1 Corinthians 10:20

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 Deuteronomy 32:17, and similar ones are found in the Septuagint version of Psalms 96:5; cf. Psalms 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’ (John 12:31), ‘which is the Devil, and Satan’[137] (Revelation 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. Luke 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�, ἢ Ζηνός, ἢ καὶ δαιμόνων τινὸς πάρα;

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