Verse 20
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.
To demons ... Despite the fact of an idol; being nothing at all, there is, nevertheless, a Satan in the world, and a great number of malignant spirits, perhaps even fallen angels, who are used by the evil one to attain his goals regarding human corruption and destruction. The device of the idol is used by Satan as a means of destroying people's souls; and Paul brings such facts as these into sharp focus here. One of the great blind spots in modern thinking regards the very existence of Satan as a person; but the most universally prayed prayer on earth says, "Deliver us from the evil one." Paul here identified such things as idol feasts at a theater where the forces of Satan are operative. People refuse to believe this at their peril.
"The essence of the matter lay in the participation in idol worship, which was a reversion to heathenism."[29] As Alford said, "Heathendom being under the dominion of Satan ... he and his angels are in fact the powers honored and worshipped by the heathen, however little they may be aware of it."[30] "Demons are the real force behind all pagan religion; attested not only by the Old Testament and the New Testament, but by missionary experience. Idolatry is a medium through which satanic power is particularly manifest."[31]
[29] Donald S. Metz, op. cit., p. 410.
[30] Ibid.
[31] Paul W. Marsh, op. cit., p. 396.
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