{"id":3440,"date":"2020-05-20T14:40:56","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T14:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/?p=3440"},"modified":"2020-05-20T14:40:56","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T14:40:56","slug":"1-cor-26-16-the-powers-of-the-age-and-the-power-of-the-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/2020\/05\/20\/1-cor-26-16-the-powers-of-the-age-and-the-power-of-the-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"1 Cor. 2:6-16: The Powers of the Age and the Power of the Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This short section is incredibly theologically rich. Paul refers to a theme that appears often in his letters: the contrast between God\u2019s kingdom and the \u201crulers of this age.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul and Apocalyptic<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In his commentary on 1 Corinthians<\/a>, Charles Campbell notes that, in chapter 1, Paul developed \u201ca dynamic apocalyptic theology of interruption.\u201d In this \u201cdynamic apocalyptic\u201d theology, God breaks into the present with a new and very different future, but that future is not yet fully realized. As a result, Paul pictures a \u201climinal, threshold space<\/em> between the ages, in which the church is being saved as it lives in the tension between the old age and the new.\u201d (Campbell, 43 (emphasis in original)). This liminal space is explored further in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 (remember that the entire text is a letter \u2014 there were no \u201cchapters\u201d or \u201cverses\u201d in the original text).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word \u201capocalyptic\u201d here might call to mind a grim end-of-the-world scenario, particularly during these times of pandemic. It\u2019s true that the genre of \u201capocalyptic\u201d literature in the Bible often supplies fearsome imagery of judgment. There was in fact a significant amount of \u201capocalyptic\u201d literature produced in Jewish communities in what historians call the \u201cSecond Temple\u201d period, between about 516 BCE to 70 CE. A little bit of history helps put this literature in perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first Temple was the Temple of Solomon that existed in Jerusalem until it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. Construction of the Second Temple was begun by groups of Jewish exiles who were allowed to return to Jerusalem from captivity in Babylon under a decree by the Persian King Cyrus issued in 538 BCE. The Second Temple was modest at first, but it was made into a magnificent structure by Herod the Great, ruler of Judea at the time of Jesus\u2019 birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herod was declared \u201cKing of the Jews\u201d by the Romans, who controlled Judea. Jewish purists believed Herod and his sons had corrupted true Jewish worship and the true Jewish state. This tension is reflected among the various parties referred to in the Gospels, including the Pharisees, and in the ironic title \u201cJesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews\u201d placed over Jesus on the cross. Herod\u2019s sons were eventually replaced by Roman governors and the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in CE 70 under the Emperor Titus after a failed Jewish revolt. There was never a \u201cThird Temple.\u201d The Jews were dispersed (the \u201cdiaspora\u201d) and the practices of Rabbinic Judaism centered on the local synagogue, without any King, Priests or central Temple, continued to develop, including into forms we are familiar with today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Second Temple period apocalyptic literature, then, can be viewed as a way in which different Jewish communities expressed the hope that the oppression of Greek and Roman rule, and the perceived compromise with wealth and power made by some other Jews, would come to an end through God\u2019s judgment, and that a new and more just Jewish kingdom would be established under God\u2019s rule. Some this apocalyptic literature, such as the book of Daniel, is found in the canon of the Hebrew scriptures. Some of it, such as 2 Ezra, is in the \u201capocrypha\u201d \u2014 writings that only some Christians think are part of the canon of scripture or that some Christians think are valuable but not part of the canon. Many of the texts in the famous \u201cDead Sea Scrolls<\/a>\u201d are apocalyptic and other texts relating to a sectarian community that existed during Jesus\u2019 time, some of which are part of the canon of the Hebrew scriptures or the apocrypha and some of which are not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul began his career as a Pharisee, before his calling as an Apostle of Jesus, so he certainly was familiar with some of this literature and with the spirituality it reflects. Paul himself seems to have anticipated a sudden end to the present order in an act of Divine judgment. So, we shouldn\u2019t be surprised to find echoes of this kind of thinking in Paul\u2019s letters. Of course, we also find Christian versions of apocalyptic in the New Testament outside the Pauline corpus, most notably in the Apocalypse of John (Revelation), and there is plenty of Christian apocalyptic literature dating from the first few centuries after Christ that was not incorporated into the Biblical canon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unmasking the Powers<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Although some apocalyptic imagery in the texts we have been discussing seems strange and violent to us today, in a broader sense, \u201capocalyptic\u201d is a form of unmasking the pretenses of the present in the hope of a better, truer future. In 1 Corinthians, this way of thinking appears in Paul\u2019s stark contrast between \u201cGod\u2019s wisdom\u201d and \u201cthe wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish.\u201d (1 Cor. 2:6 (NRSV)).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word \u201cage\u201d in Greek here is ai\u014dnos<\/em>, and the word \u201crulers\u201d is archont\u014dn<\/em>. You might notice some English words that have been derived from these Greek words (by way of Latin): \u201ceon\u201d from aion<\/em> and the ending \u201c-archy\u201d from arkh\u1e17<\/em> (as in \u201cpatriarchy,\u201d \u201coligarchy,\u201d or \u201canarchy\u201d). \u201cEon\u201d in English means an undetermined, very long period of time. In the New Testament, aion<\/em> is often used to contrast the present age and the future age, so it is a term that relates to eschatology, that is, to the things to come. An archon<\/em> in the New Testament can be an individual leader, such as the head of a synagogue, but it also often refers to spiritual <\/em>rulers or powers. You could translate the phrase \u201carchonton tou ainos<\/em>\u201d as \u201cpowers of this age.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul\u2019s picture of \u201crulers\u201d or \u201cpowers\u201d that are both earthly and super-earthly was consistent with how the Romans imagined themselves. This was a time when the was no \u201csecular\u201d space \u2014 everything tangible and visible was impregnated with the spiritual realm. The Romans believed that their society, including its politics, arts, commerce, and social order, depended upon relationships with their gods, including, eventually, a deified Roman Emperor. A claim that the Roman gods were false powers was equivalent to a claim that Rome\u2019s authority itself was illegitimate. The Jews dispersed through the Roman empire made such a claim when they recited the shema<\/em> \u2014 \u201cHear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One\u201d \u2014 and they were warily tolerated in Roman cities, though as a people whose center of authority, the Jerusalem Temple, had been razed by Titus. Paul makes the same kind of claim when he says the cross of Christ belies the \u201cpowers of this age.\u201d Paul does not rally around the hope of a rebuilt Third Temple against Rome, but he rallies around Christ raised up on a Roman cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some discussion questions on this section<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • What are some \u201cpowers\u201d \u2014 \u201c\u2013archies\u201d \u2014 you see at work in our world today? How would the cross of Christ defuse those powers?<\/li>
  • Do you think the \u201cpowers\u201d at work today are entirely \u201cmaterial,\u201d or do you think there are also \u201cspiritual\u201d powers? How can we in a modern, scientific, secular age relate to Paul\u2019s ancient understanding of a world in which material and spiritual realities coincide?<\/li>
  • Paul declares that the \u201crulers of this age\u201d are \u201cdoomed to perish\u201d against the backdrop of a historical narrative that shaped his life \u2014 the history of Israel discussed above. What historical narratives shape us? In what ways does the cross of Christ call those narratives into question?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The Spirit, the Depths, and the Mysteries<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    In the remainder of chapter 2, Paul dives deeper into the ideas about knowledge and wisdom mentioned in chapter 1. In verse 7, Paul says, \u201cwe speak God\u2019s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory\u201d (NRSV) \u2014 or in the NIV translation, \u201cwe declare God\u2019s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden . . . .\u201d The NIV translation captures the Greek word myst\u0113ri\u014d<\/em>, a term often used by Paul to mean something God had not previously disclosed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Paul offers here a kind of theology of history. God has a plan for the aionon<\/em> \u2014 the ages \u2014 that differs from the plans of the \u201crulers of this age\u201d and that is right, good, and glorious. God has not previously disclosed all of this plan but now it is being made known (or at least, an important part of it is being made known) in the cross of Christ. This plan is not merely otherworldly \u2014 a way for some people to \u201cgo to heaven.\u201d It is a plan to bring history to a resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The ekklesia<\/em> to whom Paul is writing \u2014 the community centered on the cross of Christ \u2014 can perceive how God\u2019s plan is working through \u201cthe Spirit that is from God\u201d (NRSV), in contrast to \u201cthe spirit of the world.\u201d The word Paul uses for \u201cworld\u201d here is \u201ckosmou<\/em>\u201d (the Greek kosmos<\/em>, from which we derive our words cosmos and cosmic). Again, what Paul is describing is a temporal, material reality, but also a cosmic<\/em> reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Notice that in the first section of chapter 2, Paul says he came to the Corinthians in weakness, without fine speech, but he quickly moves into this section addressed to \u201cthe mature\u201d \u2014 in Greek, teleiois<\/em>, from telos<\/em>. This word reflects an important concept in ancient Greek philosophy (from which we get our words \u201cteleology\u201d and \u201cteleological\u201d). It meant the end to be achieved, the thing toward which a good person, or a good society, should be pointed. So the teleiois<\/em> here are those who have achieved that end, who have become ethically perfected in virtue. Paul will go on to criticize the Corinthians, so he doesn\u2019t, in fact, think they have yet \u201carrived.\u201d Paul seems to be making a rhetorical move towards the disciples of Apollos, who think they are superior to others in the congregation and superior to Paul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What can be discerned through the Spirit of God seems like foolishness to \u201cthe unspiritual\u201d (NRSV) \u2014 to the \u201cnatural person.\u201d Looking at the Greek words here is interesting again: the \u201cunspiritual\u201d or \u201cnatural person\u201d is psychicos anthropos<\/em>. Psychicos<\/em> is from psyche<\/em> \u2014 our words psyche, psychological, relating to the mind. For the ancient Greeks, there was no sharp distinction between the \u201cmind\u201d and the \u201csoul,\u201d and the word psyche<\/em> referred to the \u201csoul,\u201d which included the capacities we today attribute to the \u201cmind\u201d (or perhaps for modern neuroscience, to the \u201cbrain\u201d). Paul often contrasts the \u201cspiritual\u201d and the \u201cnatural,\u201d what can be known through the Spirit and what can be known by the human mind or \u201csoul\u201d without the Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Also notice that in this section, Paul has referred to Jesus Christ, God, and the Spirit. Neither in 1 Corinthians nor in any of his other letters does Paul have a worked-out theology of the Trinity. There is no worked-out theology of the Trinity anywhere in the New Testament. Christian theology about the Trinity developed, often contentiously, in the early centuries of Church history, and what is considered \u201corthodox\u201d thought about the Trinity only began to become codified in 325 CE at the Council of Nicea. I put \u201corthodox\u201d in scare quotes here, because there is an enormous amount of historical baggage behind what did and didn\u2019t become recognized by the Council, and there never really was, and still isn\u2019t, full agreement about exactly what the doctrine of the Trinity means or how to express it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But \u2014 we do <\/em>see here the lineaments of Christian thought about the Trinity \u2014 a concept that is indeed central to all of Christian thought. Paul\u2019s thought \u2014 and any deeply Christian thought \u2014 is entirely consistent with the Jewish shema<\/em> \u2014 our God is \u201cone.\u201d And yet, Christian though must account for the person of Jesus Christ and the person of the Spirit as well as the person of God whom Jesus called \u201cFather.\u201d There is already a Trinitarian shape<\/em> to Paul\u2019s expression in 1 Corinthians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Some discussion questions on this section<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Do you experience understanding, illumination, or knowledge from the Holy Spirit? How? How does the Spirit shape your\u00a0psyche<\/em>?<\/li>
    • How do you think about a \u201ctheology of history?\u201d How do you see God at work in the broad sweep of events in the world? How do you see God at work right, now, in the pandemic?<\/li>
    • What liminal spaces are you inhabiting today? What hope do you have for the future? Is there a word of hope we might hear from the Spirit right now?<\/li>
    • Does the concept of the Trinity make any difference to how you see the world?<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      This short section is incredibly theologically rich. Paul refers to a theme that appears often in his letters: the contrast between God\u2019s kingdom and the \u201crulers of this age.\u201d Paul and Apocalyptic In his commentary on 1 Corinthians, Charles Campbell notes that, in chapter 1, Paul developed \u201ca dynamic apocalyptic theology of interruption.\u201d In this \u201cdynamic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1-corinthians"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/spirit.png?fit=602%2C463&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p824rZ-Tu","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3442,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440\/revisions\/3442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}