Greeting and Recognition: 1:1-9
In this opening section of the letter, Paul greets and recognizes the Corinthian church. Paul names Sosthenes as a co-author of the letter. Sosthenes could be the person referred to in Acts 18:12-17, which recounts events that occurred when Paul was first in Corinth:
When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat [in Corinth], saying, “This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.” And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you. But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such matters.” And he drove them from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue [in Corinth], and beat him before the judgment seat. But Gallio took no notice of these things.
It appears from Acts 18 that some members of the synagogue in Corinth became irate because of Paul’s teaching about Jesus and then resorted to violence against a synagogue leader they considered too tolerant when they could not get the civil authority to intervene. If this is the case, Sosthenes may have accompanied Paul after he left Corinth, or Paul could have been in contact with Sosthenes in Corinth about the contents of the letter before it was delivered. Other scholars think this is not the same Sosthenes who was the ruler of the Corinthian synagogue mentioned in Acts 19.
Paul’s greeting in verses 1-3 is theologically rich. In verse 1, Paul says he is “called to be an apostle of of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” An “apostle” is a messenger, a person sent on a mission. Paul’s status as a messenger of “Christ Jesus,” he claims, comes from being “called . . . by the will of God.” These are extraordinary claims!
In verse 2, Paul identifies his audience as “the church of God that is in Corinth.” We hear the word “church” and we think of a denomination and a building, but the word ekklésia has a richer meaning not necessarily tied to one building or place. Paul then offers some attributes of the ekklésia: its members are “sanctified in Christ Jesus” and “called to be saints.” “Sanctified” and “saints” are part of the same group of words meaning “holy” or “sacred” (hagios). Paul further extends the greeting of this letter beyond the ekklésia at Corinth: “together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.” Paul thereby unites the ekklésia at Corinth with a broader concept of an ekklésia that goes beyond any one place.
In verse 4-9, Paul gives thanks for the Corinthians and notes that they have been “enriched [in Christ], in speech and knowledge of every kind” and “not lacking in any spiritual gift.” But as we’ll see in a moment, Paul will soon criticize the Corinthians for abusing their speech, knowledge, and gifts. This part of the introduction might serve at least two purposes: it may “butter up” the Corinthians a bit for the criticism that will follow; but it also may suggest that what the Corinthians need to heal their divisions is already present within them (see verse 8: “He will also strengthen you to the end. . . .”).
Some discussion questions on this section:
- What strikes you about Paul’s calling and title? Are there still “apostles” today?
- What do you seen in Paul’s “ecclesiology” — his vision of the church? How are we still “the church” today? What does it mean for us to be “the church?”
- What do you think is the purpose of Paul’s positive words to the Corinthians in verses 4-9? Could you hear Paul saying something similar to us today?
The Appeal: 1:10-16
Starting in verse 10 Paul turns to his appeal for unity. Paul has heard “from Chloe’s people” — probably servants (slaves) of a wealthy woman who was one of the leaders in the Corinthian church that had been dispatched to visit Paul in Ephesus — about divisions and quarrels in Corinth. In the Introduction to our study we noted the conflicts Paul was facing with Peter (Cephas) and Apollos. Paul says he does not want to be the leader of a faction, which is backed up by the fact the he did not personally baptize any of the Colossian church members except Crispus and Gaius — but then he also recalls he baptized the household of Stephanas and maybe some others. Some commentators suggest that Paul is being intentionally dismissive here — “who cares who I baptized, that’s not what I care about, it’s not about me.”
Epistemology and Community of the Cross: 1:17 to 2:5
In 1:17-25, in the context of disputing claims of the various Corinthian factions to superior knowledge, Paul offers an extraordinary epistemology — an understanding of “knowledge” — centered in Christ. He couples this epistemology with a vision of community rooted not in power but in weakness.
Verse 18 says “the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” (NRSV). As the NRSV correctly translates, the words “perishing” and “saved” here are in the “middle” or passive voice. The action is occurring to the subject now, not something that happened in the past, nor something that will happen only in the future.
Where the NRSV and NIV use the word “message” here, the Greek word is logos. For those of you who were part of our Gospel of John Bible study, this word should resonate! Paul is not directly paraphrasing John 1 here, but it’s fair to see a common theological theme present in Pauline and Johanine literature, even if there was no actual cross-fertilization within these texts. The logos, the “word” that causes everything to be, the logic of all of creation, is Christ.
Paul says “it is written” that God “will destroy the wisdom of the wise” and thwart “the discernment of the discerning.” (1:19). This is a reference to the Greek version of Isaiah 29:14. This text in Isaiah speaks of God renewing Israel by raising the humble and destroying the proud:
Shall not Lebanon in a very little while
Isaiah 29:17-21 (NRSV)
become a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field be regarded as a forest?
On that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a scroll,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the neediest people shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
For the tyrant shall be no more,
and the scoffer shall cease to be;
all those alert to do evil shall be cut off—
those who cause a person to lose a lawsuit,
who set a trap for the arbiter in the gate,
and without grounds deny justice to the one in the right
Paul says that to the supposedly wise, the knowledge of Christ is “foolishness.” To the supposedly strong, the knowledge of Christ is “weakness.” In a great rhetorical flourish, Paul asks “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1:20).
In 1:26-31, Paul ties this epistemology to the social status of many of the Corinthian church members, and in 2:1-5, he ties this epistemology to his own weakness and fear as an apostle.
Passages such as this were important to the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther. Luther often spoke about a “theology of the cross” in contrast to a “theology of glory.” The “theology of glory,” for Luther, was about a person’s own power and good works, while a “theology of the cross” was a theology of a person’s weakness and need. Luther also emphasized how God is “hidden” in weakness, not least in the weakness of the crucifixion. Of course, Luther was not the first to notice these themes — they are present in many great earlier Christian thinkers and mystics.
There is an important stream of contemporary theology that takes up Luther’s idea of the “theology of the cross” and the “hiddenness” of God to ponder one of the central mysteries of our faith: the problem of evil. Why does a good God, creator of everything, allow evil? A theology of the cross doesn’t answer this question — in fact, a theology of the cross would say that any merely philosophical answer to this question is bound to be foolish. But a theology of the cross does suggest that the cross of Christ is somehow at the very heart of creation. This means creation’s suffering is known intimately to God and participates in the power of God’s salvation. Creation’s suffering, our suffering, is not meaningless, and is not the last word. (If you want to dig a little deeper into these themes, here are some reflections on how they show up in the theology of one of my favorite theologians, Karl Barth.)
Some discussion questions on these sections:
- How would you define “knowledge?” Does Paul’s epistemology in this section challenge your definition?
- What does it mean that we are in the process of being saved — or, alternatively, that there are people who are in the process of perishing? What does it mean to live as a person, or a community, that is arriving but has not yet arrived?
- Does Luther’s idea of a “theology of the cross” in contrast to a “theology of glory” resonate with you? How can a “theology of the cross” help us in our present suffering through this pandemic?