Biblical Hebrew Forum

[John Ronning <ronning AT ilink.nis.za>]

All might want to take note of  1 Cor 8:4 Therefore concerning the eating of 
things
sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in
the world, and that there is no God but one.

Also  1 Cor 10:19 What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is 
anything, or
that an idol is anything?

But then the next verse: "the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they 
sacrifice to
demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons."

I.e. they are "nothing" w.r.t. what they say they are, but they are 
definitely real,
supernatural entities.  The OT says the same thing (e.g. Deut 32:39 "there is 
no god
besides me" but 32:17 refers to the demons that idolators sacrificed to) - so 
neither NT
or OT is "monotheistic" if you're going to define it as belief in only one 
supernatural
being.  What's the point?

John


"Jonathan D. Safren" wrote:

> Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG wrote:
>
> >
> > As for a monotheistic Moses, the presence in Egypt in the 5th century
> > and in Judah in the 8th century of syncretistic polytheistic Jews is
> > quite irrelevant. Here is a version without ifs: There were
> > near-monotheists in Egypt in and around the time of Akhenaten. There
> > exists a narrative stating that a (near-??)monotheist from Egypt
> > (named Moses) led a group of slaves out of Egypt, at an uncertain time
> > which may have been a little before or a little after the time of
> > Akhenaten. This narrative is to this extent confirmed in its
> > compatibility with the history of Egyptian religion.
> > Peter
>
> Akhenaten worshipped Aten, the sun-god, a corporeal body. He did not deny 
> the
> existence of other gods; he just did not worship them. This is henotheism, 
> or
> monolatry, and not monotheism, nor any thing near it. Monotheism means the 
> belief in
> one god and denying the existence of other gods. There is none of that in 
> Akhenaten's
> religion, nor in the Ten Commandments.
> "You shall have no other gods besides me" means: There are other gods, but 
> you shall
> not worship them. This Commandment, and indeed, all the Law Codes of the 
> Torah, can
> best be understood by reference to suzerainty treaties of the second and 
> first
> millennium BCE, in which one common stipulation is : You shall serve only 
> me and not
> other sovereigns.
> Whether the Ten Commandments are Mosaic or not, they are not monotheistic.
> Sincerely,
> Jonathan D. Safren