Please explain 1st Corinthians 8:5-6.
Let’s read 1st Corinthians 8:4-6, “Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live” (NKJV). Paul was writing to address the subject of eating meat offered to idols, for the city of Corinth was given over to idolatry. Greek mythology had a real hold on those who had not been converted to Jesus Christ and thus they worshipped many “so-called gods” such as Jupiter, Venus, Mercury and Neptune. In is in this sense alone that Paul says, “there are many gods and many lords.” They weren’t real, but to the heathen idolater they were very real and they were in bondage to these false gods and lords.
In verse 6 he says, “yet for us there is one God.” The heathen believed in “many gods” but the Christian knows there is only “one God.” He goes on to say, “the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him.” Paul emphasizes here that God the Father is the CREATOR of all things and that we were created for Him. The very first verse of our Bible declares, “In the beginning God created the heaven the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The believer gives a hearty AMEN to this truth and he also realizes that the reason God created us was for His glory and pleasure. A future scene in heaven reveals that we will fall down before the throne of God and declare, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”
The heathen also believed in “many lords” but for the Christian there is only “one Lord.” He is the “Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.” In the words “through whom are all things,” Paul is teaching that the Lord Jesus is also the CREATOR. God the Father was the SOURCE in creation (that is, He planned the creation), but the Lord Jesus is the AGENT of creation (He actually brought it into existence). This is confirmed in John 1:1-3: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” Colossians 1:15-16 also teaches us this: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth. visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” The words “through whom we live” in our verse stress the fact that the Lord Jesus is also the AGENT in “new creation,” for it is through Him that we have been “born again.” 2nd Corinthians 5:17 states, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (236.1) (DO)