KJV: 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.
YLT: no, but that the things that the nations sacrifice -- they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not wish you to come into the fellowship of the demons.
Darby: But that what the nations sacrifice they sacrifice to demons, and not to God. Now I do not wish you to be in communion with demons.
ASV: 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.
| ἀλλ’ | Rather |
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Parse: Conjunction Root: ἀλλά Sense: but. |
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| ὅτι | that |
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Parse: Conjunction Root: ὅτι Sense: that, because, since. |
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| θύουσιν | sacrifice |
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Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural Root: θύω Sense: to sacrifice, immolate. |
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| ἔθνη) | Gentiles |
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Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Plural Root: ἔθνος Sense: a multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together. |
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| δαιμονίοις | to demons |
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Parse: Noun, Dative Neuter Plural Root: δαιμόνιον Sense: the divine power, deity, divinity. |
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| Θεῷ | to God |
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Parse: Noun, Dative Masculine Singular Root: θεός Sense: a god or goddess, a general name of deities or divinities. |
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| θύουσιν | they sacrifice |
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Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural Root: θύω Sense: to sacrifice, immolate. |
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| θέλω | I do wish |
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Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular Root: θέλω Sense: to will, have in mind, intend. |
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| δὲ | now |
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Parse: Conjunction Root: δέ Sense: but, moreover, and, etc. |
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| κοινωνοὺς | fellow partakers |
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Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Plural Root: κοινωνός Sense: a partner, associate, comrade, companion. |
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| τῶν | - |
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Parse: Article, Genitive Neuter Plural Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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| δαιμονίων | with demons |
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Parse: Noun, Genitive Neuter Plural Root: δαιμόνιον Sense: the divine power, deity, divinity. |
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| γίνεσθαι | to be |
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Parse: Verb, Present Infinitive Middle or Passive Root: γίνομαι Sense: to become, i. |
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Greek Commentary for 1 Corinthians 10:20
The verb πημι phēmi (I say) must be repeated from 1 Corinthians 10:19 before οτι hoti [source]
Referring to lxx text of Deuteronomy 32:17. It is probable that by ου τεωι ou theōi Paul means “to a no-god” as also in Deuteronomy 32:21 επ ουκ ετνει ep' ouk ethnei (by a no-people). This is Paul‘s reply to the heathen who claimed that they worshipped the gods represented by the images and not the mere wood or stone or metal idols. The word δαιμονια daimonia is an adjective δαιμονιος daimonios from δαιμων daimōn an inferior deity, and with same idea originally, once in this sense in N.T. (Acts 17:18). Elsewhere in N.T. it has the notion of evil spirits as here, those spiritual forces of wickedness (Ephesians 6:12) that are under the control of Satan. The word δαιμονια daimonia so common in the Gospels, occurs in Paul‘s writings only here and 1 Timothy 4:1. Demonology is a deep and dark subject here pictured by Paul as the explanation of heathenism which is a departure from God (Romans 1:19-23) and a substitute for the worship of God. It is a terrible indictment which is justified by the licentious worship associated with paganism then and now. [source]
See on Mark 1:34. Used here, as always in the New Testament, of diabolic spirits. Δαιμόνιον the neuter of the adjective δαιμόνιος divineoccurs in Paul's writings only here and 1 Timothy 4:1. It is used in the Septuagint, Deuteronomy 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 Isaiah 65:11, where Gad (good fortune, probably the star-God Jupiter) is rendered in the Septuagint τῷ δαιμονίῳ thedemon. See Rev, O.T. Also Psalm 96:5(Sept. 95), where elilim things of nought, A.V. idols, is rendered by δαιμόνια demonsi0. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 1 Corinthians 10:20
The recognition of Jesus by the demons is surprising. The whole subject of demonology is difficult. Some hold that it is merely the ancient way of describing disease. But that does not explain the situation here. Jesus is represented as treating the demons as real existences separate from the human personality. Missionaries in China today claim that they have seen demons cast out. The devil knew Jesus clearly and it is not strange that Jesus was recognized by the devil‘s agents. They know that there is nothing in common between them and the Son of God Usually τα δαιμονια ta daimonia is the word in the New Testament for demons, but in Matthew 8:31 we have οι δαιμονες hoi daimones (the only example in the N.T.). Δαιμονιον Daimonion is a diminutive of δαιμων daimōn In Homer δαιμων daimōn is used synonymously with τεος theos and τεα thea Hesiod employed δαιμων daimōn of men of the golden age as tutelary deities. Homer has the adjective δαιμονιος daimonios usually in an evil sense. Empedocles considered the demons both bad and good. They were thus used to relieve the gods and goddesses of much rascality. Grote (History of Greece) notes that the Christians were thus by pagan usage justified in calling idolatry the worship of demons. See notes on 1 Corinthians 10:20.; note on 1 Timothy 4:1; note on Revelation 9:20; and notes on Revelation 16:13. In the Gospels demons are the same as unclean spirits (Mark 5:12, Mark 5:15; Mark 3:22, Mark 3:30; Luke 4:33). The demons are disturbers (Vincent) of the whole life of man (Mark 5:2.; Mark 7:25; Matthew 12:45; Luke 13:11, Luke 13:16). [source]
The Rev., unfortunately, and against the protest of the American committee, retains devils instead of rendering demons. See on Matthew 4:1. The New Testament uses two kindred words to denote the evil spirits which possessed men, and which were so often east out by Christ: διάμων , of which demon is a transcript, and which occurs, according to the best texts, only at Matthew 8:31; and δαιμόνιον , which is not a diminutive, but the neuter of the adjective δαιμόνιος ,of, or belonging to a demon. The cognate verb is δαιμονίζομαι to be possessed with a demon, as in Mark 1:32. The derivation of the word is uncertain. Perhaps δαίω , to distribute, since the deities allot the fates of men. Plato derives it from δαήμων , knowing or wise. In Hesiod, as in Pythagoras, Thales, and Plutarch, the word δαίμων is used of men of the golden age, acting as tutelary deities, and forming the link between gods and men. Socrates, in Plato's “Cratylus,” quotes Hesiod as follows: “Socrates: You know how Hesiod uses the word? Hermogenes: Indeed I do not. Soc.: Do you not remember that he speaks of a golden race of men who came first? Her.: Yes, I know that. Soc.: He says of them,But now that fate has closed over this race,They are holy demons upon earth,Beneficent, averters of ills, guardians of mortal men.'”After some further conversation, Socrates goes on: “And therefore I have the most entire conviction that he called them demons, because they were δαήμονες (knowing or wise )Now, he and other poets say truly that, when a good man dies, he has honor and a mighty portion among the dead, and becomes a demon, which is a name given to him signifying wisdom. And I say, too, that every wise man who happens to be a good man is more than human ( δαιμόνιον ) both in life and death, and is rightly called a demon.” Mr. Grote (“History of Greece”) observes that in Hesiod demons are “invisible tenants of the earth, remnants of the once happy golden race whom the Olympic gods first made - the unseen police of the gods, for the purpose of repressing wicked behavior in the world.” In later Greek the word came to be used of any departed soul. In Homer δαίμων is used synonymously with θεός and θεά , god and goddess, and the moral quality of the divinity is determined by the context: but most commonly of the divine power or agency, like the Latin numen, the deity considered as a power rather than as a person. Homer does not use δαιμόνιον substantively, but as an adjective, always in the vocative case, and with a sorrowful or reproachful sense, indicating that the person addressed is in some astonishing or strange condition. Therefore, as a term of reproach - wretch! sirrah! madman! (“Iliad,” 2:190,200; 4:31; ix., 40). Occasionally in an admiring or respectful sense (“Odyssey,” xiv., 443; xxiii., 174); Excellent stranger! noble sir! Homer also uses δαίμων of one's genius or attendant spirit, and thence of one's lot orfortune. So in the beautiful simile of the sick father (“Odyssey,” 5:396), “Some malignant genius has assailed him.” Compare “Odyssey,” x., 64; xi., 61. Hence, later, the phrase κατὰ δαίμονα is nearly equivalent to by chance. We have seen that, in Homer, the bad sense of δαιμόνοις is the prevailing one. In the tragedians, also, δαίμων , though used both of good and bad fortune, occurs more frequently in the latter sense, and toward this sense the word gravitates more and more. The undertone of Greek thought, which tended to regard no man happy until he had escaped from life (see on Matthew 5:3, blessed )naturally imparted a gloomy and forbidding character to those who were supposed to allot the destinies of life. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- In classical Greek it is noticeable that the abstract τὸ δαιμόνιον fell into the background behind δαίμων , with the development in the latter of the notion of a fate or genius connected with each individual, as the demon of Socrates; while in biblical Greek the process is the reverse, this doctrine being rejected for that of an overruling personal providence, and the strange gods, “obscure to human knowledge and alien to human life,” taking the abstract term uniformly in an evil sense. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Empedocles, a Greek philosopher, of Sicily, developed Hesiod's distinction; making the demons of a mixed nature between gods and men, not only the link between the two, but having an agency and disposition of their own; not immortal, but long-lived, and subject to the passions and propensities of men. While in Hesiod the demons are all good, according to Empedocles they are both bad and good. This conception relieved the gods of the responsibility for proceedings unbecoming the divine nature. The enormities which the older myths ascribed directly to the gods - thefts, rapes, abductions - were the doings of bad demons. It also saved the credit of the old legends, obviating the necessity of pronouncing either that the gods were unworthy or the legends untrue. “Yet, though devised for the purpose of satisfying a more scrupulous religious sensibility, it was found inconvenient afterward when assailants arose against paganism generally. For while it abandoned as indefensible a large portion of what had once been genuine faith, it still retained the same word demons with an entirely altered signification. The Christian writers in their controversies found ample warrant among the earlier pagan authors for treating all the gods as demons; and not less ample warrant among the later pagans for denouncing the demons generally as evil beings” (Grote, “History of Greece”). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- This evil sense the words always bear in the New Testament as well as in the Septuagint. Demons are synonymous with unclean spirits (Mark 5:12, Mark 5:15; Mark 3:22, Mark 3:30; Luke 4:33). They appear in connection with Satan (Luke 10:17, Luke 10:18; Luke 11:18, Luke 11:19); they are put in opposition to the Lord (1 Corinthians 10:20, 1 Corinthians 10:21); to the faith (1 Timothy 4:1). They are connected with idolatry (Revelation 9:20; Revelation 16:13, Revelation 16:14). They are special powers of evil, influencing and disturbing the physical, mental, and moral being (Luke 13:11, Luke 13:16; Mark 5:2-5; Mark 7:25; Matthew 12:45). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- [source]
Assigned to the same root as ἔθω , to be accustomed, and hence of a people bound together by like habits or customs. According to biblical usage the term is understood of people who are not of Israel, and who therefore occupy a different position with reference to the plan of salvation. Hence the extension of the gospel salvation to them is treated as a remarkable fact. See Matthew 12:18, Matthew 12:21; Matthew 24:14; Matthew 28:19; Acts 10:45; Acts 11:18; Acts 18:6. Paul is called distinctively an apostle and teacher of the Gentiles, and a chosen vessel to bear Christ's name among them. In Acts 15:9; Ephesians 2:11, Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 3:6, we see this difference annihilated, and the expression at last is merely historical designation of the non-Israelitish nations which, as such, were formerly without God and salvation. See Acts 15:23; Romans 16:4; Ephesians 3:1. Sometimes the word is used in a purely moral sense, to denote the heathen in opposition to Christians. See 1 Corinthians 5:1; 1 Corinthians 10:20; 1 Peter 2:12. Light is promised here to the Gentiles and glory to Israel. The Gentiles are regarded as in darkness and ignorance. Some render the words εἰς ἀποκάλυψιν , above, for the unveiling of the Gentiles, instead of for revelation. Compare Isaiah 25:7. Israel, however, has already received light by the revelation of God through the law and the prophets, and that light will expand into glory through Christ. Through the Messiah, Israel will attain its true and highest glory. [source]
See on wisdom, Luke 1:17; see on wisely, Luke 16:8. The warning against the sacrificial feasts and the allusion in 1 Corinthians 10:3suggest the eucharistic feast. An act of worship is sacramental, as bringing the worshipper into communion with the unseen. Hence he who practices idolatry is in communion with demons (1 Corinthians 10:20), as he who truly partakes of the Eucharist is in communion with Christ. But the two things are incompatible (1 Corinthians 10:21). In citing the Eucharist he appeals to them as intelligent (wise) men, concerning a familiar practice. [source]
See on John 10:19. In classical Greek used only of actual rents in material. So in Matthew 9:16; Mark 2:21. In the sense of discord, see John 7:43; John 9:16; John 10:19. Here, faction, for which the classical word is στάσις :division within the christian community. The divisions of the Corinthian church arose on questions of marriage and food (1 Corinthians 7:3, 1 Corinthians 7:5, 1 Corinthians 7:12); on eating, meat offered to idols (1 Corinthians 8:7; 1 Corinthians 10:20); on the comparative value of spiritual endowments, such as speaking with “tongues” (14); on the privileges and demeanor of women in the assemblies for worship (1 Corinthians 11:5-15); on the relations of the rich and the poor in the agape or love-feasts (1 Corinthians 11:17-22); and on the prerogatives of the different christian teachers (1 Corinthians 1:12, 1 Corinthians 1:13; 3:3-22). [source]
Same idea in κοινωνοι Koinéōnoi participators in, partners in, sharers in (with objective genitive). The word τυσιαστηριον thusiastērion is from late verb τυσιαζω thusiazō to offer sacrifice, and that from τυσια thusia sacrifice, and that from τυω thuō common verb to slay, to sacrifice (1 Corinthians 10:20). The Israelites who offer sacrifices have a spiritual participation in the altar. [source]
In 1 Corinthians 10:20 he terms them “demons,” the “so-called gods” (1 Corinthians 8:5), worshipping images made by hands (Acts 17:29). [source]
Not denying their existence (comp. 1 Corinthians 8:5) but their deity. Emphasis on by nature. Comp. 1 Corinthians 10:20. [source]
Better, I desire. See on Matthew 1:19, and comp. Philemon 1:12. Paul's word is θέλω Iwill. See Romans 16:19; 1 Corinthians 7:32; 1 Corinthians 10:20; 1 Corinthians 14:5, 1 Corinthians 14:19, etc. [source]
Old adjective (Matthew 21:31) usually as adverb, υστερον husteron (Matthew 4:2). Relative time from the prediction, now coming true (a present danger). Some shall fall away (αποστησονται τινες apostēsontai tines). Future middle of απιστημι aphistēmi intransitive use, shall stand off from, to fall away, apostatize (2 Corinthians 12:8). From the faith Ablative case (separation). Not creed, but faith in God through Christ. Giving heed (προσεχοντες prosechontes). Supply τον νουν ton noun (the mind) as in 1 Timothy 3:8. Seducing spirits Old adjective As substantive in 2 Corinthians 6:8. Probably some heathen or the worst of the Gnostics. Doctrines of devils (διδασκαλιαις δαιμονιων didaskaliais daimoniōn). “Teachings of δαιμονς daimons Definite explanation of the preceding. Cf. 1 Corinthians 10:20. [source]
Ablative case (separation). Not creed, but faith in God through Christ. Giving heed (προσεχοντες prosechontes). Supply τον νουν ton noun (the mind) as in 1 Timothy 3:8. Seducing spirits Old adjective As substantive in 2 Corinthians 6:8. Probably some heathen or the worst of the Gnostics. Doctrines of devils (διδασκαλιαις δαιμονιων didaskaliais daimoniōn). “Teachings of δαιμονς daimons Definite explanation of the preceding. Cf. 1 Corinthians 10:20. [source]
Old adjective As substantive in 2 Corinthians 6:8. Probably some heathen or the worst of the Gnostics. Doctrines of devils (διδασκαλιαις δαιμονιων didaskaliais daimoniōn). “Teachings of δαιμονς daimons Definite explanation of the preceding. Cf. 1 Corinthians 10:20. [source]
“Teachings of δαιμονς daimons Definite explanation of the preceding. Cf. 1 Corinthians 10:20. [source]
Better, teachings of demons. Comp. James 3:15. Διδασκαλία teachingoften in Pastorals. A few times in Paul. See on 1 Timothy 1:10. Δαιμόνιον demononly here in Pastorals. Very frequent in Luke: in Paul only 1 Corinthians 10:20, 1 Corinthians 10:21. Teachings proceeding from or inspired by demons. The working of these evil spirits is here specially concerned with striking at the true teaching which underlies godliness. It is impossible to say what particular form of false teaching is alluded to. [source]
More properly, demons. See on Mark 1:34. Compare 1 Corinthians 10:20; 1 Timothy 4:1. [source]