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Chapter 2
- In choosing a particular preacher the Corinthians may appear to be opting for an apparently greater wisdom.
But Paul, without eloquence, had preached a foolishness really wiser than human wisdom, ie Christ crucified.
Paul proclaimed this wisdom in words taught by the Spirit. If the Corinthians have not understood this, they
have not yet attained this higher wisdom.
- 1 “The mystery (or testimony) of God”: God’s secret knowledge is his plan for the salvation of his people,
which clearly (1:18-25; 2:8-10) involves Jesus and the Cross. Both the content and manner of delivery of Paul’s
preaching had been consistent with simply proclaiming the wisdom of God. Paul does not appear to have
impressed the Corinthians with his presence or oratory (2 Cor 10:10). (A 2nd century Acts of Paul and Thecla
describes Paul as “a man small of stature, with a bald head and crooked legs, in a good state of body, with
eyebrows meeting and nose somewhat hooked”). Paul maintains this was intentional. Faith must be based on
conviction of the truth of the message, not on oratorical skills. Paul did use his skills, but to focus on the most
difficult part of the gospel, vividly recalling the crucifixion (Gal 3:1).
- 2 Paul had renounced all human wisdom in his approach to the Corinthians - he wanted to know and describe
nothing except Christ crucified and still crucified. Even refusing to discuss Christ’s resurrection, which the
Corinthians believed in strongly - Paul wanted to get across the essential importance of the Cross. He was sent
by God, and came to the Corinthians to announce the mystery of God, ie the Cross, which has salvific
significance.
- 3 The “weakness” of the crucified Jesus is reflected in Paul’s “fear and much trembling”: reverential fear based
on sense of God’s transcendence. In fear of God’s power and the reputation of Corinth, Paul decided to
abandon human eloquence and rely on preaching the Cross. All preachers should truly proclaim their own faith
simply, without hiding it in lofty words. Is the Cross both the theme of our preaching in humility at our own
vulnerability and the centre of our lives? Does our preaching demonstrate the power of the Spirit? Cf Phil
2:12: they should work out their salvation in fear and trembling, because God’s power is at work in them, just
as it was in the emptying obedience of Christ on the Cross.
- 4 Human wisdom is ineffective for salvation in comparison with the power of the Cross. “We proclaim Christ
crucified ..... the wisdom of God” (1:23): God’s wisdom is revealed in the Cross through the Spirit, and via its
original witnesses.
- 5 The preacher must not draw attention to himself, but must let the Spirit bear its own witness to the truth of
the message. And their faith had been based on (literally “rigorously proved by”, v 4) “the power of God”.
Presumably Paul means the internal testimony by which they had become convinced of the truth of his
message, and the further work of the Spirit in transforming their lives. The message of the gospel is not simply
a report of history, it is the vehicle of God’s power. More and more in 1 Cor Paul insists that the message and
the messenger must be congruent - they must tell the same story. The existence of the community at Corinth,
after such a poor speaker, show the presence of the Spirit, who alone can create community. Human reasoning
can be overthrown, but not God’s wisdom given by the Spirit.
- 6 Yet paradoxically Paul (and other Christian teachers - “we”) does bring a wisdom, ie the Gospel, but it is of a
new higher order and different quality. But it can only be understood by those who are open to the Spirit and to
the understanding and language the Spirit teaches. The mature accept and welcome the message of the cross,
and all believers should reach this mature stage (Heb 6:1).
- 7 This wisdom is God’s secret plan for our salvation, which could not be worked out by man, but which has
now been revealed to us - it is now an open secret. The cross and the gospel are not afterthoughts - they were
planned by God “before the ages”, and moreover God planned it for our well-being. (So free will - and hence
freedom to sin - are part of God’s plan - Christ’s coming is not an afterthought to make repairs.) God’s wisdom
is embodied in the Cross - the Cross is not additional. Our understanding of God develops as an unfolding of
God’s purpose summed up in Christ crucified. We never move on from the Cross, only into a deeper
understanding of it. But it (God’s secret wisdom) remains secret and hidden from mere human understanding.
- 8 “The rulers of this age” believed by some (eg Origen) - but not all (eg Chrysostum) - as suggesting not only
earthly Jewish and Roman rulers, but the cosmic powers behind them. “They would not have crucified ...”:
these rulers became the unwitting executors of God’s plan, which paradoxically will bring about their own
salvation. If they had understood who Christ was, they would not have crucified him - so demonstrating the
folly of human wisdom. The lofty title “Lord of Glory” is only applied in the bible to Christ here, though it is
applied several times to God: Paul placed Christ in the highest place.
- 9 Quote appears to be combination of Is 64:4, Ps 31:20, Is 52:15, Is 65:17, Sir 1:10 - to emphasise that support
comes widely in scripture, not just one passage. NB for Greeks heart was the mind - thought, will and
emotions. Paul says that this secret is available to “those who love” God, not as the Corinthians might claim,
those who know him, nor from human thinking. For Paul Christian maturity consists in knowing that we have
not yet reached the goal, but are still striving towards it (Cf Phil 3:8-15). For Corinthians knowledge mattered
more than love: for Paul love is the key to knowing all that God has prepared for us. Superior knowledge and
standing before God is open to all - through love.
- 10 It is to us - ie Christians - that the Spirit reveals God’s secret, and the Spirit is uniquely qualified because
only the Spirit scrutinises “even the (unfathomable) depths of God”. Revealed, therefore no skill or superiority
on our part. Paul shows an understanding of the Spirit, developed from late Jewish writings (Hah, Zech, 3-Is,
Ps), as exercising fully personal functions as mediator and revealer, almost detached from the inmost being of
God. Since God’s secret has been revealed we can take no pride or claim special insight in it.
- 11 Compares the Spirit’s knowledge of God’s innermost being to a human person’s self-perception by his
human spirit. [This self-awareness - “I am aware of myself being aware of myself” - which humans share with
God, distinguishes us from animals]. No human can know what another is thinking, but the person’s own spirit
can.
- 12 The Spirit teaches spiritual people a new way of perceiving and a new language. We can only know
anything of God if we have God’s Spirit in us - which is precisely the gift Christians have received. The Spirit
does not enable us to know the depths of God’s nature, which v 10 might suggest, but enables to understand
only “the things freely given us by God”. The Corinthians are reminded that they don’t know it all
(Gnosticism) - revelation is limited. We must concentrate on the blessings we have been given, not speculate
fruitlessly about knowledge we have not been given. Luther insists that to know Christ is to know his benefits.
The test of having received the Spirit is therefore whether one understands the message of the crucified saviour.
But the obverse is also true, to some extent: to know Christ’s benefits is to know an important aspect of God’s
own nature, namely his infinite love for us.
- 13 So that they can share their self-understanding, their knowledge of what God has done in them. Last phrase
can also be translated as “describing spiritual realities to spiritual people”, leading into Vv 14-16. The Spirit
also enables us to communicate our understanding of God’s gifts to others by verbalising the thoughts of God,
and so with God’s authority. “Combining” more accurate than “describing” - combine spiritual things with
spiritual words - use words taught by the Spirit. The Spirit also enables reception: only the truly spiritual
person can receive God’s revelation. The Spirit enables teachers to know, to declare and to explain; and
enables those who hear the gospel to receive, to understand and to appreciate. Spiritual wisdom is transmitted
differently than human wisdom: not by human eloquence but by the Spirit’s persuasiveness. And so the
Christian teachers use different means of transmission: interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual,
using spiritual language. Therefore assessment of their effectiveness is by different criteria.
- 14 “The natural person”: Paul uses several terms to distinguish between what we now call natural and
supernatural. Cf 3:1. The natural person’s existence, perceptions and behaviour are determined by purely
natural principles, ie by his/her creatureliness, referred to as the flesh. (NB not a “bad” term, simply our
nature). They are infants, remaining on a human, anthropoi, level. But they are called to be animated by
God’s Spirit, the pneuma, and so become spiritual, pneumatikoi, becoming mature (2:6) in perceptions and
behaviour, culminating in bodily resurrection (15:44-49). We cannot welcome/judge/discern spiritual things by
our fleshly nature, we must use our spiritual nature. And Christians can easily slip back into non-spiritual ways
of thinking, and so lose the Spirit’s guidance and enabling.
- 15 Those who do not have the Spirit have no right or ability to judge spiritual persons - only those who do. Cf
4:1-5. But those who do have the Spirit can judge everything by it - secular as well as spiritual, because they
share to some extent in God’s capacity to judge and his freedom from criticism and need for counseling. But
the spiritual man is an enigma to the natural man.
- 16 Is 40:13. Similarly God must remain unknown until he reveals himself in Christ - only then are we enabled
to know him - or at least those truths he has revealed to us. Re-designating the mind of the Lord - ie God - as
the mind of Christ alludes to the revelation of the wisdom of God in the crucifixion, and asserts that wisdom is
not to be dissociated from the crucifixion. Boldly Paul claims that we, God’s holy people, the assembly/Church
- in a sense (2 Pet 1:4) - share in the divine thinking and plans and therefore ‘have the mind of Christ’ - ie the
indwelling Spirit reveals Christ. The spiritual person sees things from Christ’s perspective, not the world’s.