1 Corinthians, part 3
OK, let's resume with our examination of Paul's first letter to the assembly at Corinth:
Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly — mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe — as the Lord has assigned to each his task.
I won't dwell much on this section, because it's pretty much just a spat, and we've already seen the nature of it.
Paul is claiming that his gospel comes from God / Jesus / the Holy Spirit, and the gospel of Apollos does not.
But here's a bit that refers to a tradition that I've made reference to, but so far haven't fully explained:
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.
What is "the Day" to which Paul refers?
It is the Day of the Lord. We have already seen that Paul plays with this construction by referring to the "Day of
our Lord". But what is the reference here?
It's to a Jewish scriptural tradition that is interwoven with the apocalyptic traditions we've already seen, which saturate the thinking of both Jesus -- by all accounts -- as well as his followers.
It begins, not surprisingly, with Isaiah. Here is the earliest reference to the Day of Yahweh:
You, Yahweh, have abandoned your people,
the descendants of Jacob.
They are full of superstitions from the East;
they practice divination like the Philistines
and embrace pagan customs.
Their land is full of silver and gold;
there is no end to their treasures.
Their land is full of horses;
there is no end to their chariots.
Their land is full of idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their fingers have made.
So people will be brought low
and everyone humbled—
do not forgive them.
Go into the rocks, hide in the ground
from the fearful presence of Yahweh
and the splendor of his majesty!
The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled
and human pride brought low;
Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.
Yahweh Almighty has a day in store
for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted
(and they will be humbled),
for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,
and all the oaks of Bashan,
for all the towering mountains
and all the high hills,
for every lofty tower
and every fortified wall,
for every trading ship
and every stately vessel.
The arrogance of man will be brought low
and human pride humbled;
Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day….
Stop trusting in mere humans,
who have but a breath in their nostrils.
Why hold them in esteem?
You can see how this fits with Paul's reference to "gold and silver", as well as the pervasive references -- not only by Paul, but by the non-Pauline Christian communities as well -- of the powerful being overthrown and the humble inheriting the earth.
Note, too, the reference to the sins of the Jewish people who have turned away from the truth of God. In the time when this passage was written, the reference was to perceived unorthodox religious practices, which were blamed for Judea's political and military troubles. But Paul interprets the passage as referring to his own time -- as people have a tendency to do at all times, even today -- in which, according to his theology, the Jewish people have turned away from God's anointed one, Jesus.
Also note that Paul is referencing a passage that condemns non-Jewish "superstitions". Does this sound like someone who embraces non-Jewish mystery cults? No, not in the least.
More from Isaiah about the Day of the Lord:
Wail, for the day of Yahweh is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
Because of this, all hands will go limp,
every heart will melt with fear.
Terror will seize them,
pain and anguish will grip them;
they will writhe like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each other,
their faces aflame.
See, the day of Yahweh is coming
—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land desolate
and destroy the sinners within it.
The stars of heaven and their constellations
will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened
and the moon will not give its light.
I will punish the world for its evil,
the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
I will make people scarcer than pure gold,
more rare than the gold of Ophir.
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of Yahweh Almighty,
in the day of his burning anger.
Keep this imagery in mind, because it will reappear in other non-Pauline Christian traditions, and it will be especially important in a key passage from Mark that we will examine very closely when we get to that book.
When Paul talks about "the Day", or "the Day of our Lord", this is what he is referencing. It is a time when almost all human beings will be quite literally killed by God's army, making human beings rarer than gold. (And guess who those rare survivors will be?)
Given the fact that all traditions emanating from the original followers of Jesus -- those growing out from Paul's assemblies as well as those founded by other apostles -- are rooted in this tradition and belief, it's clear that the trajectories converge on a doctrine, preached by Jesus, based on these Jewish scriptures and theological precepts. And given the fact that such apocalyptic beliefs were rife in the tumultuous religious and political environment of early 1st century Judea, there's really no reason to go fishing among other far-flung beliefs and cultures for an explanation of original Christian thought.
And by now, it should not be surprising to anyone who has followed my posts that this idea from Isaiah is taken up by Ezekiel:
They will throw their silver into the streets,
and their gold will be treated as a thing unclean.
Their silver and gold
will not be able to deliver them
in the day of Yahweh’s wrath.
Here's the thing about Paul… he is what he says he is -- a Jewish religious fanatic. A highly literate one, but a fanatic nonetheless. And his references are exclusively to Jewish scripture.
Anyone who thinks he's making references to some other tradition simply does not have a sufficient background in the literature to which Paul is referring, or else is doing a type of negative cherry-picking which deliberately fails to reference these passages.
Again, we see a disdain for "gold" and "silver", which is the imagery Paul is using, coupled with references to a coming day of the Lord's anger, a day in which Paul firmly believes.
More from Ezekiel:
The word of Yahweh came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: ‘Hear the word of Yahweh! This is what the Sovereign, Yahweh, says: Woe to the wicked prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! Your prophets, Israel, are like jackals among ruins. You have not gone up to the breaches in the wall to repair it for the people of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of Yahweh. Their visions are false and their divinations a lie. Even though Yahweh has not sent them, they say, “Yahweh declares,” and expect him to fulfill their words. Have you not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations when you say, “Yahweh declares,” though I have not spoken?'
So, in the times leading up to the Day of the Lord, there will be false prophets pretending to speak for God, to whom God has not spoken.
Keep in mind, Paul's condemnation here is not a quibble. It's very serious stuff. And we'll see more of this sort of language leveled against those who have "false visions", and who claim to speak for God but who, unlike Paul, haven't had direct contact with God through the Holy Spirit (in Paul's estimation, anyway).
When we get to the book of Acts, we'll find that the author of that book attempts to smooth over these very bitter and acrimonious divisions, and portray the early church as a unified and harmonious community. But nothing could be further from the truth -- that vision is pure propaganda.
This notion of a coming Day of the Lord continues in later prophetic traditions, as in this passage from Joel:
For the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty….
Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times
nor ever will be in ages to come.
Before them fire devours,
behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
behind them, a desert waste—
nothing escapes them.
They have the appearance of horses;
they gallop along like cavalry.
With a noise like that of chariots
they leap over the mountaintops,
like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
like a mighty army drawn up for battle.
At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;
every face turns pale….
Before them the earth shakes,
the heavens tremble,
the sun and moon are darkened,
and the stars no longer shine.
Paul believes this stuff literally. In his mind, this army is coming from heaven, within his lifetime.
And note again the celestial signs, which we will see referenced by other Christian communities with no connection to Paul, indicating that this tradition is original with the community, not an invention of Paul.
(I can't help but note that this passage is also referenced by Lowell George in an alternate take of "Teenage Nervous Breakdown" -- "when the sky is all cast over and the sun refuse to shine" -- but I will refrain from concluding that Paul was in any way influenced by Little Feat.)
Unfortunately, that's all I have time for today.
I realize that I've spent a lot of time explicating a very small portion of Paul's letter here, but I think it's important that these particular references be understood in their proper context, and with everything else I had to deal with earlier, I gave short shrift to the critical concept of the Day of the Lord, which I have referenced in earlier posts without sufficient explanation.
More later….
