Summary of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 2

Paul says he did not come to them with great eloquence of wisdom to announce the Gospel. He did not claim he knew anything among them except Jesus, and Him crucified. He came to them in weakness and fear and much trembling. And he did not speak in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but he depended on the showing of the power of the Holy Spirit. He wanted their faith to rest not on human wisdom, but on the power of God.

He says he speaks wisdom among the perfect, but it is not the wisdom of this world, or that of the rulers of the world, who are headed for ruin. He speaks the wisdom of God in a mystery, a hidden wisdom, which God planned for in advance before all ages, for their glory. No one of the rulers of this world knew this wisdom. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. It reminds him of the words of Isaiah 64:3 so that he says: Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it gone up into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love Him.

God reveals this wisdom to them through the Spirit. The Spirit of God examines everything, even the deepest things of God Himself. Just as no one knows the depths of a human being but that one's soul, which is in him, so too no one knows the depths of God except the Spirit of God. We Christians have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit of God, so that we can see the things of God. We speak of these not in the learned words of human wisdom, but in the words the Spirit gives us, explaining spiritual things by comparison with spiritual things [or: explaining spiritual things to spiritual persons]. In contrast, the merely natural man, who does not have the Spirit, does not grasp the things of the Spirit of God. They seem foolish to him, and he cannot grasp them, for that can be done only with the Spirit. But the spiritual man, who has the Spirit of God, understands everything, though he himself is not understood by anyone except by another spiritual man. "Who has known the mind of God? Who has given Him counsel?" But we have the mind of Christ.

Comments on Chapter 2

Paul continues to work against the factions. They think themselves wonderfully wise. In contrast, he tries to explain what real wisdom, divine wisdom, is like.

So when he first came to Corinth, he did not claim to know anything but the crucified Christ. He came without much confidence. The word weakness could mean physical illness -- it could mean he had an attack of malaria, not rare in his world. But it could also mean he realized his lack of power, of anything that would make him humanly impressive. To the Greeks he would seem like a little uneducated man, from a backwoods province. His training as a Rabbi they would scorn. "Fear and trembling" was an overworked phrase. So it weakened, and came to mean merely, "very respectfully." Hence he depended on showing of the power of the Spirit, that is, on miracles, most likely of the charismatic type (we will examine those later in chapters 12-14).

Norman Perrin, a famous Scripture scholar of the University of Chicago (died 1976) in his book, Rediscovering the Teaching of Jesus⁷ says that at one time he thought he could trust the Gospels. But then Form Criticism showed him over and over again that he could not. He says the strongest case, one that "forced" him, was a comparison of Mark 9:1 with parallels. In Mark 9:1 we find: "There are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Kingdom of God coming with power." Matthew 16:28 is the same except that they will see "the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." Luke 9:27 merely says they will see "the kingdom of God."

Perrin thought the texts of Mark and Matthew expected the end to come soon, while Luke had given up on that hope, and was settling down to "the long haul of history."

Perrin missed some things. First, all three Synoptics put this line just before the Transfiguration, even though they do not always agree on chronological order. So it could refer to that. However there is a better explanation, one suggested by the words of Paul here about the showing of the power of the Spirit, i.e., miracles. Today some scholars are more reluctant to admit that "kingdom of God" sometimes means the Church in this world or in the next. (We grant that the phrase, like so many ancient words or phrases, could vary in meaning at different times). In the original edition of the Jerome Biblical Commentary, David M. Stanley admits that 'Kingdom of God' often means the Church, and he specifically says: "The next instance of the phrase occurs in a very difficult passage [Mk 9.1] which refers to the establishment of the Church."⁸ John L. McKenzie says that the phrase in Matthew is at least sometimes "clearly identified with the community of the disciples."⁹ And really, it is obvious in many places that 'kingdom of God' does mean the Church, e.g., in the parable of the wicked tenants in Matthew 21:43; in the parable of the mustard seed in Mark 4:30-32; Matthew 13:31; Luke 13:8-19; and in the parable of the net (Matthew 13:47-50) and in many other places. (The 1990 New Jerome Biblical Commentary no longer thinks that the Church is the kingdom. But at least it has given up the unfortunate translation of the earlier edition of the New American Bible which usually said "reign of God" instead of "kingdom of God.") Raymond E. Brown,in The Churches the Apostles Left Behind¹⁰ admits that in some parts of the New Testament kingdom does mean the Church in this world and/or the next. In his Responses to 101 Questions on the Bible¹¹ he says that the translation often used in the New American Bible, "reign of God," is unfortunate. It should be "kingdom of God."

As to the words "spread with power" this means miracles, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to which Paul appeals.

So the meaning of Mark 9:1, as Stanley points out, is this: they will see the Kingdom of God, the Church, being spread by displays of the power of the Spirit, by miracles. Similarly, the text of Matthew pictures Christ visiting, taking care of His Church (concept of the Hebrew word paqad). Luke of course presents no problem. So Perrin was not at all forced.

The "rulers of this world" could mean either the powers of this world, those who condemned Christ, or the evil spirits, who all too often get their way in this world. Had they known the truth, of course they would never have crucified Him.

Next, as an expression of the admirable nature of divine wisdom, Paul gives a quotation that resembles Isaiah 64:3, "No ear has ever heard, nor eye ever seen, any God but you doing such deeds for those who wait for Him." Some of the Fathers -- Origen, Ambrosiaster and Jerome -- thought Paul was quoting from the intertestamental work, the Apocalypse of Elijah. However this line is not found in the text we possess of the Apocalypse of Elijah.

The comparison Paul makes is clear: just as no one fully knows a person except his own soul, so no one but the Spirit of God fully knows Him. But we have received, in a measure, the Spirit of God. So we are enabled to understand spiritual things, such as the doctrine of the cross, which seems folly to others.

The merely natural man does not have this Spirit. But the spiritual one does. It can lead a person to heights not contrary to reason, but beyond what reason would reach. A good example is that of Our Lady at the Annunciation. As soon as the Angel told her that her Son would reign forever, she would see He was to be the Messiah, for Jews then generally believed the Messiah would reign forever. When the angel had left, if she were thinking like the purely natural person, she might have reasoned thus: Now my people have been waiting for centuries for this day. I should share the joy with them, especially I should tell the authorities in Jerusalem, and also my husband Joseph. For in a rather short while he could not help getting dark suspicions. Yet from the Gospel we see she did none of these things. God had to send an Angel to Joseph to stop him from dismissing her.

At the end of this chapter, Paul quotes Isaiah 40:13, according to the Septuagint reading. Since he is writing for Greek speaking persons, it is natural for him to quote the Greek version, even though he himself commonly has the Hebrew in mind. Often we must ask what Hebrew word lies behind a certain Greek word he uses.