Rising above every other master
Since, then, there are many gods, whether so called or real, and likewise many lords, we do all we can to rise above not only the things worshipped as gods among the nations on earth, but also those whom the Scriptures call gods. About these they know nothing who are “strangers to the covenants” (Ephesians 2:12) of God given through Moses and through our Saviour Jesus, and who are aliens to His promises made known through these.
The one who does no work that is dear to demons rises above servitude to all demons. And the one who looks “not to the things that are seen but to the things that are not seen” (2 Corinthians 4:18), whether in the way those beings do or however the matter may stand, rises above the portion of those whom Paul says are gods. And when a man sees how “the eager longing of the creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19), “not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope” (Romans 8:20); when he speaks of the creation with reverence and sees how all of it “will be set free from its bondage to corruption” and will come “into the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21), he is not drawn away into serving God and some other being along with Him, nor into “serving two masters” (Matthew 6:24).
So it is not the voice of sedition in those who have understood such things and do not wish to “serve” several “masters,” and who for this reason are content with the Lord Jesus Christ. He trains under Himself those who serve Him, so that, when they have been trained and have become a “kingdom” worthy of God, He may hand them over to God the Father (1 Corinthians 15:24). Yet they do cut themselves off and break away from those who are aliens to “the commonwealth” of God and strangers to His “covenants” (Ephesians 2:12), so that they may live as citizens of “the commonwealth in heaven” (Philippians 3:20), drawing near to the living God “and to the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven” (Hebrews 12:22–23).
Greek
Πολλῶν τοίνυν λεγομένων ἢ ὄντων θεῶν ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ κυρίων, ἡμεῖς πάντα πράττομεν, ἵν᾿ οὐ μόνα τὰ προσκυνούμενα ὡς θεοὺς παρὰ τοῖς ἐπὶ γῆς ἔθνεσιν ὑπεραναβῶμεν ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ οὕς φασιν αἱ γραφαὶ θεοὺς, περὶ ὧν οὐδὲν ἴσασιν οἱ „ξένοι τῶν“ διὰ Μωϋσέως καὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ ἡμῶν „διαθηκῶν“ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ οἱ ἀλλότριοι τῶν διὰ τούτων δηλουμένων ἐπαγγελιῶν αὐτοῦ. ὑπεραναβαίνει δὲ τὴν παρὰ πᾶσι δαιμονίοις δουλείαν ὁ μηδὲν ἔργον δαιμονίοις φίλον ποιῶν, καὶ ὑπεραναβαίνει τὴν μερίδα τῶν παρὰ Παύλῳ λεγομένων εἶναι θεῶν ὁ σκοπῶν, εἴτε ὡς ἐκεῖνοι εἴθ᾿ ὅπως ποτὲ ἔχει τὰ πράγματα, οὐ „τὰ βλεπόμενα ἀλλὰ τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα“· καὶ ὁρῶν τις, τίνα τρόπον καὶ „ἡ τῆς κτίσεως ἀποκαραδοκία τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπεκδέχεται,“ „οὐχ ἑκοῦσα ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν ὑποτάξαντα ἐπ᾿ ἐλπίδι,“ εὐφημῶν τὴν κτίσιν καὶ βλέπων, τίνα τρόπον „ἐλευθερωθήσεται“ πᾶσα „ἀπὸ τῆς δουλείας τῆς φθορᾶς“ καὶ καταντήσεται „εἰς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῆς δόξης τῶν τέκνων τοῦ θεοῦ,“ οὐ περισπᾶται πρὸς (τὸ) τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἄλλῳ τινὶ δουλεύειν μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ οὐδὲ πρὸς τὸ „δυσὶ κυρίοις δουλεύειν.“ οὐ στάσεως οὖν φωνὴ ἐπὶ τοῖς νοήσασι τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ μὴ θέλουσι „δουλεύειν“ πλείοσι „κυρίοις,“ διὰ τοῦτο ἀρκουμένοις κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ, παιδεύοντι ὑφ᾿ ἑαυτῷ τοὺς δουλεύοντας αὐτῷ, ἵν᾿ αὐτοὺς πεπαιδευμένους παραδῷ γενομένους „βασιλείαν“ ἀξίαν θεοῦ τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρί. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀποσχίζουσι καὶ ἀποῤῥηγνύουσιν ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων „τῆς πολιτείας“ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ξένων „τῶν διαθηκῶν“ αὐτοῦ, ἵνα „τὸ ἐν οὐρανοῖς πολίτευμα“ πολιτεύσωνται, προσερχόμενοι θεῷ ζῶντι „καὶ πόλει θεοῦ, Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπουρανίῳ, καὶ μυριάσιν ἀγγέλων πανηγύρει καὶ ἐκκλησίᾳ πρωτοτόκων, ἀπογεγραμμένων ἐν οὐρανῷ.“