The Meaning of εἷς κύριος (one Lord) in 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.

I noticed that through Jesus all things came to be and through whom we live

I notice that the phrase ''one lord'' in relation with the creation of all things recalls the ''one lord'' of the Old Testament (''the lord is one'', Deut. 6:4, and ''you are the only lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, with all the stars. You made the earth and everything on it, the seas and everything in them; you give life to everything. The heavenly army worships you.'', Nehemiah 9:6). Paul's applying to Jesus the exact same description of ''one lord'' which belongs to the only the true god.

This is all true,

• Jesus is not the Father, the Father is not Jesus
• Jesus, as the one lord, is god, because based on context, Paul relates Jesus with the ''many lords'' who are ''the so-called gods...on earth'' in verse 5. Paul is consistent that the many lords are gods and that his one lord is god.
• The Father, as the one god, is lord, specifically the one lord of the Shema.
• In this verse, Paul equally applies to both the Father and Jesus the 2 exact same prepositional phrases (''from him are all things'') and (''through him are all things'') from Romans 11:36, a doxology praising the lord god as Creator, which means that Paul regarded the Father (one god) and Jesus (one lord) as Creator in the text in question.

This is precisely an equality relationship as the very definition of ''one god'' and ''one lord'' features monotheism ( recalling the Shema: ''the lord our god, the lord is one'') in contrast to the polytheism of the many gods and many lords, the lords being gods on earth, based on context (vv. 4-6). Based on their contexts, both Acts 2:36 and Philippians 2:9-11 show that the risen Jesus was ''made lord'' by god (the father). 1 Corinthians 8:6 tells us that Jesus is already lord in the creation of all things, before he became in the likeness of humans (Philippians 2:6-7) so that Jesus and the Father are both ''uncreated'' in contrast to ''all created things''.

Notes

both Jesus, and Paul are right. ​​​​

Mark 12

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

1 Corinthians 8:6

yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

1 Corinthians 16:22

If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed. Maranatha!

In Hebrew, Adonai (my Lord/Lord) is the oral/written substitute of the Tetragrammaton. In Greek, it's kyrios (Lord).

The Shema Yisrael in Hebrew has the Tetragrammaton ( = YHWH). When a Jew prays the Shema, he does not utter the Tetragrammaton but rather, he utters Adonai instead. And a Greek speaking Jew utters Kyrios instead.

Adonai literally means ''my lords'' but when used to the God of Israel, it's used in the singular (''my Lord'' or ''the Lord''). When the Greek speaking Jews translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek around the 3rd century B.C.E, they did not transliterate the divine name but rather, they wrote its substitute kyrios instead. Kyrios means a lot of things (''sir'', ''lord'', ''master'', ''owner'' etc.) and its exact meaning can be determined only by its context. Kyrios, corresponding to Adonai (''my Lord/ Lord''), means ''Lord''.

In the Bible, Yahweh is called ''Lord'' because (i) he is the ruler or leader of all who rule/lead others (rulers, kings, judges etc.) and because (ii) he created all things.

Why did God's people chose ''Lord'' as the oral/written substitute for the divine name?

In Deuteronomy 10:17, Yahweh was called ''Lord of lords''. This means that Yahweh is the ruler or leader of all who rule/lead others (rulers, kings, judges etc.). Yahweh was also called ''Lord'' because he created all things. In Matthew 11:25, Jesus says to the Father: “I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth … ” and in Acts 17:24, Paul says: “The God who made the world and everything in it, he is the Lord of heaven and earth … ”.

 kurios heis estin ([the] lord is one) in the Shema Yisrael in Greek is semantically the same with eis kurios (one lord) in 1 Corinthians 8:6. 

Paul applies the Shema to Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 8:6. In the Septuagint, the Shema reads: (akoue, Israel, kyrios o theos hemon, kurios heis estin) (Listen, Israel, [the] Lord our God, [the] Lord is one). It's now widely accepted among scholars that the phrase ''heis kyrios'' (one Lord) is derived from and alluded to the Shema' clause ''kurios heis estin'' ([the] Lord is one).

In the LXX Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4), the adjective heis (one) is a predicate conjoined to the noun kurios (lord) by the copula estin (is), In 1 Corinthians 8:6, heis (one) now modifies kurios (lord). Only the grammatical syntax changed.The clause ''the Lord is one'' is semantically identical to the phrase ''one Lord''. In other words, ''The Lord is one'' means that there is ''one Lord''.

The Greek speaking Jews applied the title kyrios (Lord) to Yahweh in the Shema. In 1 Corinthians 8:6, Paul applied to Jesus Yahweh's own identity as kyrios (Lord). In this case, the generic sense of  ''Lord'' ( = ruler) was applied to Jesus Christ but his dominion encompasses ''all created things''. In other words, the lordship of Jesus Christ is precisely the kind which Yahweh himself possesses. 

In Romans 15:6, Paul spoke of the ''Father'' as the ''God'' of our ''Lord'' Jesus Christ. In this text, we can see that Jesus is ''Lord'' of every creature except the Father. (This is congruent with 1 Corinthians 15:27 wherein Paul says that ''everything'' -- except God -- was put under Jesus' feet). Jesus Christ is deemed as ''uncreated'' (not part of ''all created things'' which are subjected to his (Jesus') lordship) in his lordship. Jesus Christ, as the uncreated Lord, has the Father as his own God which only shows functional, not ontological, subordination between them. 

In the Bible, Jesus Christ is identified as the ''one Lord'' of the Shema because (i) he is the ruler or leader of all who rule/lead others (rulers, kings, judges etc.) and because (ii) he created ''all created things''.

1. In 1 Corinthians 8:6, Paul applies to the Father and Jesus two prepositional phrases from Romans 11:36.
2. Paul did not apply ‘’ex’’ and ‘’eis’’ to Jesus in 1 Corinthians 8:6 like he did to God in Romans 11. 
3. It is also equally true that Paul did not apply ‘’di’ and ‘’eis’’ to the Father in 1 Corinthians 8:6 like he did to God in Romans 11. 
4. What Paul did is apply only one prepositional phrase for each. Paul applied ‘’ex’’ to the Father and ‘’di’’ to Jesus like he did to God in Romans 11. This means that Paul was identifying the Father and Jesus as Creator like he did to God in Romans 11.

Paul is relating the ''many lords'' (the so-called gods on earth, Gaius, Caesar Augustus, etc.) with the ''one Lord'' (the God of Israel, Yahweh) whom he identifies to be Jesus Christ. 

1 Corinthians 8:5 (NRSV)

Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords

Paul tells his readers about ‘’the so-called gods…on earth’’ in 1 Corinthians 8:5. Who are these so-called gods on earth? In the same verse, they refer to the many lords. The so-called gods on earth were the many lords on earth. In the days of Jesus (AD 27) and of Paul (AD 30-50), the emperors were the many lords on earth, the gods on earth. The emperors were called Dominus (lord) and Deus (god).

 Paul put the Emperors (e.g. Nero, Ceasar, Gaius etc) and Jesus into the same category of κυριος ("lord"). In 1 Cor 8:5-6, Paul relates the many lords being gods on earth to Jesus Christ, who is also lord and hence, a god on earth. But Paul had in mind a specific lord, the lord mentioned in Shema Yisrael in Greek (i.e. the god of Israel, "God") and he identified Jesus Christ as that lord. Ergo, 1 Cor 8:5-6 is about many lords (Greco-Roman gods) contrasted against the one Lord (the God of Israel). This is a statement about polytheism (the many lords = "gods" on earth) and monotheism (one Lord = "God", based on the Shema: lord our God, lord is one).

The phrase "one Lord" (heis kyrios) is semantically the same as "the Lord is one" (kyrios estin heis) which is precisely what the Shema is saying. By identifying Jesus as the one Lord of the Shema, Paul is identifying Jesus as God, specifically as the God of Israel, Yahweh. Paul identifies the many lords as the so-called gods on earth. Examples of these divine lords were Gaius, Caesar Augustus and more in the first century A.D. but for Paul and his brethren, there's only one divine Lord and he's Jesus Christ. 

Paul conflated these two figures: ''the Father'' and ''Jesus Christ'' to the one figure (the one ''Lord God'') mentioned by the Shema Yisrael. In my analysis, Paul's beliefs can be described as semi-modalistic/proto-orthodoxy.

In the very same letter, Paul regarded the Holy Spirit as one Spirit whom Paul deemed to be responsible for people confessing Jesus as one Lord and the Father as one God.  

The absence of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 8:6 does not mean that the Holy Spirit does not feature in Paul's theological beliefs. In the very same letter, Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit as ''one Spirit'' (1 Corinthians 12:13) who causes one to confess ''Jesus is Lord'' (1 Corinthians 12:3). Paul shows his readers that in 1 Corinthians 12:3 and 12:13, the one Spirit is integral to knowing the one God and one Lord in 1 Corinthians 8:6.