GODS (אֱלֹהִים, H466; θεός, G2536, (sing.), θεοί (pl.).

1. False divinities. The Biblical terms are used generically to mean gods, divinities, objects of worship, sometimes meaning the true God, and sometimes meaning the false divinities of paganism. Academic treatments of cultural anthropology usually betray strong influence of the theory of human evolution, maintaining that the difference between “true” and “false” religion is one of degree rather than of kind, and that there is a basic continuity between the idolatry of primitive paganism and the ethical monotheism of the great OT prophets, the NT apostles and Christ. Over against this idea, Scripture teaches that the original religion of mankind was monotheism, and that belief in and worship of gods as distinguished from the worship of the true God is to be regarded as a corruption of the primitive monotheism which appears at the beginning of the OT. Actually, the factual data discovered by field researches in anthropology tend to confirm the Biblical view. Various “primitive” tribes recognize the reality and power of a supreme God who created the universe, but they do not worship Him. It has also been shown that the oldest known religion of China was monotheism, the worship of Shang Ti, the supreme ruler, which is much older than any of the historical religions of China. The Apostle Paul outlined the downward process by which belief in the one true God, known but not worshiped, thanked or served, deteriorated to the most debased forms of polytheism and idolatry (Rom 1:18-25).

2. Treatment in OT. The first mention of idolatry or polytheism in the Bible occurs in connection with the history of Jacob, whom Laban accused of having stolen his “gods” (Gen 31:30), actually the images of household divinities (31:19). The Philistine champion Goliath “cursed David by his gods” (1 Sam 17:43). Through the course of OT history and until the end of the Babylonian Captivity in the 6th cent. b.c., there was a constant struggle to maintain consistently the purity of monotheism against the constant tendency to lapse into polytheistic belief and worship. There is a typical example of this long continued polemic against false gods in Psalm 115:1-8. By the time of the return from the Babylonian captivity this tendency of the people of Israel to recognize and honor other gods was effectively and permanently corrected; from then on, to be a Jew was to be a strict monotheist and a hater of idols.

3. The plural form אֱלֹהִים, H466. used of the true God. This usage, which occurs throughout the OT, is not to be understood as implying any recognition of or concession to polytheism, or plurality of being or essence. The form is pl., but when used for the true God the meaning is sing. The pl. form accompanies the strictest monotheism of teaching. The pl. form may be explained as a pl. of majesty, as earthly rulers call themselves “we,” or it may be regarded as a veiled hint of the doctrine of the divine Trinity, later to be revealed explicitly in the NT.

4. The term “gods” applied to men. The usage of Psalm 82:6, “I say, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like men, and fall like any prince,’” and its quotation by the Lord in John 10:35, 36, presents a difficulty. Men are called “gods” and the term actually is used in contrast to “men.” “You are gods...nevertheless, you shall die like men.” It must be remembered that the context both in Psalm 82 and John 10 is one of strictest monotheism. Jesus’ statement that those who were called “gods” were those “to whom the word of God came” indicates that members of the covenant nation of Israel were meant. The generally accepted interpretation is that in these two passages “gods” refers to the judges or other rulers of OT times, who are called “gods” not because they were divine, but because they were dignitaries clothed with an authoritative commission from God.

5. Treatment in the NT. The later Judaism in the context of which the NT revelation was given by God was the strictest possible monotheism. Among and around the Jews, however, were Gentiles who were polytheists and often idolaters. Hence, the NT emphatically contradicts all claims for divinity of any others than the one true God. In the face of the manifold idolatry of Athens, Paul proclaimed the God “who made the world and everything in it” (Acts 17:24 RSV). At Ephesus Demetrius the silversmith objected violently to the preaching of Paul because the latter had said that “gods made with hands are not gods” (Acts 19:26). Paul stated his monotheism over against the prevalent polytheism emphatically in 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, “...‘there is no God but one.’ For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”

6. Demonic character of pagan gods. In using the term “god” for the objects of pagan worship, Scripture does not mean to imply their objective reality, but only their subjective existence in the minds of their worshipers. Amaziah king of Judah, after decisively defeating the Edomites, brought back to Jerusalem a collection of Edomite idols, which he then set up and worshiped (2 Chron 25:14, 15), and was rebuked by a prophet of Jehovah for worshiping gods which were manifestly unreal and helpless, since they had not been able to save their own people, the Edomites, from conquest by Judah. Evidently Amaziah, though a worshiper of Jehovah, found it difficult to hold a pure enough monotheism to regard the Edomite gods as mere lifeless images. What is important to note is not merely Amaziah’s inconsistency, but the Lord’s rebuke to him through the prophet.

In 1 Corinthians 10:19-21 Paul sets forth the demonic character of pagan divinities: “...what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.” While the pagan divinities are non-existent and mere figments of human imagination (Rom 1:21-25), still the worship offered to them was claimed and appropriated by demons, who of course are objectively real and concerned to oppose the truth of God.

Bibliography A. H. Strong, Systematic Theology (1912), 56, 531-532; ISBE (1929), II, 1270-1272; G. Vos, Biblical Theology. (1948), 73, 74, 255-257; O. T. Allis, The Five Books of Moses (1949), 152-155, 246, 324; M. F. Unger, Archeology and the OT (1954), 202, 278, 279, 167-178; TCERK (1955), I, 464, 465; Von Allmen, A Companion to the Bible (1958), 145, 146; M. F. Unger, Biblical Demonology (1958); Archaeology and the NT (1962), 259, 260; J. B. Noss, Man’s Religions (1963), 50-117; B. W. Anderson, Understanding the OT (1966), 412.