1 Corinthians 10:20

1Co 10:20. Ἀλλʼ, but) viz. I say.—δαιμονίοις, to demons) rather than to idols.—κοινωνοὺς, the associates) Those who were present at the sacrifices of the Gentiles, which serve as an invitation to demons, opened the window to demons, to make an assault upon themselves.—Θεῷ, to God) in whose communion you ought to be: Deu 32:17,—ἔθυσαν δαιμονίοις, καὶ οὐ Θεῷ, They sacrificed to devils and not to God; comp. Bar 4:7.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_10:20

But (I say), that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.

That is, I do not say the gods of the heathen have a real existence, that there are any such persons as Jupiter or Minerva; but I do say that the heathen worship is the worship of demons. This verse presents two questions for consideration. First, in what sense does Paul here use the word δαιμόνια translated devils; and secondly, in what sense can it be truly said that the heathen worship devils.

The words δαίμων and δαιμόνιον were used by the Greeks for any deity or God, or spirit, and generally for any object of reverence or dread. The only case in the New Testament where they have this sense is Act_17:18, (He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods.) Elsewhere they always mean fallen angels. Our translators have not adhered to the distinction which in the New Testament is constantly made in the use of the words διάβολος and δαιμόνιον. They translate both terms by the word devil, and hence, when the latter occurs in the plural form, they render it devils. The former, however, is never applied in Scripture (except in its appellative sense of accuser) to any other being than Satan. He is the Devil, and the Scriptures never speak of more than one. By devils, therefore, in this case are to be understood demons, or the fallen angels or evil spirits. That this is the sense in which the Greek word is to be here taken is plain,

1. Because it is its only scriptural sense. The passage in Act_17:18, being the language of Athenians, proves nothing as to the usage of Jews speaking Greek.

2. In the Septuagint we have precisely the words used by the apostle, and in the same sense. Deu_32:17. See also Psa_95:5, where the Septuagint version is, ὅτι πάντες οἱ θεοὶ τῶν εθνῶν δαιμόνια, all the gods of the heathen are devils. It can hardly be doubted that the apostle meant to use the word in its established scriptural sense. Comp. also Rev_9:20.

3. The classical sense of the word does not suit the context. Paul had just said that the heathen gods were nothing; to admit now that there were deities in the Grecian sense of the word δαιμόνιον would be to contradict himself. We must understand the apostle, therefore, as saying on the one hand, that the gods of the heathen were imaginary beings; and on the other, that their sacrifices were really offered to evil spirits.

In what sense, however, is this true? The heathen certainly did not intend to worship evil spirits. Nevertheless they did it. Men of the world do not intend to serve Satan, when they break the laws of God in the pursuit of their objects of desire. Still in so doing they are really obeying the will of the great adversary, yielding to his impulses, and fulfilling his designs. He is therefore said to be the God of this world. To him all sin is an offering and an homage. We are shut up to the necessity of worshipping God or Satan; for all refusing or neglecting to worship the true God, or giving to any other the worship which is due to him alone, is the worshipping of Satan and his angels. It is true therefore, in the highest sense, that what the heathen offer they offer to devils. Although their gods have no existence, yet there are real beings, the rulers of the darkness of this world, wicked spirits in heavenly places (Eph_6:12), on whom their worship terminates.

And I would not that ye have fellowship with devils. By fellowship or communion, the apostle means here what he meant by the same term in the preceding verses. We are said to have fellowship with those between whom and us there are congeniality of mind, community of interest, and friendly intercourse. In this sense we have fellowship with our fellow Christians, with God and with his Son. And in this sense the worshippers of idols have fellowship with evil spirits. They are united to them so as to form one community, with a common character and a common destiny. Into this state of fellowship they are brought by sacrificing to them; that is, by idolatry, which is an act of apostasy from the true God, and of association with the kingdom of darkness. It was of great importance for the Corinthians to know that it did not depend on their intention whether they came into communion with devils. The heathen did not intend to worship devils, and yet they did it; what would it avail, therefore, to the reckless Corinthians, who attended the sacrificial feasts of the heathen, to say that they did not intend to worship idols? The question was not, what they meant to do, but what they did; not, what their intention was, but what was the import and effect of their conduct. A man need not intend to burn himself when he puts his hand into the fire; or to pollute his soul when he frequents the haunts of vice. The effect is altogether independent of his intention. This principle applies with all its force to compliance with the religious services of the heathen at the present day. Those who in pagan countries join in the religious rites of the heathen, are just as much guilty of idolatry, and are just as certainly brought into fellowship with devils, as the nominal Christians of Corinth, who, although they knew that an idol was nothing, and that there is but one God, yet frequented the heathen feasts. The same principle also applies to the compliance of Protestants in the religious observances of Papists. Whatever their intention may be, they worship the host if they bow down to it with the crowd who intend to adore it. By the force of the act we become one with those in whose worship we join. We constitute with them and with the objects of their worship one communion.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Have anything to do with the devils, or enter into that society which is begun on the devil’s name.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

I would not that ye . . . have fellowship with devils--by partaking of idol feasts (Co1 8:10).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

20. But the things that the Gentiles sacrifice. To complete the answer, a negative must be understood in this way: “I do not say that an idol is anything, nor do I imagine it to be endued with any virtue, but I say that the Gentiles sacrifice to the devil and not to gods those things which they do sacrifice, and hence I estimate the work by their wicked and impious superstition. For we must always look to the intention with which a thing is done. He, then, who connects himself with them, declares that he has fellowship with them in the same impiety.” He proceeds accordingly with what he had commenced: “If we had to do with God only, those things would be nothing, but, in relation to men, they become faulty; because no one sits down to an idol feast, who does not declare himself to be a worshipper of the idol.”

Some, however, understand the term demons here as meaning the imaginary deities of the Gentiles, agreeably to their common way of speaking of them; for when they speak of demons they meant inferior deities, as, for example, heroes, and thus the term was taken in a good sense. Plato, in a variety of instances, employs the term to denote genii, or angels. That meaning, however, would be quite foreign to Paul’s design, for his object is to show that it is no light offense to have to do with actions that have any appearance of putting honor upon idols. Hence it suited his purpose, not to extenuate, but rather to magnify the impiety that is involved in it. How absurd, then, it would have been to select an honorable term to denote the most heinous wickedness! It is certain from the Prophet Baruch, (4:7,) that those things that are sacrificed to idols are sacrificed to devils (Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 96:5.) In that passage in the writings of the Prophet, the Greek translation, which was at that time in common use, has δαιμόνια — demons, and this is its common use in Scripture. How much more likely is it then, that Paul borrowed what he says from the Prophet, to express the enormity of the evil, than that, speaking after the manner of the heathen, he extenuated what he was desirous to hold up to utter execration!

It may seem, however, as if these things were somewhat at variance with what I stated a little ago — that Paul had an eye to the intention of idolaters, for it is not their intention to worship devils, but imaginary deities of their own framing. I answer, that the two things are quite in harmony, for when men become so vain in their imaginations (Romans 1:21) as to render divine honor to creatures, rather than to the one God, this punishment is in readiness for them — that they serve Satan. For they do not find that “middle place” that they are in search of, but Satan straightway presents himself to them, as an object of adoration, whenever they have turned their back upon the true God.

I would not that ye. If the term demon were used in an indifferent sense, how spiritless were Paul’s statement here, while, instead of this, it has the greatest weight and severity against idolaters! He subjoins the reason — because no one can have fellowship at the same time with God and with idols. Now, in all sacred observances, there is a profession of fellowship. Let us know, therefore, that we are then, and then only, admitted by Christ to the sacred feast of his body and blood, when we have first of all bid farewell to every thing sacrilegious. For the man who would enjoy the one, must renounce the other. O thrice miserable the condition of those who, from fear of displeasing men, do not hesitate to pollute themselves with unlawful superstitions! For, by acting in this way, they voluntarily renounce fellowship with Christ, and obstruct their approach to his health-giving table.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(20) But I say.—Better, No; but that the things which they sacrifice they sacrifice to devils, and not to God.

The word “devils” means evil spirits. The heathen world is regarded by the Christian Church as under the dominion of the Evil Spirit and his emissaries (Eph_2:2; Eph_6:12), and in reminding the Corinthians that in Israel an eater of the sacrificial meat became a partaker with the altar of God, the Apostle meant to warn them that they would, if they partook of sacrificial meats offered on an altar of devils, become a sharer with that altar and the beings to whom the altar appertained.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. they sacrifice to devils, and not to God] Third reason. The worship of idols is a worship of devils. The words here used are found in Deu_32:17, and similar ones are found in the Septuagint version of Psa_96:5; cf. Psa_106:37. The point of the argument is shewn in the last words of this sentence, ‘and not to God’. As they were not sacrificed to God, they were sacrificed to His enemies, the ‘evil spirits,’ ‘dæmons,’ not ‘devils’ properly, for this word is confined to the ‘prince of this world’ (St Joh_12:31), ‘which is the Devil, and Satan’[134] (Rev_20:2). Such beings as these are no mere conceptions of the fancy, but have a real and active existence. Their power over humanity when Christ came was great indeed. Not only was their master the Prince of this world (see above and cf. St Luk_4:6), but the fact of demoniacal possession was a proof at once of their existence and influence upon man.

[134] See note on St Mat_4:24 in Mr Carr’s Commentary in this series.

fellowship] Translated communion in 1Co_10:16. See note on ch. 1Co_1:9.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I say,.... This is my sense and meaning,

that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice unto devils, and not to God; reference is had to Deu 32:17 for what the Gentiles sacrificed, though they did not sacrifice intentionally to the idols of gold, silver, wood, and stone, but to God in them, as they pretended; yet inasmuch as in such worship and sacrifices they were directed, instigated, influenced, and assisted by devils, who took up their residence in these idols, and gave forth their oracles from them, they sacrificed to them; and which some have done, as in India and China, professedly and openly, and all other idolaters, eventually, virtually, and covertly:

and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils; as all wicked men have, in the commission of any lust, sin, or immorality; and as all idolaters have in their superstitious practices, and idolatrous worship; and if grace prevent not, will have to all eternity in everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; wherefore the apostle would have the Corinthians flee from idolatry, and all appearance of it, and abstain from eating things offered to idols, of which they could not eat without having fellowship with devils; this he says, to deter them from such practices, which must be very horrible and shocking, and bespeaks in him great care of them, and affection for them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.

Ver. 20. They sacrifice to devils] A good intention then excuseth not. The Gentiles thought they had sacrificed to God. So do the Papists, who yet worship devils, while they worship idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, Rev 9:20. The devil is ειδωλοχαρης, saith Synesius, an idol lover.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But - The negative here is omitted, but is understood. The ellipsis of a negative after an interrogative sentence is common in the Classical writers as well as in the Scriptures. Bloomfield. The sense is, “No; I do not say this, but I say that there are reasons why you should not partake of those sacrifices; and one of those reasons is, that they have been really offered to devils.”

They sacrifice to devils - (δαιμονίοις daimoniois, “demons”). The pagans used the word demon either in a good or a bad sense. They applied it commonly to spirits that were supposed to be inferior to the supreme God; genii; attending spirits; or, as they called them, divinities, or gods. A part were in their view good, and a part evil. Socrates supposed that such a demon or genius attended him, who suggested good thoughts to him, and who was his protector. As these beings were good and well disposed, it was not supposed to be necessary to offer any sacrifices in order to appease them. But a large portion of those genii were supposed to be evil and wicked, and hence, the necessity of attempting to appease their wrath by sacrifices and bloody offerings. It was therefore true, as the apostle says, that the sacrifices of the pagan were made, usually at least, to devils or to evil spirits.

Many of these spirits were supposed to be the souls of departed people, who were entitled to worship after death, having been enrolled among the gods. The word “demons,” among the Jews, was employed only to designate evil beings. It is not implied in their writings to good angels or to blessed spirits, but to evil angels, to idols, to false gods. Thus, in the Septuagint the word is used to translate אלילים Elilim, “idols” Psa 95:5; Isa 65:10; and שׁד shēd, Shaid, as in Deu 32:17, in a passage which Paul has here almost literally used, “They sacrificed unto devils, not to God.” No where in the Septuagint is it used in a good sense. In the New Testament the word is uniformly used also to denote “evil spirits,” and those usually which had taken possession of people in the time of the Saviour; Mat 7:22; Mat 9:33-34; Mat 10:8; Mat 11:18; Mar 1:34, Mar 1:39, et al. See also Campbell on the Gospels, Pre. Dissertation vi. part 1, Section 14-16. The precise force of the original is not, however, conveyed by our translation. It is not true that the pagans sacrificed to “devils,” in the common and popular sense of that word, meaning thereby the apostate angel and the spirits under his direction; for the pagans were as ignorant of their existence as they were of the true God; and it is not true that they designed to worship such beings. But it is true:

(1) That they did not worship the supreme and the true God. They were not acquainted with his existence; and they did not profess to adore him.

(2) They worshipped “demons;” beings that they regarded as inferior to the true God; created spirits, or the spirits of people that had been enrolled among the number of the gods.

(3) It was true that many of these beings were supposed to be malign and evil in their nature, and that their worship was designed to deprecate their wrath. So that, although an idol was nothing in itself, the gold or wood of which it was made was inanimate, and incapable of aiding or injuring them; and although there were no real beings such as the pagans supposed - no genii or inferior gods; yet they “designed” to offer sacrifice to such beings, and to deprecate their wrath. To join them in this, therefore, would be to express the belief that there were such beings, and that they ought to be worshipped, and that their wrath should be deprecated.

I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils - I would not that you should have communion with demons. I would not have you express a belief of their existence; or join in worship to them; or partake of the spirit by which they are supposed to be actuated - a spirit that would be promoted by attendance on their worship. I would not have you, therefore, join in a mode of worship where such beings are acknowledged. You are solemnly dedicated to Christ; and the homage due to him should not be divided with homage offered to devils, or to imaginary beings.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The heathens might not intentionally offer sacrifices to devils, (such a thing can hardly be supposed of men), but actually they offered sacrifices to devils; for they were devils, that is, evil angels, which deluded the poor heathen, and gave answers from the images and statues which they worshipped, believing the true God to be in them: which answers they accounted for oracles. Besides, the apostle saith, they sacrificed to devils, because in God’s esteem it was so, though not in their intention; God judgeth of men’s acts of worship and homage pretendedly done unto him, not according to their intention, but according to the truth and reality of the thing: now, really the heathen in their sacrifices paid a homage to devils, though such a thing was far from their intention; and this deserves the consideration, both of the papists, who worship images, and also of those protestants (if any such be) who would excuse the papists in their idolatries from their intentions. The nature of idolatry doth not lie in men’s intending to worship the creature instead of the Creator, (there were hardly every any such idolaters in the world), but in their actual doing of the thing; and except they can find a direct rule in holy writ ordering the adoration of the Creator in the creature, or before the creature, it is much to be feared, that in the last day God will judge their homage performed to the creature, not to him. Now, saith the apostle, you had need take heed that, by this action, you prove not yourselves to have fellowship with devils, instead of Christ and the true and living God.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. But—On the contrary, what I say is that, etc.

Devils—Demons. Note on Luk_10:17. Our translators should never have confounded devil and demon. In pagan mythology a demon was intermediate between gods and men. One class were supposed to be the spirits of dead men, either good or evil, according to their character in life. Another class were beings of supernatural origin, somewhat like the angels. They might be good, like the demon which Socrates claimed to be his supernatural monitor; and it is singular to note how wonderfully many of the attributes of the Pythian Apollo prefigured Christ! They might be evil, as held by the wisest philosophers, and send diseases and pestilences to men and animals, and supply temptations to wrong.

In the Septuagint the word demon is used to designate, generally, an evil supernatural spirit, or whatever evil living reality there was to appropriate the service of pagan worshippers. So Psa_96:5. All the gods of the pagans are demons; Deu_32:17, they sacrificed unto demons, and not unto God. It is clear from 1Co_10:22 that the apostle has this passage in mind. Josephus uses the word demons to denote the surviving spirits of wicked dead men, who often possess the living, and are to be expelled by exorcisms and fumigations.

In the New Testament the word is always used in a bad sense. There is but one Satan, one devil, and his angels, (Mat_25:41,) and his angels are doubtless identical with the demons. There is no intimation in Scripture that they are the surviving spirits of the wicked dead. Wherever in our translation the plural word devils is used, the Greek is demons. Paul denies that there is any real god or goddess in paganism, but Satan’s spiritual emissaries may so impersonate those imaginary beings as to appropriate the honours of the worship, and keep the worshippers in paganism. Notes on Mar_5:2, and Act_16:16; Act_16:18.

Not to God—They belong to the idolatrous and infernal, and antagonize the true religion and the true God.

I would not—And this would not, he shows next verse, involves a cannot.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But. The word rejects the former hypothesis. No I do not admit that, but what I say is that," etc. They sacrifice to devils, and not to God. The word "demons" should be used, not" devils". (Deu_32:17) The argument is that, though the idol is nothing a mere stock or stone it is yet the material symbol of a demon. (see Psa_96:5 Psa_106:37 RAPC Bar 4:7) So Milton

And devils to adore for deities; Then were they known to men by various names, And various idols through the heathen world, The chief were those who, from the pit of hell, Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix Their seats long after next the seat of God, Their altars by his altar, gods adored Among the nations round. ("Paradise Lost," 1. )

St. Paul uses a word which, while it would not be needlessly offensive to Gentiles, conveyed his meaning. The Greeks themselves called their deities daimonia, and St. Paul adopts the word; but to Jewish ears it meant, not "deities" or "demigods," but "demons."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

devils (Greek - Ἀδμίν; 1Co 10:21, (See Scofield "Mat 7:22").

fellowship 1Co 10:16. trans. communion.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

DEMON WORSHIP

20. “But those things which they sacrifice, they really sacrifice to demons, and not to God: I do not wish you to be the communicants of demons.

21. “You are not able to drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons:you are not able to partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”

22. “Whether shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Whether are we stronger than He?” Here he warns the Corinthians against the communion of demons, i. e., devil worship. All the Grecian gods were but the personifications of the evil passions, tempers, lusts, and ambitions peculiar to fallen humanity; as the demons, resident in human hearts and flying through the air, make it their constant enterprise to stir up the evil tempers, passions, lusts predilections in fallen humanity, doing their utmost to lead people into conservatism and subordination to these demons. Hence the heathen world in all ages has been full of demon worship. The Greek philosophers, in their writings, actually used the word “demon.” The great Socrates stated that his guardian demon made revelations to him and held communion with him. Millions of heathens, Moslems and Romanists, as well as doubtless many Protestants, this day worship demons. The vast sectarian diversity in the Christian world is really another manifestation of the Pagan polytheism, in which the heathens worship many gods, variant in character and attributes, like the diversified and even warring sects of Christendom. Oh! how many today are groping in demon worship! The Greek has “demon” in this paragraph, where E.V. has “devil,” a word which properly applies to Satan himself, the innumerable subordinate evil spirits thronging earth and Hell being denominated demons. They are prone to dress up in the habiliments of angels (such as they once were, and hence know how to play the angel), and pass themselves for the Holy Ghost, thus deceiving the people by millions, leading them into demon worship, thinking they are worshipping God. Such is the case with the millions who profess and practice a sinning religion, which they get from the demons, because God has none such. Our sacramental boards are crowded by carnal, wicked people who actually, as Paul here says, “drink not the cup of the Lord, but the cup of demons, and sit not at the table of the Lord, but the table of demons.”

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have communion with demons . [It was true that the idol was nothing, but it represented a reality, and it was well established both among Jews and Greeks that that reality was a demon. Among Jews and Christians this word represented an evil spirit ( Deu_32:17 ; Lev_17:7 ; 2Ch_11:15 ; Psa_96:5 ; Psa_106:37 ; Mat_25:41 ; Rev_9:20 ; Eph_6:12 ). Among the Greeks the word had a broader significance. With them it meant a demi-god or minor deity--a being between God and men. One part of them were spirits of dead men, mainly dead kings or heroes who had been deified and honored with idols and worship. Another part were regarded as having a supernatural origin, and were like angels. These might be good or evil. Thus Socrates regarded himself as under the care and influence of a good demon. Thus at the core idolatry was demon-worship, and if the Christian who ate the Lord's Supper communed with the Lord, and the Jew who ate the sacrifice of the altar communed with the God of the altar; so the man, be he pagan or Christian, who partook of the idol sacrifice, communed with the demon who appropriated the worship offered to the idol.]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. He affirms nothing of the kind, but he does say that the sacrifices which the Gentiles sacrifice are to devils. The idol is nothing, but to the worshiper it is a reality. That reality is not God, but really a demon. The gods were mainly dead kings and heroes who had been deified. The diamonia, or demons, were the spirits of dead men. The worship was really demon worship. Fellowship with devils. Demons. If the feast of the Lord's Supper is communion with Christ, the feast of the altar sacrifice communion with God, who is worshiped, the feast of the idol is communion with the idol. Yet this idol in the mind of the worshiper is a diamonion, a demon.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons

Paul speaks of a person drinking from the same cup as the demon as evidence that that person is a friend of the demon. AT: "It is impossible for you to be true friends with both the Lord and demons" (See: Metonymy)

You cannot have fellowship at the table of the Lord and the table of demons

"It is impossible for you to be truly one with the Lord's people and also with demons"

Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?

Paul wants the Corinthians to answer this question in their minds. AT: "You should know without me telling you that it is not right to make the Lord jealous."

provoke

to anger or irritate

Are we stronger than he is?

Paul wants the Corinthians to answer this question in their minds. AT: "You should know without me telling you that we are not stronger than God." (See: Rhetorical Question)

translationWords

Gentile

pagan

sacrifice

demon

God

lord

fellowship

jealous

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

20. θύουσιν twice אABCDEFG. Compare with last note but two, and observe the irregularity of the grammar. τὰ ἔθνη is omitted by Lachmann and Tischendorf, bracketed by Westcott and Hort, on the testimony of BDEFG. The text, however, is supported by אAC, Vulg. and Peshito.

20. δαιμονίοις καὶ οὐ θεῷ θύουσιν. Third reason. The worship of idols is a worship of daemons. The words here used are found in Deu 32:17, and similar ones are found in the Septuagint version of Psa 96:5; cf. Psa 106:37. The point of the argument is shewn in the last words of this sentence, ‘and not to God.’ As they were not sacrificed to God, they were sacrificed to His enemies, the ‘evil spirits,’ ‘daemons,’ not ‘devils’ properly, for this word is confined to the ‘prince of this world’ (Joh 12:31), ‘which is the Devil, and Satan’[137] (Rev 20:2). Such beings as these are no mere conceptions of the fancy, but have a real and active existence. Their power over humanity when Christ came was great indeed. Not only was their master the Prince of this world (see above and cf. Luk 4:6), but the fact of demoniacal possession was a proof at once of their existence and influence upon man. Compare the Jewish opposition between the idea of God and that of daemons with the idea of subordination in heathen literature, e.g. Eurip. Troad. 55 μῶν ἐκ θεῶν του καινὸν ἀγγέλλεις ἔπος, ἢ Ζηνός, ἢ καὶ δαιμόνων τινὸς πάρα;

[137] See note on Mat 4:24 in Mr Carr’s Commentary in this series.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20.] The inference from the preceding analogies would naturally be, that Paul was then representing the idols as being in reality what the heathen supposed them to be—and the eater of meats offered to them, as partaking with the idol. This objection he meets,—but with the introduction of a new fact to their consideration—that the things which the heathen sacrifice, they sacrifice really to devils.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. ἀλλʼ ὅτι ἅ θύουσιν τὰ ἔθνη. ‘But (what I do declare is) that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice.’ Here (according to the best texts), as in Rom 2:14, Rom 15:27, ἔθνη has a plural verb: in Rom 9:30 it has the singular. As τὰ ἔθνη are animate and numerous, the plural is natural. On the history of the term ἔθνος see Kennedy, Sources, p. 98.

δαιμονίοις καὶ οὐ θεῷ θύουσιν. The Apostle seems to have LXX of Deu 32:17, ἔθυσαν δαιμονίοις καὶ οὐ θεῷ, θεοῖς οἷς οὐκ ᾔδεισαν, ‘They sacrificed to demons (Shêdim) and to a no-god, to gods whom they knew not,’ in his mind. That καὶ οὐ θεῷ means ‘and to a no-god’ rather than ‘and not to God’ is confirmed by Deu 32:21; αὐτοὶ παρεζήλωσάν με ἐπʼ οὐ θεῷ … κἀγὼ παραζηλώσω αὐτοὺς ἐπʼ οὐκ ἔθνει, ‘They have made me jealous with a no-god … and I will make them jealous with a no-people’; see Driver’s notes. In Bar. 4:7 we have the same expression, probably based on Deu 32:17; θύσαντες δαιμονίοις καὶ οὐ θεῷ ‘by sacrificing to demons and no-god.’ The Shêdim are mentioned nowhere else, excepting Psa 106:37, a late Psalm, possibly of the Greek period: according to it human sacrifices were offered to the Shêdim; see Briggs ad loc. In Psa 96:5, ‘All the gods of the nations are idols,’ LXX πάντες οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμόνια, the word rendered ‘idols’ and δαιμόνια means ‘things of nought’ (Lev 19:4, Lev 19:26:1; Psa 97:7; cf. Isa 40:18 f., Isa 44:9 f.). Asmodaeus, the evil spirit of Tob. 3:8, 6:14, is called in the Aram. and Heb. versions ‘king of the Shêdim’; and it is possible that St Paul has the Shêdim in his mind here. See Edersheim, Life and Times, 11. pp. 759-763. Here, the translation, ‘and not to God,’ introduces a thought which is quite superfluous: there was no need to declare that sacrifices to idols are not offered to God. But ‘to a no-god’ has point, and is probably a reminiscence of O.T. The Apostle is showing that taking part in the sacrificial feasts of the heathen involves two evils,—sharing in the worship of a thing-of-nought, and (what is still worse) having fellowship with demons. This latter point is the main thing, and it is expressly stated in what follows. See Hastings, DB. art. ‘Demon’; Thackeray, p. 144. The primitive and wider-spread idea that there is, in sacrifice, communion between deity and worshippers, and between the different worshippers, greatly aided St Paul in his teaching.

The idea that evil spirits are worshipped, when idols which represent non-existent pagan deities are worshipped, was common among the Jews, and passed over from them into the Christian Church, with the support of various passages in both O.T. and N.T. In addition to those quoted above may be mentioned Isa 13:21, Isa 34:14, where both AV. and RV. have ‘satyrs’ and LXX δαιμόνια. In Lev 17:7 and 2Ch 11:15, AV. has ‘devils,’ RV. ‘he goats,’ RV. marg. ‘satyrs,’ and LXX μάταια: see Curtis on 2Ch 11:15. In Enoch 99:7, “Others will make graven images of gold and silver and wood and clay, and others will worship impure sprits and demons and all kinds of superstitions not according to knowledge,” quoted by Tertullian (De Idol. 4). Book of Jubilees 1:11, “They will worship each his own (image), so as to go astray, and they will sacrifice their children to demons”; and again, 22:17, “They offer their sacrifices to the dead and they worship evil spirits.” In Rev 9:20, ἵνα μὴ προσκυνήσουσιν τὰ δαιμόνια καὶ τὰ εἰδωλα. In the Gospels, and probably in the Apocalypse, δαιμόνια seem to be the same as πνεύματα ἀκάθαρτα, and that is likely to have been St Paul’s view. The close connexion between idolatry and impurity would point to this (see Weinel, St Paul, pp. 31-34). By entering into fellowship with demons or unclean spirits, they were exposing themselves to hideous temptations of terrific violence.

οὐ θέλω δὲ κ.τ.λ. ‘And I do not wish that you should become fellows of the demons’: ‘have fellowship with’ (AV.) or ‘have communion with’ (RV.) does not give the force of γίνεσθαι. The article shows that ‘the demons’ are regarded here as a society, into which the worshipper of idols is admitted.

The text of v. 20 has been much varied by copyists, and some points remain doubtful. θύουσιν (א A B C D E F G P) is to be preferred to θύει (K L), which is a grammatical correction in both places. After the first θύουσιν, א A C K L P, Vulg. Syrr. Copt. have τὰ ἔθνη: B D E F omit. WH. bracket. The second θύουσιν follows καὶ οὐ θεῷ (א A B C P, Arm.), not precedes (D E F G, Vulg. Syrr. Copt.). For κοινωνοὺς τῶν δαιμονίων, D* E F G have δαιμονίων κοινωνούς. For γίνεσθαι, F, Syrr. Copt. have εἶναι.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Devils [δαιμονιοις] . See on Mr 1:34. Used here, as always in the New Testament, of diabolic spirits. 111 Daimonion the neuter of the adjective daimoniov divine, occurs in Paul 's writings only here and 1Ti 4:1. It is used in the Septuagint, Deu 32:17, to translate the Hebrew word which seems, originally, to have meant a supernatural being inferior to the gods proper, applied among the Assyrians to the bulldeities which guarded the entrances to temples and palaces. Among the Israelites it came to signify all gods but the God of Israel. Compare Isa 65:11, where Gad (good fortune, probably the star - God Jupiter) is rendered in the Septuagint tw daimoniw the demon. See Rev, O. T. Also Psa 96:5 (Sept. 95.), where elilim things of nought, A. V. idols, is rendered by daimonia demons. 112

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.