Featured What Exactly Does "Have Fellowship With Devils" Mean?

Interesting topic for discussion; thank you. I'll stick my head above the parapet.
The section we are looking at starts at verse 14, and begins with a 'therefore.' So the section has to do with the experiences of Israel in the wilderness (vs. 1-13).
Paul is saying that an idol is nothing but wood or stone and food sacrificed to them is neither better or worse for that in itself. Therefore to eat in an Indian restaurant, where the food may be 'halal' is not a problem (vs. 25-27). But behind the idols and the food are demonic forces. In verse 20, Paul alludes to the Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:17) to make his point.

The Corinthians lived in a very wicked city. It was a byword throughout the Empire for immorality and idolatry. They had only recently come out of paganism. They may well still have friends who were still pagan. It was OK for them to buy meat that might have been sacrificed to idols (v.25). It was OK for them to go to someone's home for dinner and to eat what was put in front of them (v.27). But they might be invited to come along to a celebration at a pagan Temple and join in the feast afterwards. This, Paul is saying they should not do, as they would be having fellowship (or 'partaking of') demons.

 

1 Timothy 4:1- 5 (NET)
Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared. They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creation of God is good and no food is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by God's word and by prayer. ​

One of the ancillary studies of Theology is Demonology. However, since the central facet of Christianity is Christ, our focus must remain becoming better disciples of Christ, rather than just eschewing fellowship with anti-Christs.

 

In context is a nice phrase. But without presenting your understanding of that context, it is like sprinkling fairy dust on your opinion, I am right because of the unspecified context.

Demonic teachings can be false teachings that are destructive heresies. To limit the scope to fallen spiritual beings that take control of people and pigs is beyond the context.

Last point, my post #3 was posted before you weighed in with your post #4, so I made no claim as to your focus.

But let me address your specific interpretation of 1 Corinthians 10:19-20:

I think the context is that pagan beliefs and sacrifices, although fictions, are put into the minds of people by spiritual demonic beings, and so to be participants in these activities means (1) having spiritual commonality of purpose, mindset, etc. with demons, and (2) to be directly or indirectly fellowshiping with demonic powers.

 

Thanks for finally see it my way.

I think the context is that pagan beliefs and sacrifices, although fictions, are put into the minds of people by spiritual demonic beings, and so to be participants in these activities means (1) having spiritual commonality of purpose, mindset, etc. with demons, and (2) to be directly or indirectly fellowshiping with demonic powers.

 

LOL, first my view is my opinion, now my view lacks specific biblical support. Whereas your view is comprised of facts well supported by your numerous references to specific verses. Got it...

Paul never mentioned we fight against "spiritual wickedness." No Siree Bob... Folks read Ephesians 2:2 or 6:12.

I think the context is that pagan beliefs and sacrifices, although fictions, are put into the minds of people by spiritual demonic beings, and so to be participants in these activities means (1) having spiritual commonality of purpose, mindset, etc. with demons, and (2) to be directly or indirectly fellowshiping with demonic powers.

Did Paul teach that other deities were fictions? See 1 Corinthians 8:10

 

I think it is not possible to restrict the discussion strictly to verse 20. To find out what is meant by "partaking of" demons, we have to look back a few verses.
In v.14, Paul tells us, in view of Israel's experiences in the wilderness, to flee from idolatry. In v.16, he speaks of the Lord's supper and declares that is the koinonia of the blood and body of Christ. Whatever he means by koinonia in v.14 he also means in v.18 and v.20 where the same word is used. Koinonia tends to mean a 'fellowship,' a 'sharing' or a 'participation' in something. So whatever koinonia we experience in the Lord's Supper is the same as that which the priests experienced when they ate of the sacrifices, and that which idolators experience when they eat and drink at pagan festivals. The difference, of course, is that believers have their koinonia with Christ, while idolators have theirs with demons.

I am aware that most Baptists today regard the Lord's Supper as simply an act of remembrance, but their 17th Century forebears understood something much deeper, and that understanding was based upon these very verses. At the Supper, there is a genuine, though spiritual, sharing in, or participation in, the blood and body of our Lord. The 1689 Confession states: 'Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible Elements in this ordinance, do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually receive, and feed upon Christ crucified [1 Corinthians 1:16; 11:23-26] and all the benefits of His death; the Body and Blood of Christ, being then not corporally or carnally, but spiritually present to the faith of Believers, in that Ordinance, as the Elements themselves are to their outward senses.'

In the same way, therefore, those Corinthian Christians who visited pagan temples were in some way feeding upon demons, and the results, as illustrated in 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 (everyone, please read the passage) were disunity and disrespect for the Lord's table. The ordinance had become almost indistinguishable from a pagan festival - drunkenness, gorging, and the poor being neglected. No wonder Paul tells them, 'Therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper' (v.20).

 

And Van said: (2) to be directly or indirectly fellowshiping with demonic powers.

 

Our communion celebrations are for the remembrance of His sacrifice, and not any sort of "spiritual transubstantiation."

 

Good grief, the verses prove the opposite!!!!!
I have supported my view, and you have still not provided anything of merit.
Your inability to grasp what Paul is speaking about in 1 Corinthians 10:19-20 is obvious.

Your argument that parallel passages do not provide context for understanding a passage is nonsense, we always study all the parallel passages when examining a verse to enlighten our understanding.