titude of supernatural beings, called gods and lords, not only by the heathen, but also in Scripture, yet there are no such beings as those which the heathen imagine.' The whole hea- then mythology is a fable, the work of the imagination. There are no such gods in existence, though there are demons in abundance, of various ranks and powers, called gods. There are two things which the apostle means to deny. 1. The ex- istence of such beings as the heathen conceived their gods to be. 2. That the supernatural beings who do really exist, and who are called gods, are really divine. They are mere crea- tures.
6. But to us (there is but) one God, the Pather, of whom (are) all things, and we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom (are) all things, and we by him.
Though there are many creatures called gods, there is but one true God, the creator of all things. To us^ i. e. to Chris- tians. There is one God^ i. e. only one being who is eternal, self-existing and almighty. This one God is, first, the Father y not the first person of the Trinity, but our father. The word does not here express the relation of the first to the second person in the Godhead, but the relation of God as such to us as his children. When we say, "Our Father who art in heaven," the word Father designates the Supreme Being, the Triune Jehovah. Secondly, of this one God it is said, o/" him are all things. He, the one God, is the source of the whole universe, and all that it contains. He created all things by the word of his power. All other beings are his creatures. Thirdly, we are to him. He is our end ; for his glory we were created and redeemed. Our version rendering the words cts avTov, i7i him., is an unnecessary departure from their proper meaning.
As there is but one divine Being, so there is but one Lord, i. e. one administrator of the universe, into whose hands all power in heaven and earth has been committed, and who is the only mediator between God and man. This one Lord is Jesus Christy Jesus the Messiah, the historical person, born in Bethlehem and crucified on Calvary. Of this one Lord it is said, first, all things are hy him. The all things in this clause must be coextensive with the all things in the preceding one, i. e. the universe, Comp, Eph. 3, 9. Col. 1, 16. Heb. 1, 2. The universe was created through Jesus Christ, i. e. the energy
I. CORINTHIAlSrS 8, 6,1. 145
of the one God was exercised through the Logos, who became flesh, assuming our nature into personal union with himself, and is therefore called Jesus Christ. This passage affords a striking illustration of the fact that the person of Christ may be denominated from his human nature, when what is affirmed of him is true only of his divine nature. He is here called Jesus Christ, though the work of creation attributed to him was the work of the Logos. Secondly, it is said of this one Lord, that we are hy him. This does not mean we were cre- ated by him ; for we Christians are included in the all things. It would be tautological to say, He created all things, and he created us. The meaning is, we as Christians (not, we as creatures, for that had been said before), we as the children of God are by him. We were redeemed by him ; we are brought unto God by him.
7. Howbeit (there is) not in every man that know- ledge : for some with conscience of the idol unto this horn* eat (it) as a thing offered unto an idol ; and their conscience being weak is defiled.
The context shows that (17 yi/wo-ts), the knowledge, means the particular kind of knowledge of which he had been speak- ing, viz. the knowledge that there is no idol in the world, or that the gods of the heathen are imaginary beings. Though the weaker believers knew that there is but one true God, they were still not fuUy persuaded that the gods of the hear then had no existence. With conscience of an idol. The word (jvvdhr\(Ti% unites the meanings of our words conscience and consciousness^ being sometimes the one and sometimes the other. Here the former meaning is better suited to the context. Conscience of an idol means a conscience under the influence of an idol; as in 1 Pet. 2, 19 conscience of God means a conscience under the influence of God.* The moral judgments an^ feelings of the persons referred to, were still influenced by the apprehension that the heathen gods might be real beings. XInto this hour. The words (cws aprt) until
* Instead of avviiZ'i]<m the MSS. A. B. 17. 46, and the Coptic, Ethiopic and Syrian versions read ffui/Tj^efa, which reading is adopted by Lachmann and Tischendorf. The meaning would then he ' through custom of an idol,^ i. e. from being long accustomed to believe that there were such beings. The great weight of authority, however, is in favour of the common reading.