefore explicit that the Lord Jesus created all things.
At last we come to the last phrase in 1 Corinthians 8:6 — “and we exist through Him”. Earlier Paul notes that we exist for the one true God, here he explains that we exist through Jesus Christ. While “by whom are all things” refers to physical creation, “we exist through Him” attributes our spiritual rebirth to Christ.
The conclusion drawn by these two verses is that Paul is burying once and for all time the concept of polytheism as practiced by the pagans. Now, if we could just explain this truth to the Buddhists, Hindus, Shintos, and animists in the world…
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
From whom all things came and for whom we exist,
We come before You in humility and grace,
Acknowledging You as the one true God,
The source of all creation, and our purpose in life.
Lord Jesus Christ,
Through whom all things came and through whom we live,
We thank You for Your sovereignty and care,
For being our guide, our savior, and our sustenance.
In unity of the Spirit,
We commit our lives to You,
To live for Your glory and honor,
As we navigate the complexities of this world.
May we always remember the truth that binds us,
One God, the Father, one Lord, Jesus Christ,
In whom we find our being and our eternal home.
Amen.
(Note: I did not write this myself, but asked the GPT-4 AI to write a prayer inspired by today’s verses. I think it did a very good job! And why shouldn’t it, when even AIs are created by God…)