Idolatry Connects to Real Spiritual Powers

Paul says an idol is nothing. Two chapters later he says do not share the table of demons. Readers treat that as a contradiction. It is not.
The statue is nothing - carved wood, a house with no one obliged to live in it. But Paul is clear that something real stands behind the worship. When he warns the Corinthians about eating in pagan temples, what he fears is fellowship with daimonia.
The logic only runs one way. If the beings in 1 Corinthians 10 are imaginary, Paul's warning is theatre. He plainly believed demons were real, and he took the category from Deuteronomy, where the nations were handed over to territorial spirits.
Scripture links:
- 1 Corinthians 8:4 - an idol has no real existence.
- 1 Corinthians 10:18-22 - what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons, and you cannot share both tables.
Paul is not dismissing idolatry as silly. He is telling you whose table it seats you at.