1 Corinthians 8:6

• this forms part of Paul's reply to the question raised by christians in Corinth as to whether it was permissible to eat meat from animals that had been sacrificed in pagan temples
• he is here reminding those reading his letters, many of whom were converts from paganism, that monotheism is central to christian faith
• it reads like a statement of belief, so maybe Paul was quoting something in current use in christian worship
• he sets out his teaching on this in a style reminiscent of Hebrew poetry found in the Old Testament, which is structured not on rhyme but on parallelism and rhythm
• 1 corinthians 8:6

  'yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live'
• parallelism in 1 corinthians 8:6

  • One God, the Father - One Lord, Jesus Christ
  • from who are all things - through whom are all things
  • and for whom we exist - and through whom we exist
• some christians think that Paul had the shema in mind and that he was equating Jesus with god
• other christians think that the use of the preposition 'through' suggests that Jesus was god's agent in creation but not in the sense of being divine
• there is no way of giving an absolutely definite answer on what is meant by this and other New Testament texts about the status of Jesus
• it took the church several centuries of debate to get its thinking clear on this and perhaps such texts represent early steps in that process of thought