“There Be Gods Many”?

DEFENSE

This passage refers to pagan deities.

Mormonism holds a position known as “henotheism” (Greek, hen, “one,” and theos, “god”), according to which only one god is to be worshipped by a people as its patron deity, though many gods exist. They see this position reflected in 1 Corinthians, which they typically quote from the King James Version. According to Mormonism, the only god people on earth have dealings with, though, is God the Father.

This does not fit what Paul is saying. He is writing in the context of the Greco-Roman world, where people worshipped many gods and goddesses (e.g., Zeus, Apollo, Osiris, Isis), though Jews and Christians denied their existence. This is confirmed by multiple points.

First, Paul refers to those “called” gods—indicating that he does not view them as real gods. More modern translations commonly render this “so-called gods.”

Second, he identifies some of these alleged deities as being “on earth” (Greek, epi gēs). This is a reference to idols.

Third, he does not say “but we only worship one God.” Instead, he says, “to us there is but one God”—i.e., Christians only believe one God exists.

Fourth, the broader context confirms this. The preceding verse states: “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” (1 Cor. 8:4, KJV; cf. vv. 7–10). This shows that Paul is referring to pagan deities when he speaks of there being “gods many, and lords many”—the false gods worshipped by pa- gans—the truth being that “there is none other God but one.”

TIP
Scripture elsewhere is clear that only one God exists (see Day 166).