John Calvin & the Book of Baruch
In his commentary on 1 Cor. 10:20, the Swiss Reformer John Calvin believed that the blessed Apostle borrowed the language of the following verse from the deutero-canonical writing Baruch:
“For you provoked the one who made you by sacrificing to demons and not to God.” Baruch 4:7 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)
Here’s what he wrote:
Some, however, understand the term demons here as meaning the imaginary deities of the Gentiles, agreeably to their common way of speaking of them; for when they speak of demons they meant inferior deities, as, for example, heroes, (586) and thus the term was taken in a good sense. Plato, in a variety of instances, employs the term to denote genii, or angels. (587) That meaning, however, would be quite foreign to Paul’s design, for his object is to show that it is no light offense to have to do with actions that have any appearance of putting honor upon idols. Hence it suited his purpose, not to extenuate, but rather to magnify the impiety that is involved in it. How absurd, then, it would have been to select an honorable term to denote the most heinous wickedness! It is certain from the Prophet Baruch, (Baruch 4:7,) that those things that are sacrificed to idols are sacrificed to devils (Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalms 96:5.) In that passage in the writings of the Prophet, the Greek translation, which was at that time in common use, has δαιμόνια — demons, and this is its common use in Scripture. How much more likely is it then, that Paul borrowed what he says from the Prophet, to express the enormity of the evil, than that, speaking after the manner of the heathen, he extenuated what he was desirous to hold up to utter execration! (Calvin’s Commentaries, Chapter 10; emphasis mine)
Note how Calvin calls Baruch a prophet and lists his writing among the prophetic Scriptures!
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