All I need say is this. 5E SCAG: "In the Forgotten Realms, MOST Paldins, like Clerics, are devoted to a deity". And the same section goes into how deities make devout Warriors into Paladins.
The quote from Ed Greenwood I posted on the last page is pretty clear cut in regards to this. People need to differentiate between rules of a game system and the actual lore of the settings in which that game system is used.
The quote explicitly said paladins can serve parts of the pantheon in general though. Aka the concept of good.
