1st Corinthians Chapter 8 verse 5 Holy Bible
For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth; as there are gods many, and lords many;
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For though there are those who have the name of gods, in heaven or on earth, as there are a number of gods and a number of lords,
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For and if indeed there are [those] called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, (as there are gods many, and lords many,)
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For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)
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For though there are things that are called "gods," whether in the heavens or on earth; as there are many "gods" and many "lords;"
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for even if there are those called gods, whether in heaven, whether upon earth -- as there are gods many and lords many --
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 5. - For though there be that are called gods. The verse is a limitation of the phrase which perhaps he had quoted from their letter. There are, indeed, demons, and there are created things, like the host of heaven and the powers of nature, which are called gods and pass for gods. Gods many, and lords many. Perhaps a passing allusion to the use of elohim, gods, for men in great positions, and to the habitual deification of Roman emperors even in their lifetime. The title "Augustus," which they all had borne, was to Jewish ears "the name of blasphemy" (Revelation 13:1), implying that they were to be objects of reverence. Indeed, the worship of the Caesars was, in that strange epoch of mingled atheism and superstition, almost the only sincere cult that was left.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(5) For though there be. . . .--This is an hypothetic argument. "Be" is the emphatic word of the supposition. Even assuming that there do exist those beings which are called "gods" (we have a right to make such a supposition, for Deuteronomy 10:17, Psalm 105:2-3, speaks of "gods and lords" of another kind), the difference between the heathen, "gods many" and the "lords and gods" of whom the Old Testament speaks, is that the former are deities, and the latter only a casual way of speaking of angels and other spiritual subjects and servants of the one God. This is brought out in the following verse.