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Commentary on 1 Corinthians

By Dr Peter Pett BA BD (Hons London) DD.

Website: http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Delphi/4027/

Chapter 1.

1.1-2a ‘Paul, called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth.’

Paul speaks like this in almost all the introductions to his Epistles, with a view to emphasising the divine authority with which he writes. Firstly he states that he is ‘called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ’. Then he states that it is ‘through the will of God’.

‘Called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ.’ Notice first the emphasis on his ‘calling’. It is quite clear that this is to be seen as God’s calling which came to him in an unusual and emphatic way. He does not use it in the loose way in which we may speak of a man’s calling, but of a specific and demonstrable call (Acts 9.3-6) which all who knew of it recognised as directly from God. It was a call recognised and acknowledged by the twelve Apostles (see Galatians 1.11-2.21) to such an extent that his epistles were thought of as Scripture (2 Peter 3.16).

‘An Apostle of Jesus Christ.’ This phrase primarily, of course, referred to the Apostles appointed by Jesus (and named ‘Apostles’ by Jesus - Luke 6.13), ‘the twelve’ (John 20.24; Acts 6.2; 1 Corinthians 15.5), who had directly received revelation from Jesus and were witnesses of the resurrection (Acts 1.22; 1 Corinthians 15.5), and included James the Lord’s brother (Galatians 1.19), who possibly replaced the martyred James (Acts 12.2 with Galatians 2.9) as Matthias replaced Judas (Acts 1.10-26).

In Acts the twelve are clearly distinguished as unique. When writing about those who met in Jerusalem church to make vital decisions, the leaders apart from the Apostles are called ‘the elders’, and the Apostles are mentioned separately. Note the phrase ‘the Apostles and the Elders’ (e.g. Acts 15.2, 4, 9, 22, 23), even though the Apostles could also be called Elders (2 John 1.1; 3 John 1.1). The ‘Elders’ are those usually responsible for churches (Acts 14.23). Thus Paul, by calling himself an Apostle here, sets himself alongside the twelve as having this unique position. Like them he too claimed to be a primary source of direct revelation from Jesus Christ (Galatians 1.12), and was recognised as such by the twelve (Galatians 2.7-9). And it is clear that he looked on his calling to Apostleship (Romans 11.13; 1 Corinthians 9.1) as being on a par with, and as personal as, theirs (Galatians 1.16-17).

‘Apostolos’, an apostle, is derived from apostellein, (to send forth,) and originally signified literally a messenger. The term was employed by earlier classical writers to denote the commander of an expedition, or a delegate, or an ambassador (see Herodotus, v. 38), but its use was rare later as it came to have a technical meaning referring to ‘the fleet’ and possibly the fleet’s admiral. It may be that Jesus spoke with a sense of humour when he named the fishermen Apostles by this name.

In the New Testament, apart from the Apostles, it is also employed in a more general sense to denote important messengers sent out on God’s service (see Luke 11.49; 2 Corinthians 8.23; Philippians 2.25; 1 Thessalonians 2.6), and in one instance is applied to Christ Himself, as the One sent forth from God (Hebrews 3.1). But in the main it is reserved for the twelve (including James, the Lord’s brother), and Paul and Barnabas (Acts 14.4, 14).

‘Through the will of God.’ This solemn statement stresses the importance of his office. It is through the sovereign will of the eternal God. Thus he is emphasising that he was called by the direct will and purpose of God, so underlining that he has been chosen out within God’s purposes. Thus he speaks with no little authority.

But in the light of what comes later in the Epistle we may probably also see this ‘through the will of God’ as in direct contrast to those who ‘transformed themselves into the Apostles of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 11.13), those who ‘call themselves Apostles and are not’ (Revelation 2.2), appointed by themselves and not by the will of God. He wants to stress that his Apostleship is through the will of God in contrast to theirs.

‘And Sosthenes the brother.’ This is surely the Sosthenes who had been ruler of the Jewish synagogue at Corinth, whom Luke mentions in Acts 18.17. He was probably the leader of the group that had come from Corinth with questions for Paul (16.17-18). His name is added here to stress his agreement with what Paul was saying, and to honour him in the eyes of the Corinthian church. Paul wants them to know that he and Sosthenes are at one. He could have described him as ‘your elder’ but he wants to emphasise that Sosthenes is ‘brother’ both to them and to Paul.

‘To the church (’ekklesia) of God which is at Corinth.’ The word ekklesia was used of the congregation of Israel in the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament), the sense in which Jesus used it (although His words were presumably in Aramaic) where He was thinking of the gathering together of a new Israel (in Matthew 16.18; 18.17), and of the public assembly of citizens in a town or city. The term was taken over by Christians to refer to the gathering together of Christians in a particular place, and became the technical term to refer to Christians, either as a whole, or as represented in any particular place, e.g. Corinth. It would in this case probably include a number of such gatherings seen as ‘one church’, ruled over by one group of elders, for not all would easily be able to meet together. But they would be united by having the same leadership.

Thus here Paul is speaking to all Christians who worshipped in Corinth, seen as one whole, whose representatives have come to Paul and are now returning. As a church they practise baptism (1.14-17), partake of the Lord’s Table (10.21), and recognise the elders duly appointed (16.15-16).

1.2b ‘Sanctified in Christ Jesus, called sanctified ones (saints) with all those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in every place, theirs and ours.’

‘Sanctified in Christ Jesus.’ The tense of the verse is perfect passive signifying something done in the past, the benefit of which continues into the present, thus ‘have been and therefore are sanctified’. It is noteworthy that the members of this church, with all their failings, are described by Paul as ‘sanctified in Christ’. To be sanctified means to be ‘set apart for God for a holy purpose’. Thus they are seen as set apart for a holy purpose, not through any merit of their own, but because they are ‘in Christ Jesus’. By becoming one with Him through faith, evidenced in baptism, they share His holiness and His holy purpose. He is made to them their sanctification (1.30), and this work is accomplished by the Holy Spirit (2 Thessalonians 2.13; 1 Peter 1.2). It is to be carried out into practise in holy living (1 Thessalonians 4.3-4).

Here then Paul is calling the attention of the Corinthians to their holy calling, preparatory to seeking to set right much that is wrong among them. He is telling them that they are now sanctified in Christ, and holy in Him, and therefore they need to become holy.

The New Testament speaks of ‘sanctification’ in a number of ways which need to be carefully differentiated. As we have said, to sanctify means ‘to set apart for a holy purpose, to make holy as being closely connected with God’ and from the Christian point of view that finally means to make “God-like in purity, goodness and love”. This is something only God can do for us.

The Bible tells us that once He has made us His Own through our responding in faith to His work on the cross and His offer of salvation, we are first put in the position of ‘having been sanctified’ (aorist tense, something done once for all - 1 Corinthians 1.30; 6.11), and therefore ‘set apart’ for God once for all. This is because ‘in Christ’ we are made holy with Christ’s holiness, and thus covered with His purity. And this is why we can approach God so confidently. It has put us in a state whereby we ‘are sanctified’ once for all and accepted as holy in His presence (Acts 20.32; 26.18; Romans 15.16; 1 Corinthians 1.2; Hebrews 10.10 - these verses all use the perfect tense - ‘having been sanctified and therefore now are sanctified’ - referring to a past happening which continues to the present). We are sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all (Hebrews 10.10).

But the result of being put in this position is that we will now be ‘in process of being sanctified’ (set apart by being made holy) by Christ Jesus and the Spirit. The purity of Christ, which has been set to our account, and attaches us to God, must now become an actuality in our lives. We must therefore go through the process of ‘being set apart for God’ by being constantly changed by the Spirit (present tense - Hebrews 2.11; 10.14; compare Romans 6.19; 6.22; 1 Thessalonians 4.3; 2 Thessalonians 2.13). And if we are His it is guaranteed that He will carry out this work in us (Philippians 2.13). This is the same process as salvation from a slightly different point of view. We are saved through God’s work of sanctification, which like salvation is ours the moment we respond in faith, and this work goes on being active in our lives until we go to be with Him. And so it was with the Corinthians.

‘Called sanctified ones (saints).’ The title of ‘saint’ is true of all who are ‘sanctified in Christ’. It does not therefore ever in Scripture refer to a select few, for it does not refer to practical holiness but to holiness imparted in Christ. All who are His are ‘saints’, those who are set apart in holiness to be made holy.

‘With all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place.’ Here he stresses that all who belong to Christ and call on His name are called ‘saints’. Thus Paul ensures that the Corinthians recognise that they are not superior to others in this, and yet share with all other Christians this wonderful privilege. To ‘call on the name’ means that they have cried to Him for forgiveness and mercy, and have claimed the benefit of His name and what He is, and what He has done for them. Thus they have been ‘made holy’, set apart for God by His Spirit, with a view to being made perfect in holiness.

This fact that Christians ‘call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’, signifying honour and worship (compare Genesis 4.26; 12.8 and often), demonstrates Paul’s view of Christ, for He receives through it the honour due to Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament (and the New), demonstrating His oneness with Him.

‘In every place.’ This phrase in this context is unique to this epistle. Paul is thus especially stressing his and their unity with all Christians worldwide. He wants them to know that he has no limited vision, but acknowledges all and is at one with all, and sees them all as one.

‘Both theirs and ours.’ This can only refer back to ‘Lord’. Paul is stressing that He is Lord of all in every place who call on Him, including being Lord of Paul and Lord of the Corinthian church. They are all to unite in acknowledging His Lordship for He has sanctified them.

Some have suggested applying ‘both theirs and ours’ to ‘every place’, but that is hardly likely. Apart from the fact that it would be almost an irrelevance, it is doubtful if Paul saw himself as belonging to any one place or was even bothered about it. He was a citizen of Heaven (Philippians 3.20) as were they. He had long since left Tarsus and Jerusalem behind. He was not interested in geography, what he was concerned about was people’s spiritual position.

1.3 ‘Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.’

‘Grace to you.’ Nothing can be more desirable than to have God looking on us in love and favour, and this is what is signified by grace. Thus Paul wants the Corinthians to know that he desires for them only that they enjoy the experience of the grace of God.

‘And peace.’ Peace results from grace, but this kind of peace is also God’s gift, flowing from Him to us. Once we know that we are right with God, and experience His graciousness towards us, we have peace with God (Romans 5.1) and enjoy such peace, prosperity and success of spirit that our hearts can only overflow. For however things may seem to smile on us, if God is not pleased with us, we cannot fully know peace. The very foundation then of peace in our hearts is the favour of God, by which we enjoy true and genuine prosperity of spirit through the work of His Spirit, and find the peace of God which passes all understanding guarding our thoughts and hearts (Philippians 4.7). And this is what Paul wished for, and prayed for, for the Corinthians.

‘From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.’ What a combined source of power and grace. This continual linking of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ with God the Father in perfect equality again demonstrates Paul’s view of Christ (2 Corinthians 1.2; Galatians 1.3; Ephesians 1.2; Philippians 1.2 and often, and contrast Colossians 1.2). This is especially significant as ‘Lord’ (kurios) was the word used by the Greek translators to render the name of God, Yahweh.

1.4-7 ‘ I thank God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in him, in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you came behind in no gift, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.’

Paul now instances how God’s grace has already been revealed towards them, and wishes them to know that he continually thanks God on their behalf because of it. Thus does he desire that they recognise his concern and his well-wishing towards them. Although he may have many harsh things to say to them he does not want them to think he sees them as devoid of grace. For indeed it is only when they experience the grace of God that his words can be effective.

‘For the grace of God which was given to you -- that in everything.’ Here the ‘grace of God’ refers to that grace revealed in the giving of gracious gifts. He wants them to recognise that he is aware of the spiritual gifts they have enjoyed.

‘In Christ Jesus.’ No benefit can flow from God except ‘in Christ Jesus’, for His gracious activity can only flow once atonement and reconciliation has been made. It is through Christ’s merit that the Corinthians, and we too, may enjoy His gifts, for they are not deserved.

‘That in everything you were enriched in him, in all utterance (logos - word) and all knowledge (gnosis).’ The Corinthian church as a whole had experienced over-all blessings, coming short in nothing of what God would bestow. Their spiritual experience had been second to none. They did not need to be ashamed of how God had treated them and of what He had given them. The lack lay in the behaviour and response of many individuals within the church in the light of those gifts. Perhaps they had begun well but now things were not so good. We need to be constantly on the alert that our Christian lives do not languish.

‘In all utterance (logos - word) and all knowledge (gnosis).’ God had spoken to them through His word, and had given them spiritual understanding (2.11, 16). They had not lacked the means of grace through His word and His Spirit. Indeed they had been blessed with many spiritual gifts, including ‘the word (logos) of knowledge (gnosis)’ (12.8), by which His word had been communicated to them.

All this revealed to the Corinthian church how much Paul appreciated them, bringing them a warm glow within, but it was preparatory to the criticisms that were to come which would severely test whether they would now accept such utterance and knowledge. Great gifts bring great responsibility, and he was now to bring home their responsibility.

‘Even as the testimony (witness) of Christ was confirmed in you.’ In context we must see this as Christ’s testimony during His lifetime, testimony from Christ to them through His words, communicated through those who had heard Him, and those who in turn had received the word from them, and then through what He had imparted to them by His Spirit as they heard those words and meditated on them. They have received illumination from the Spirit Who has given them understanding as the words of Christ, testified to by witnesses who had themselves heard them from the lips of Christ, have been delivered to them.

We must remember that at the time there were no Gospels. Knowledge of the words of Christ was passed on by those who had personally heard them and then by those who had received them from others. This utterance and knowledge had been theirs in abundance.

Then having responded to that illumination confirmation was given to them, and they had been sealed as His by the Spirit of God, Who had confirmed His testimony to their hearts, resulting in spiritual worship (John 4.23) and spiritual gifts. The verb bebaioo (to confirm) is a legal term for guaranteeing security tying in with the idea of the Spirit’s seal and guarantee. As the testimony was received by them it was made a seal and guarantee in their hearts by the Holy Spirit.

The phrase ‘the testimony (marturia) of Jesus Christ’ occurs in Revelation where it parallels ‘the word of God’ (Revelation 1.2, 9). There ‘the word of God’ refers to early Christian preaching, including the expounding of the Old Testament, called by Jesus ‘the word of God’ (Mark 7.13), the teaching of Jesus (Luke 5.1; 8.11; 8.21; 11.28) and the testimony of the early church based on it ( Acts 4.31; 6.2; and often), and the testimony of Jesus Christ probably emphasises the particular aspect of His life and teaching as carried in the church’s tradition and as recorded in one or more of the written Gospels. The old covenant given at Sinai was called ‘the Testimony’ (LXX marturia). How much more the new covenant brought by Jesus. This parallels Paul’s usage here.

‘So that you come behind in no gift.’ This includes all gifts given to them as His people by a graciously giving God e.g. 7.7 where the gifts are general abilities and include the gift of celibacy; Ephesians 3.7; 4.7; 2 Timothy 1.6; Hebrews 2.4, where the gifts enable effective ministry; 1 Peter 4.10 where the gifts include preaching and service. They include the gift of spiritual awareness (2.10-16), the spiritual gifts outlined in chapter 12, and the greatest gift of all, His Son Jesus Christ (John 3.16; 2 Corinthians 8.9; 9.15).

‘Waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Paul now turns their thoughts to the future when Jesus Christ will be revealed in His glory (Philippians 3.20; 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18; Hebrews 9.28). All God’s gifts are to be exercised in the light of His coming, when Christ is revealed as what He is, and all that is in part will pass away (1 Corinthians 13.10). For when He is revealed His people they will have their works tested (3.10-15; Romans 14.10-12), before they enter into their glory (Revelation 21.10-11, 23-24; 22.3-5) as their Forerunner has done before them (Luke 24.26).

1.8-9 ‘Who will also confirm you to the end, unreproveable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.’

Note here the promise that they will be ‘confirmed’ to the end (bebaioo). This verb is used as a legal term to indicate guaranteeing security. It is used in Hebrews 13.9 of those whose hearts are strengthened by grace. And Who is the One who will confirm us to the end? It matters little whether we see this as referring back to Christ Jesus (verse 7) or God (verse 4). The latter is supported by the words in verse 9, for otherwise the faithfulness of God in the matter comes in somewhat abruptly. The former is supported by the closeness of the antecedent. But either way the confirmation is by the Godhead, and we learn that He is faithful in carrying out His purpose.

Just as the testimony of Jesus Christ was ‘confirmed’ in them by the Holy Spirit as He ‘sealed them unto the day of redemption’ (Ephesians 4.30), guaranteeing their security (verse 6), so now we also learn that either God or Jesus Christ Himself guarantees their security, ‘confirming’ them to the end, and guaranteeing that they will be unreproveable in that day. Thus Paul can speak of, ‘Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ’ (Philippians 1.6).

So the true people of God are seen as being safe and secure in His hands, but there is another side to the picture. The test that they are His people is that He will continue within them His sanctifying work, changing them from glory into glory as they behold His face (2 Corinthians 3.18) that they may be presented perfect before Him, holy, unblameable and unreproveable in His sight (Colossians 1.22). They may stumble but they will not ultimately fall.

‘In the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ This is the day when His people come before Him to receive His blessings , to give an account of their stewardship (3.10-15; Romans 14.10-12), and to receive praise from God (1 Corinthians 4.5).

The ‘day of Christ’ differs from the day of the Lord in that the latter refers more generally to God coming in judgment and finalising His purposes for creation (1 Thessalonians 5.2; 2 Peter 3.10), while the day of Christ and its parallels speak of the day when He comes for His own (1 Corinthians 1.8; 5.5; 2 Corinthians 1.14; Philippians 1.6, 10; 2.16; 2 Thessalonians 2.2; 1 John 4.17). Both occur at the same time, but looked at from a differing viewpoint.

‘God is faithful.’ The One Who has called us into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is totally faithful. This is the final guarantee of what has gone before. The Spirit has sealed us, and Christ or God will ‘confirm’ us, for all rests, not on our faithfulness, but on the faithfulness of God. And none is able to pluck us from His hand (John 10.29).

‘Called us.’ This is effectual calling, and guarantees the future of those called (2 Timothy 1.9; 1 Peter 5.10). In the end the reason why men respond to Christ is because they have been given to Him by the Father (John 6.37, 39) and because the Father draws them (John 6.44).

‘Into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.’ The idea here is of fellowship with Him. The word for ‘fellowship’ (koinonia) signifies communion, fellowship, close relationship. It is a favourite expression for the marital relationship thought of as the most intimate between human beings. Thus the idea is of such a close relationship with Christ that nothing can part us. It is an indissoluble union.

Others would read it as meaning the fellowship of His people established by Jesus Christ, but the context demands that a close relationship with Christ be in mind. It is because we are ‘in Christ’ that we are secure (verses 2, 5). Thus we are members of His body in the closest possible sense (Ephesians 5.30) and fitly framed together in Him (Ephesians 2.20-21).

It may be asked. ‘If Christians are so secure in Christ, how do we explain those who fall away?’ The answer is one of two, either that such people never genuinely committed themselves to Christ from the heart, never really trusted in the saving work of the cross, whatever the outward appearance. That they were converted to an idea, or the friendship of the church, or because someone they loved was a Christian, or because they liked some part of the message which suited their particular viewpoint, or for some other similar reason, and not to true submission to the living Christ. Or alternatively that they are being allowed to stray for a while, but can be sure that the Shepherd will seek them until He finds them (Luke 15.4). All stray at some point, for every deliberate sin is a straying, but some take longer to be returned than others.

‘How then,’ it may be asked, ‘can we have assurance that we are His?’ And the answer is, by the genuineness of our response to Christ. This is revealed in our genuine awareness of sin, by our genuine recognition that only through His finished work on the cross can we find forgiveness and salvation, our genuine response to Him on this basis, our desire to please Him (not the church or people within the church or Paul or Apollos or Peter or any other outstanding personality) and our desire therefore to do always what is pleasing to Him. In the end final perseverance is the proof of salvation, for Christ does not fail in His work. We may fail, but if we are His He will pick us up again.

1.10-12 ‘Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment For it has been signified to me about you, my brothers, by those of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos”, and “I of Cephas”, and “I of Christ”.

Paul now brings up the first thing he has against them as a result of what he has been told by the visiting leaders of the Corinthian church. That they are splitting up into parties depending on which preacher they favour, or who baptised them (verse 13). This was clearly not just a matter of having a favourite preacher but of falling out with others and feeling themselves superior because of the name they connected themselves with. They may have had favourite pet secondary doctrines which they associated with either Paul, Apollos or Peter (Cephas) and felt the others were not really Christians, or were very inferior Christians, because they did not agree. Those who said ‘I of Christ’ seem also to be considered to be at fault, possibly suggesting they expressed their superiority haughtily in unchristian fashion, seeing themselves as superior, and causing further dissension, or it may be that they had their own pet ideas that they obtained by misinterpreting Christ’s teaching or refusing to acknowledge the further revelation given to the Apostles.

‘Brothers.’ The word is significant here. He is reminding them that they are all members of Christ’s family and in that family are brothers. They should therefore appreciate and love one another. Note that Paul here excludes ‘my’ (contrast verse 11) showing that he is here stressing that the Corinthians are brothers to each other.

‘Through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ In other words through what Christ essentially is. He is turning their thoughts to the One they should be concentrating on as the Lord of all, and reminding them of what Jesus Christ Himself had said on the issue of unity (John 17.20-21).

‘That you all speak the same thing.’ In other words that they speak with one voice and present a united front to the world and to young Christians, demonstrating that they were united in Christ and at one with Him and with each other, as Jesus Himself had taught them (John 17.21-13).

‘And that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.’ Internally too they are to be at peace with one another, agreeing on the major central truths and being careful to differ in love on secondary interpretation. Thus they will have the same mind and the same judgment both on central truths and how they should react on secondary matters. This will result in their being ‘perfected together’, having a full unity.

‘That you be perfected together.’ The verb katartizo means to make complete, put in order, restore, put into proper condition, make fully trained. Thus Paul wants them to be put right and ‘fully trained’ in the Gospel.

‘It has been signified (revealed, shown) to me.’ Paul is not speaking in the abstract. He has had specific information about their divisions, their disputes and their arguments.

‘By those of Chloe.’ Chloe was a Greek female name meaning ‘verdant’. It was associated with the cult of Demeter, thus it has been suggested that Paul had learned his information from members of that cult. However the name is not intrinsically pagan and there is no reason why it should not have been borne a very important lady or by a prominent Christian lady (it was not she who reported it, but her household). It may thus indicate that Chloe was a well known and influential person whose family members or servants had communicated with Paul about the situation in Corinth, his naming of them being to demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of his knowledge. We must assume that she did not actually live in Corinth as in that case such a revelation would only cause even more division. Possibly she or her household had visited the church and been disturbed at what she had observed.

‘I am of Paul -- Apollos -- Cephas (Peter) -- Christ.’ Paul may have used these names simply as examples (4.2). But it is possible that the teaching of Apollos, as an Alexandrian, who was thus used to allegorising the Scriptures, had in this respect differed from Paul’s, although both had taught the same central message. Thus could have grown up the literal school and the allegorical school. Those who claimed the name of Peter probably did so as a result of their response to preachers from Jerusalem who claimed Peter’s authority without necessarily preaching Peter’s message. They may have laid greater emphasis on Jewish aspects and have appealed especially to Jewish Christians. Those ‘of Christ’ may have insisted on limiting their understanding only to His actual words, and have rejected the expanded teaching of Peter and Paul, rejecting their interpretations, and even the interpretations of the Apostles as a whole.

1.13 “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptised into the name of Paul?”

Paul now attacks their divisions at their root. There is only one Jesus Christ, and to Him, and to Him alone, should all look. It is not a question of either/or. The messenger is nothing. Christ is pre-eminent. He was the One Who was crucified for them. He was the One into Whose name they had been baptised. Let them then unite in Him and look only to Him for from Him alone comes the grace and power to deliver. No man can give this power. Without His working men of God have no effectiveness whatsoever in things pertaining to God, and their words, while stirring men’s emotions, will have no real spiritual power.

This is not to doubt that due respect should be paid to those who minister the word of God in their place, but the moment they seek to draw attention to themselves, or to draw men away from the whole church of Christ because of the exclusivity of their message, or the moment Christians begin to fall out through loyalty to one man of God or another, or to their message, or esteem them in such a way that disunity is caused in the body of Christ, then too much respect is being paid to them, and their relatively inferior place in the scheme of salvation is being overlooked. It is to Christ and Christ alone that men must look, both for salvation and in respect to their whole manner of living. It is with Him that they must be taken up. It is He that they must venerate. Christ must be all. And then they will also be at one with their fellow Christians. In the words of John the Baptiser, every godly minister says, “He must increase, and I must decrease” (John 3.30).

1.14-17 ‘I thank God that I baptised none of you, except Crispus and Gaius, lest any man should say that you were baptised into my name. And I baptised also the household of Stephanas. Apart from these I do not know whether I baptised any other. For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the Gospel, not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be rendered void.’

For Crispus see Acts 18.8. For Stephanas 1 Corinthians 16.15, 17. The latter’s household is called ‘the firstfruits of Achaia’, thus he may have been Paul’s first convert in that area, which was why he baptised him and his household.

With these words Paul for ever puts baptism into its rightful place, important but secondary. Baptism does not save, nor is it the Gospel. We learn here that the effective power of Christ to save does not directly work through baptism, although it results in baptism. It is the word of the cross which saves, through proclamation that does not need to contain human methods of persuasion. Then once that word has done its work and brought men to salvation, working effectively in their hearts, they reveal their response by being baptised and by living in accordance with Christ’s teaching.

‘I thank God that I baptised none of you, except --.’ It is clear from this that Paul in his ministry mainly left the work of baptising to others. He was the instrument of God to bring men to salvation through His preaching of Christ. Baptism followed as an open declaration of faith by those who were converted, and as a response to God and means of declaring that they were now dead to the world and alive to God (Romans 6.4). It depicted that those baptised were now drenched with the Spirit and members of the body of Christ. But it was not the saving instrument. It was a picture of what had happened, portrayed by a physical act and a further spiritual response in front of the world. Otherwise Paul would have delighted in baptising as many as he could. If it was central he would have made it central in his ministry.

It may well be that he had a policy of allowing converts to be baptised by local elders as a symbol of unity in the local situation.

‘For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the Gospel.’ This puts Matthew 28.18-20 in perspective. When Christ sent His disciples ‘to make disciples of all the nations’, the resulting baptism was secondary. Like Paul they preached the power of the cross and the crucified One, and it was this that brought men to Him. Then they were baptised and were taught all that Christ had commanded. Both the latter were important, and their importance must not be diminished, but they were not the saving instrument. They were acts carried out on those who had become disciples, as open acts of response, commitment and obedience because they had been saved and had chosen to become disciples, not the effective means by which they first became disciples.

‘To preach the Gospel.’ It is the preaching and message of the cross that saves, through the inworking of the Spirit, and that alone. The Gospel is not found in baptism (although being proclaimed in baptism). It is found in the message of One Who died for the sins of the world Who calls men to respond in faith and trust and receive forgiveness through the blood that He shed and life through receiving the Spirit of God. This is wonderfully illustrated in Acts 10.36-44.

‘Not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ be rendered void (or made of no effect).’ It is always man’s idea that people can be persuaded to become Christians just as they can be persuaded to become, say, fishermen. But this is not so. Those so ‘persuaded’ are not saved. Those who are converted merely through clever words, or emotional manipulation, may put on an outward show, but they may not have become His or experienced the power of His cross.

That is not to say that clear explanation and emotion in the light of the message are to be derided, for the former is helpful and the latter understandable. Only that in the end it is the message of what Christ has done for men on the cross, coming home to the heart and resulting in effective response, that alone will save. And without this the preaching is spiritually ineffective. Thus Paul sought to make sure his message was an effective one that would accomplish this and avoided anything that might detract from it.

‘Not in wisdom of words.’ Some great philosophers were famed for their wisdom, and many followed their teachings and eloquently used them to convince men to hold certain positions and attitudes. People of many nations were swayed by them. But this was not to be so with the Gospel. The Gospel was the message of the effectiveness of the power of the cross. If this was hidden by eloquence, or men were ‘converted’ without reference to it, then its effect could not be achieved and it was thus rendered void. And whatever resulted would not be true salvation. The cross, which alone can save, would be negated.

‘Lest the cross of Christ be made void (or of none effect).’ In other words excluded by men’s eloquence and therefore ineffective. The verb keno-o means ‘to empty’ (here ‘of effect’), ‘to render void’, ‘to make of no effect’. If it is not its message that comes home to the heart all else is useless from a Christian point of view. It is the Christian message to which all else is secondary.

1.18 ‘For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.’

‘The word of the cross.’ By this Paul means the proclamation of Jesus Christ as the One Who was crucified and rose again, bringing about for men through the shedding of His blood on the cross a means of reconciliation with God (Colossians 1.20) and forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1.7). As he says elsewhere, ‘All things are of God Who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not reckoning their trespasses unto them, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation’ (2 Corinthians 5.19). That is why he will later say, ‘I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified’ (1 Corinthians 2.2).

‘Foolishness to those who are perishing.’ Those who are perishing are those who have not put their trust in the Son Who was given (John 3.16). They have not responded to the light of Christ. They see the message of the cross and they laugh at it and despise it. They see its message as foolish because they are not aware of their own utter sinfulness and inadequacy. They feel that it is not necessary, indeed that it is unseemly. They feel that all that is needed is a touch here and there, not a radical solution like that. They look for deliverance anywhere else but that. They make all kinds of effort to achieve goodness, and they produce seemingly effective religious instruments to help them on the way, they seek to find solutions in nature and the occult, to make good the heart of man. But they fail. For all this cannot bring them to the true and living God, and for this reason, because reconciliation is achievable only through the cross. Thus they ‘are perishing’.

‘But to us who are being saved it is the power of God.’ How can God’s power be effectively channelled into the world? Only through the means that He has devised. And that means is the word of the cross, whether preached, taught or read. That is the channel, and God is the Channeler. Once it, and He Whom it represents, is responded to, God’s power in salvation is released to the ones who respond and they enter into a process whereby they are ‘being saved (present tense indicating a process) by His power.’ The word of the cross does not cease to exercise its power once a man has first trusted in Christ. It goes on exercising that power throughout his life. It is his daily glory and delight. For only through the crucified and risen Christ is God’s power available to Him. He receives it because he is ‘in Christ’, and it works effectively throughout his life (see Galatians 2.20).

As with sanctification (see on verse 2), salvation, man’s deliverance from the penalty and power of sin, is spoken of in three ways. Firstly as something that happens to a man the moment he puts his trust in Christ and is ‘saved’. Then as something that has happened to a Christian in the past whose effects carry on into the present. And finally as something that is a continual present process with future results.

Thus the New Testament speaks of different aspects of 'salvation'. It speaks of ‘having been saved’ ( Titus 3.5; 2 Timothy 1.9 - aorist tense, something that has happened once for all, when through His Spirit the Saviour seized hold of us in order to carry out His saving work, reconciled us to God and cleansed us from our sins). And of ‘having been saved and therefore now are saved’ - Ephesians 2.5; 2.8 (perfect tense, something that has happened in the past the benefit of which continues to the present time). These verses are what are in mind when we say a person has been ‘saved’.

But it also speaks of us as here, as those who “are being saved” - 1 Corinthians 1.18; 2 Corinthians 2.15; (present tense - a process going on), and who will be saved - 1 Corinthians 3.15; 5.5; 2 Corinthians 7.10; 1 Thessalonians 5.9; 2 Thessalonians 2.13 (future tense - something yet to happen - and equivalents). In other words, when God ‘saves’ someone they are saved once and for all, and it is fully effective. But if it is genuine it means that it will then result in a process by which they are being ‘changed from glory into glory’ (2 Corinthians 3.18), with the final guarantee of a completed process when we are presented holy, blameless and unreproveable in His sight (Colossians 1.22-23). If the salvation is not progressing, even though slowly, then its genuineness must be questioned. The Saviour does not fail in His work.

Consider the situation of a man drowning at sea, in a fierce storm, clinging to a life raft with one hand, his other arm broken and trailing behind, and both his legs paralysed, having been many hours in the freezing water and suffering from hypothermia, more dead than alive.. Then along comes the life boat and drags him out and he gasps, hardly able to speak because of the seriousness of his condition, “I am saved”.

Well, it is true. But he has a long way to go. He would not have much confidence in his salvation if they put him to one side in the bow of the boat, with the waves lashing over him, and said to him, “Well, you’re saved now”, and then went off and played cards and then practised turning the lifeboat over. His confidence and dependence lie in a fully trained and capable crew who are dedicated to warming him up, treating him and getting him to hospital so that he can be fully restored.

So as they get to work on him, wrapping him in a blanket and gently warming his frozen limbs, trying to set his broken arm and doing everything else necessary to restore him to some kind of normality, he can begin to have hope and think gratefully to himself, “I am being saved”. But he may well still be aware of the winds howling round, and the boat heaving in the heavy seas, and the pain and agony of his limbs, and he may then look forward and think, “I will soon be saved”. If those crewmen, and the ambulance waiting for him on shore on that terrible night, can be so dedicated, can we think that the One Who died on a cross for us on an even more terrible night, can be less dedicated? He does not just want us in the lifeboat. He wants us fully restored. And that is what He is determined to have. And if we want to be saved that is what we must want! We cannot say, ‘Lord, save me, but leave me as I am’.

This salvation is entered into by an act of faith and commitment. As we genuinely recognise our need to be saved (in every way) from sin we commit ourselves completely to the One Who Saves (the Saviour), and trust Him to carry out the work, knowing that once He has begun the good work He will carry it out to the end (Philippians 1.6). We are then both ‘saved’, and have entered the process of ‘being saved’.

1.19 ‘For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject”.’

Paul now turns to Scripture to prove his point. The verse is cited from Isaiah 29.14. There the professed people of God had turned away from God and His word and rejected the words of His true prophets, depending on their ‘wise’ leaders. Thus He warns them that what they look to as wisdom and prudence, the wisdom and prudence that has caused them to reject the message, will be of no avail, and will perish in the end.

The same, says Paul, is true here Those who profess to wisdom and prudence and in the light of it reject the message of the cross will find that they only lead to destruction. God will reject them and finally destroy them.

‘For it is written.’ A phrase that demonstrates that what is being cited is the indestructible word of God.

1.20-21 ‘Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know God, it was God’s pleasure, through the foolishness of what was preached, to save those who believe.’

These words echo Isaiah 19.12 and Isaiah 33.18, but Paul does not say ‘it is written’ and he is not citing those passages as evidence of God’s ways’ (unlike in verse 19). He is merely echoing language well known to him. The wise’ probably has in mind wisdom writings, and Greek and Hebrew schools of wisdom, ‘the scribes’ has in mind the Jewish teachers, and ‘the disputers’ the Greek schools of philosophy and those who admired such teaching and sought to expand on it. There much time was spent in disputing, both by them and those affected by them. All are thrust to one side by the message of the cross. None of these have brought men to a knowledge of God, for they have failed to identify Jesus Christ or provide reconciliation with God. Spiritually therefore they are superfluous. God has rejected their efforts because they point in the wrong direction.

Indeed by working through the preaching of the cross of Christ, and demonstrating that it is essential for salvation, God has shown up the folly of all efforts of men to achieve heavenly knowledge.

‘In the wisdom of God.’ The result may seem baffling but it is in the wisdom of God. For God knew that the other forms of wisdom could not achieve their aim. He knew this was the only way. So Paul contrasts the true wisdom with the false wisdom, with irony. When it comes to heavenly things, true wisdom comes from God. Man does not understand the ways of God, and his ‘wisdom’ therefore leads him astray.

The verse indicates God’s sovereignty in that it portrays this failure as resulting from God’s wisdom. It was the all-wise God Who determined what happened. But it also, of course, resulted from the fact that man was blinded by his own sin, and thus would not, and in a sense could not, respond to God’s revelation of Himself through nature (Romans 1.18-32), and now through the cross.

‘The world through its wisdom did not know God.’ All man’s efforts and all his brilliance could not enable him to know God. There his wisdom was defeated. He could speculate, he could surmise, he could talk about God, but he could not know God. Thus when he pictured God he often did it in terms of ‘corruptible man, birds, four-footed beasts and creeping things’ (Romans 1.23), the utmost in folly. Nor were the Jews who had no images in any better state. For Jesus Himself said they neither knew the Father nor Him (John 8.19;16.3).

‘It was God’s good pleasure.’ Again the sovereignty of God is stressed. All that happens is of His good pleasure. But it is also the inevitable consequence of the way of things in a moral universe.

‘Through the foolishness of what was preached.’ It was not really foolish, of course. It only appeared so to foolish man. The message of the cross followed the divine logic and the divine understanding. It appeared foolish because man did not have a full understanding of himself and his own inadequacy, and was not therefore aware that his need of reconciliation and atonement, which he expressed by his religious activities, could only be met by God taking on Himself all our iniquity (Isaiah 53.6). Man still believed that with a great effort and a little religion he could save himself, with a little help from God and their religious ordinances.

‘To save those who believe.’ The basis of salvation is clearly emphasised. It is through faith in God and what He has done in Jesus Christ, faith in the cross. Man can only be saved as he believes in and responds to Christ’s sacrifice of Himself, the sinless One made sin for us, thereby receiving forgiveness, being declared righteous and being reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5.20-21).

1.22-24 ‘Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumblingblock, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.’

‘Jews ask for signs.’ The Jews were a practical people. They wanted to see the divine activity. They wanted ‘signs’ (John 2.18; 6.30). They were always looking round for proof that God was about to do something for them. This is true yet ironic. Paul knew that they had seen such signs in the life of Christ and had closed their eyes to them. The signs had to come from someone who fell in with their particular viewpoints.

‘Greeks seek after wisdom.’ ‘Greeks’ means Gentiles influenced by Greek ideas, the main constituents of that part of the Roman Empire. The Greeks were admired for their rationalism, their breadth of thought, their metaphysical ideas. And they had influenced the world around them. Men thought that such ideas would pierce the curtain that hid them from divine things, and they sought to speculate more and more thinking that eventually they would hit on the truth. Indeed many thought that they had hit on the truth. But in the end their ideas faded to be replaced by others.

‘But we preach Christ crucified (or ‘a crucified Messiah’).’ But although in Christ the Jews were given signs and the Greeks were shown true wisdom, they both rejected what they were given, dismissing it as foolish. To the Jews a crucified Messiah was a contradiction in terms. For crucifixion was the sign of a curse, and they could not see that they were in fact under a curse and therefore that the One Who would redeem them must Himself be cursed (Galatians 3.10-13). They wanted to be saved, but by something that fitted in with their ideas, not by something so radical. (They failed to see that it was what their whole system was pointing to).

And to be saved by a crucified Jew was to Greek thought beyond acceptance. To them salvation must come through the Greeks, and Greek ideas, not by something so vulgar. Thus the message of the crucified Christ was in general dismissed by both.

‘But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks --’. Once again we have the idea of effectual calling. It does not just mean called, but effectually called. They have been called by God and the preaching of the cross and have responded. And it includes both Jews and Greeks.

‘Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.’ This parallels ‘Jews ask for signs and Greeks seek after wisdom.’ Christ answered both requirements, for He had the power to perform signs and the wisdom. But it means far more than that. It means He has them in abundance. Indeed He is the One through Whom is revealed the fullness of God’s own power and wisdom. He is the source of all power and the source of all wisdom. And that Almighty power is revealed through the cross (verse 18), which also reveals His great wisdom (verse 21).

1.25 ‘Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.’

This verse connects with what is to come (verse 27), while also connecting with what has gone before. What men call foolish proved to be the revealed power of God (verse 18), because God’s ‘foolishness’ far surpasses the greatest wisdom known to man. And although Christ was on the cross in weakness, it was in a weakness that overcame all the power of the Enemy. The cross seemed to reveal weakness but it proved in fact to be the most powerful instrument the world had ever seen. For God’s ways always surpass men’s ways, and although seemingly weak and foolish, prove to be the means by which His great wisdom and power are revealed.

1.26-29 ‘For look at your calling, brothers, how that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame those who are wise, and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are powerful. And the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the things that are. That no flesh should glory before God.’

The themes of folly and weakness continue. Not only did God reveal His power and wisdom through the cross, which was but seen as weakness and folly, He also chose as His instruments those who were weak and foolish that He might reveal through them His power and wisdom, making them powerful and wise in God’s power and wisdom.

‘Look at (behold) your calling.’ They have been called and chosen by God. But whom has the Great God called and chosen? The weak and the foolish, the base and the despised, the things that count for nothing. The Galilean fishermen and the despised local tax-collector, these are the kind who make up His followers. And the same applies among the Corinthians. They too can look at their numbers and see that they are mainly made up of slaves and of poor men, of artisans and labourers, with ‘the great’ a rarity among them. Thus God selects His army for the future and it reveals similarity with the cross, a picture of weakness and folly. But it will overcome the world.

The world sees His followers as foolish, but they will put the wise to shame. The world sees His followers as weak, but they will put the strong to shame. The mighty Roman Empire will be no more, Greek culture will be displaced, but the people of God will go from strength to strength.

‘Has God chosen.’ Again the theme of His sovereignty is apparent. That the church is made up of the foolish and the weak, the base and the despised, is no accident, it is God’s working. So that men may recognise their rightful place in God’s eyes.

‘And the things that are not, to bring to nought the things that are.’ In context this is comparing nonentities with the great and the wise. The Corinthians are nothing, Paul is nothing, but it is through such as them that God will do His mighty work, revealing the great as not great, the wise as not wise, indeed as nonentities in relation to God’s kingdom.

‘That no flesh should glory before God.’ The purpose in all this is that man might realise what he is, and not boast in the sight of God, recognising that any glory or wisdom he has apart from God is as nothing.

1.30-31 ‘But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who has become to us wisdom from God, even righteousness, sanctification and redemption. That according as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord”.’

Having stressed their lowliness Paul now points out their glorious state ‘in Christ’. In Him they belong to God and are born of God. They are ‘of Him’, of God. (Note that in the phrase ‘Of Him are you’ - ‘are you’ is stressed). And Christ Jesus became to them the wisdom of God, that is, through His action and power He brought about what God’s wisdom knew to be best and purposed, indeed knew was the only way. That is, through His death and resurrection and the power of His Spirit He became their righteousness, their sanctification and their redemption.

‘Righteousness, sanctification and redemption.’ This primarily refers to the first work wrought on the believer to make him acceptable in God’s sight as one who is accounted righteous, set apart for God and freed by the payment of a price. But with God it can never stop there. The final result must be that they become truly righteous, that they become holy as God is holy, and that they reveal that redemption by demonstrating that they are God’s true and fully delivered sons, for that will be the result of the effectual working of His power.

‘Righteousness.’ Through what He has done for them on the cross they are counted as righteous and acceptable in the sight of a just God (Romans 3.26), being freely declared righteous through His grace (Romans 3.24), as a result of the response of faith (Romans 3.28). Grace is the means, faith the channel. ‘For He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him’ (2 Corinthians 5.21). And what greater righteousness can there be than the righteousness of God?

‘Sanctification.’ This is why they are sanctified, and sanctified ones (see on verse 2), because Christ is made unto them sanctification. In His holiness they are accepted as holy. In His being set apart as God’s alone, they are set apart as God’s alone. In His being sacred to God, they are sacred to God. In His being God’s treasured possession, they are God’s treasured possession (compare 1 Peter 2.9). Yet being so made will result in their being made truly holy (1 Thessalonians 4.3-8; Hebrews 2.10-11; 10.14) and zealous of good works (Titus 2.14).

‘Redemption.’ Redemption means being released by the payment of a price. In the Old Testament redemption signified the delivering of His people by God through the exercise of His power, and it would finally result in another Eden. In the New Testament ‘redemption through His blood’ brings the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1.7; Colossians 1.14), for He is the One Who gave His life a ransom for many (Mark 10.45). So being redeemed from transgressions through His death provides the promise of an eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9.15). Thus this redemption is a present redemption achieved through the cross. In Him they are delivered people, for He is their redemption. But this also looks forward to the final redemption when they will finally be delivered from all sin, and every ill (Ephesians 1.14; 4,30; Romans 8.23).

Some see ‘wisdom from God’ as meaning that He is the personification of Old Testament wisdom (e.g. Proverbs 8), but if this be so it is surely secondary, for the Greek construction separates wisdom from righteousness, sanctification and redemption, suggesting that the latter arise from the former, and the context thus suggests that saving wisdom is in mind, the wisdom revealed through the effectiveness of the preaching of the cross.

‘As it is written.’ Again indicating a quotation from Scripture as the abiding word of God.

‘That according as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.’ This is a summarised rendering of Jeremiah 9.23-24. Christians are sometimes called conceited because they claim to have eternal life, to be going to ‘Heaven’, to be righteous in God’s eyes. But they do this, if they behaving as true Christians, and, alas, sometimes we do not, because they are humbly glorying in the Lord and what He has done for them. They know they have no merit of their own, that all that is theirs is through Christ. And they glory in Him and want others to glory in Him too.

But while this is one purpose of Paul in citing this here, to demonstrate that Christians glory in the Lord because of what Christ has been made unto them, he also intends his readers to recognise that therefore neither they nor those who minister to them have anything to glory in but this. They do not glory in ministers of the Gospel, they do not glory in any privileged position they may have, they glory in Christ alone. For all attention must be on Him, that men may see Jesus only. This will be the theme of what follows.

2.1-2 ‘And I, brothers, when I came to you, did not come with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the mystery of God, for I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him the crucified one.’

In accordance with what he has said Paul reminds them of how he approached them with the Gospel. He did not come as an orator using flowery words. He did not put on a show of wisdom pretending to special knowledge. He simply and straightly preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

‘Proclaiming to you the mystery (or testimony) of God’. The authorities are fairly equally divided between reading ‘mystery’ (musterion) or ‘testimony’ (marturion) with the edge towards ‘mystery’. The third century papyrus 46 (the Chester Beatty papyrus) and the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus support ‘mystery’ but the fourth century Codex Vaticanus, and a fifth century (?) ‘correction’ in Codex Sinaiticus support ‘testimony’. But as the term ‘mystery’ also appears in verse 7, and the ‘mystery of God’ is also mentioned in Colossians 2.2; Revelation 10.7 (compare also 1 Timothy 3.16 ‘the mystery of godliness’), whereas the term ‘the testimony of God’ occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, the weight would seem to be towards ‘mystery’ as the correct original. For ‘testimony’ is usually used in relation to Christ.

The term ‘the testimony of Christ’ occurs in 1 Corinthians 1.6 and ‘the testimony of our Lord’ in 2 Timothy 1.8. The ‘testimony of Jesus Christ’ appears in Revelation 1.2, 9 in parallel with ‘the word of God’ and in 12.17 in parallel with ‘the commandments of God’. The ‘testimony of Jesus’ is found in Revelation 19.10. Thus in view of the fact that the idea of testimony or witness is always elsewhere referred to Jesus Christ and not God, and the ‘mystery of God’ is mentioned elsewhere we must favour ‘mystery’ as the original here as in verse 7.

In the New Testament a ‘mystery’ refers to God’s divine plan, once hidden but now revealed openly. Thus Paul is here referring to the message of the cross as something once hidden, although depicted in the Old Testament sacrifices, but now openly revealed as the means of salvation.

‘I determined not to .’ That is, ‘made a judgment that I would not--’ (krino - to judge).

‘Know anything among you except Christ, the crucified One.’ His message was to be centred only on Christ with special emphasis on Him as the One Who was crucified and now lives. And as his epistles make clear that includes all that He is doing and will yet do as a result of the victory obtained at the cross. For every aspect of the work of Christ, past, present and future, centres around the cross. Thus his ministry would not be a restricted one except in so far as in everything Jesus Christ was to be kept central.

2.3-5 ‘And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling, and my word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.’

Paul stresses the great concern that he had had that his words to them might not be just persuasive and clever words, but that his preaching should be in demonstration of the Spirit and power. He had wanted to ensure that they did not respond because of his persuasion, but because of the Spirit’s persuasion as He revealed His power among them. For he knew that if they only believed for his sake their faith would soon fail. But if it was founded in the work of the Spirit it would stand firm.

‘I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.’ This was how he felt inside as he had contemplated the message he had brought them. We must not overstress the fear and much trembling. It is one of his favourite descriptions to describe genuine concern, and means simply that. See 2 Corinthians 7.15 where the Corinthians had received Titus ‘with fear and trembling and Philippians 2.12 where the Philippians are told to ‘work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God Who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.’ In both cases it is clear that it is a slight exaggeration to stress great concern and effort. See also Ephesians 6.5.

Thus Paul is stressing how genuine he had been. He had come to them in weakness because he had recognised that success that really mattered would not come from his strength and power, and he had come ‘in fear and trembling’ because he was very concerned that his ministry was in the power of the Spirit. When a minister does not come to preach in ‘weakness, fear and much trembling’ we need to doubt his genuine calling.

‘My word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of men’s wisdom.’ The word of the cross is powerful to save (1.18) when wielded by the Spirit, and God saves men ‘through the foolishness of preaching’ (1.21), that is, through the foolishness of the preaching of the Gospel (1.17), which in turn is the word of the cross (1.18), once they respond in belief and trust. But both require the Spirit as the necessary condition. Thus he was careful to avoid a word and preaching which was simply human endeavour using persuasive words containing men’s wisdom, and not the message of the cross.

‘But in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.’ By coming to God in weakness and godly fear and opening himself to God he became a channel of the Spirit. Thus his preaching was powerful and effective. It was a demonstration of power. Notice the continual stress on ‘power’ in the whole passage (1.18, 24; 2.4, 5). The combination of a man faithful to the message of the cross and submissive to the Spirit resulted in powerful preaching, because it was preaching that applied the power of God to men’s hearts.

‘That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.’ This was why he feared, this was the reason for his great concern, the fear that because of clever words men would be ‘convinced’ but not genuinely responsive, being like reeds swaying in the wind and just as easily convinced when others spoke a different message. So rather than this he concentrated on submission to the Spirit and the preaching of the word of the cross (for which see 1.18). Then he knew that any response of faith would be permanent because it resulted from the powerful activity of God.

2.6-8 ‘Yet we do speak wisdom among the those who are perfect. But a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world which are coming to nought. But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds to our glory, which none of the rulers of this world knew, for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.’

Having spoken of foolishness he now wants to correct any misapprehension. It is not really foolishness, it merely appears like that to unbelievers. It is in fact great wisdom. A wisdom that reveals what God had foreordained from the beginning of time, the salvation of the world through the death of His Son, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

‘We do speak wisdom.’ Apollos, Peter and himself (1.12), along with all like-minded preachers.

‘Among those who are perfect.’ The word rendered ‘perfect’ means ‘full and complete’, ‘having full measure’, ‘fully developed’. Thus it means those whose understanding is enlightened (Ephesians 1.18), because they have fully grasped the truth of the message and have fully understood its implications. They have received full measure of God’s wisdom, and recognise the wisdom of the word of he cross.

‘Yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, those who are coming to nought.’

The world does not see it as wisdom. Nor do the world’s rulers. They have demonstrated this in that they actually carried out the crucifixion of the Lord of glory. This last fact confirms that the ‘rulers of this world’ are not spiritual forces but human beings (although we may see spiritual forces at work behind them). So again we are reminded that the wise of the world, and the powerful of the world, have rejected this wisdom, which has on the whole been received by those who are foolish and weak, those who are base and despised (1.27-28).

‘Those who are coming to nought.’ Those who are made ineffective, powerless, who pass away, are brought to an end, are doomed to perish. In other words their wisdom ceases in contrast with the everlasting wisdom. Their power fails in contrast with the eternal power at work through the Spirit. For they themselves will come to nothing.

‘But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, even that which has been hidden.’ We declare something which, in the wisdom of God, has been a mystery and is now a revealed mystery, something hidden in the foreknowledge of God but now made known.

‘Which God foreordained before the ages (worlds) unto our glory.’ It is a wisdom revealed in the plan and purpose of God, yet foreordained before time began. And that wisdom is made up of all that is contained in the message of the cross and of the crucified and risen Christ. And God purposed it from the beginning that through it we might receive ‘glory’ through being in Christ, a glory which is both present and future. The idea of glory includes future splendour, both literal and moral (2 Corinthians 3.18), and honour (1 Corinthians 15.43) and is meanwhile descriptive of the joy and rapture that fills the hearts of His people (1 Peter 1.8) and of the power that rests on them through the Spirit of God (1 Peter 4.14).

It is God’s gracious purpose for His people, that they may receive glory. Being declared righteous by faith we rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5.2), for the body at the resurrection, sown in dishonour, is raised in glory (1 Corinthians 15.43), when He comes in His glory (Matthew 24.30; Mark 13.26; Luke 21.27), for when Christ Who is our life is revealed and made known, we also will be revealed with Him in glory (Colossians 3.4).

Further, the ministration of the Spirit, the ministration of righteousness, is with glory (2 Corinthians 3.8-9), so that as we behold (or reflect) as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3.18), and our light affliction, which is for a moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4.17), so that we will receive a crown of glory that is unfading (1 Peter 5.4).

Thus our being ‘called’ through the Gospel will result in our ‘obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (2 Thessalonians 2.14), for the elect are to ‘obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory’ (2 Timothy 2.10), and God has called us into His own kingdom and glory (1 Thessalonians 2.12; 1 Peter 5.10) and is bringing many sons to glory (Hebrews 2.10). Note here that the calling of the elect by God is through the Gospel, through the preaching of the cross (1 Corinthians 1.17-18), and results in glory.

So the glory that His people are destined to is very real.

2.8 ‘Which none of the rulers of this world know, for if they had known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.’

This probably refers back in his mind to both ‘wisdom’ and ‘glory’. They know neither the wisdom of God nor the glory of Christ. Though they consider themselves wise and are themselves arrayed in splendour and glory, their foolishness is revealed in their crucifying the One Who was made to us the wisdom of God (1.30) and is ‘the Lord of glory’, a glory more long lasting and greater far than theirs.

2.9 ‘But as it is written, “Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, and which did not enter into the heart of man, whatever things God prepared for those who love him”.’

‘As it is written.’ Again Paul intends to reinforce his argument from the authoritative word of God.

The verse in mind is Isaiah 64.4. That reads ‘From of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, a God beside you Who works for those who wait for Him.’ As regularly (compare 1.19, 31) Paul may well be making a deliberate paraphrase in order to specifically apply the verse to the situation, for the point he is bringing out is that God is doing a new thing for His own which is beyond anything man has known or seen, just as He promised in the days of Isaiah. The change from ‘wait for Him’ to ‘love Him’ is merely a change of emphasis, for those who wait for Him are those who love Him. Paul is concerned that there be a full response to the significance of the cross.

Origen suggested that the actual wording was as found in the Apocalypse of Elijah, but that is unknown to us and it may be that that writing was quoting Paul, just as Clement of Rome probably mainly does later when he writes ‘For [the Scripture] says, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which He has prepared for them that wait for Him”.’ Either that or they may all have a similar source in and Old Testament manuscript not known to us. (Exact quotation was more difficult in those days due to shortage of manuscripts and the difficulty in consulting them).

2.10 ‘But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.’

But in this new age the Spirit has been poured out from above to illuminate the church of Christ and He has revealed to God’s people the things hidden from the ages, what God has foreordained for them through the crucified and risen Messiah, and through the power of His work accomplished on the cross, which has revealed the divine power as never before. For nothing is hidden from Him. He searches all things, yes, even the deepest secrets of God.

The personality of the Spirit comes out here, for He is depicted as searching out in order to reveal.

‘Deep things.’ ‘Bathos’. Used of the depths of the sea and of the depths of divine knowledge. What was in the depths of the sea was beyond man’s knowledge. It was a secret, hidden, unreachable place beyond his scope. And so the divine knowledge was also totally beyond man’s ability to know or understand. But the Holy Spirit takes of what is in the unfathomable depths and reveals it to those chosen by God.

2.11 ‘For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God, except for the Spirit of God.’

A man’s true self and inner knowledge and very being is only known to that man, deep inside through his ‘spirit’, that inner part which is the seat of his understanding and consciousness and spiritual experience. Others may think they know him but the deepest things, which are essentially him, are hidden, known, in so far as they are known at all, only to him. In the same way God’s true self and inner knowledge and very being is known only to God, deep within Him, in His Spirit. And this is the Spirit that we have received if we are His. For if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His (Romans 8.9). To have received the Spirit is to have received the One Who holds all the secrets of God, and reveals them to the heart as we are able.

2.12 ‘But we received, not the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God.’

There may be a verging here on to the idea of an elemental spirit that deceives men and leads them astray, compare 1 John 4.4 where ‘He Who is in you is greater than he who is in the world’ in a context where false spirits are in mind, but if so it is not prominent. The main stress is on man’s inadequacy and inability of himself to know God.

‘The spirit of the world.’ Here he sees the spirits of men (verse 11) as one great whole, bereft of God and unable to understand Him and His ways. But it may well be that he also has in mind ‘the prince of this world’ whose evil presence lies behind the princes of this world, who was condemned with them at the cross (John 12.31; 14.30;16.11), along with his minions (Colossians 2.15 compare Galatians 4.8-9), spoken of by Jesus. It is noteworthy that the New Testament constantly assumes this evil, shadowy presence behind the world and its ways, without overemphasising him, although the idea is prominent in Revelation.

‘But we received --- the Spirit of God.’ (John 20.22; Acts 2.1-4; 8.17; 10.47; Romans 5.5; 8.9, 11, 15; Galatians 4.6). God has entered into the world through His Spirit in a vividly personal way, and it is He Who possesses and dwells in His people, illuminating them, transforming them, and empowering them in various degrees, and it is He Who makes real the power of the cross.

‘That we might know the things that are freely given to us by God.’ He comes as ‘the Spirit of Truth (John 14.17, 26; 16.13 - which more specifically apply to the Apostles, but in a secondary way to all Christians) and He makes known the truth to His people, both through men ‘inspired’ by the Spirit and in His working in their inner hearts (Ephesians 1.17-18; Colossians 1.9; 2.2; 1 Timothy 2.7; 2 Timothy 1.7; 1 John 5.20; Hebrews 10.32).

‘The things that are freely given to us of God.’ That which has been made available to us through His cross, e.g. the grace of God (1.4), righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1.30), justification, glorification (2.7), power from God (1.18), salvation by grace through faith (Ephesians 2.8), the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1.22; 1 Thessalonians 4.8) and above all God’s unspeakable gift, our Lord Jesus Christ (John 3.16; 2 Corinthians 9.15).

Alternately the thought may be in mind here that the things freely given to us by God are what is revealed through the genuine spiritual gifts of chapters 12-14, given to us by the Spirit of God, as compared with false spiritual gifts, which did occur, given by the ‘spirit of the world’.

But these verses are in the midst of a passage where Paul is speaking of the godly ministers of the Gospel, Apollos, Peter and himself (1.12; 3.4-6). And the ‘we’ therefore must be seen as including these three great men, as he stresses that they are men who are guided by the Spirit in their preaching of the Gospel, the wisdom of God. This would tend to exclude the idea of the specific spiritual gifts which were for use in the churches or in private prayer, although similar enlightenment by the Spirit is certainly in mind.

2.13 ‘Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.’

‘We speak.’ This confirms that he is thinking of their preaching. As men of God empowered and enlightened by the Spirit they teach in a wisdom not their own, with words provided by God through the Spirit (compare Matthew 10.20, although there the words are given before judges).

‘Not in words which man’s wisdom teaches.’ None of them look to man’s wisdom. They look to God as the source of their wisdom. Thus they have one message and are united as one.

‘Comparing spiritual things with spiritual.’ ‘Sunkrino’ means ‘to bring together, combine, compare, explain, interpret.’ It therefore stresses the application of thought. They are not just carried along by the Spirit.

Possible translations and interpretations for this phrase (pneumatikois pneumatika ’anakrinetai) include;

• 1). Comparing (bringing together, interpreting) spiritual things with spiritual.
• 2). Giving spiritual truths a spiritual form.
• 3). Interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess or are guided by the Spirit (spiritual men).
• 4). Comparing the spiritual things we have received with the spiritual things we will yet receive, and thus judging them by comparison (compare 1 Corinthians 14.29-32).