Paul's first letter to the Corinthians
In 146 BCE, the city of Corinth was destroyed by the Romans for leading a rebellion against Roman incursion into Greece. About a hundred years later, it was rebuilt by Rome and populated with some of Rome's overpopulation, including freed slaves and military veterans.
About a hundred years after that, Paul wrote a letter to the Christian assembly which he had recently established there, consisting of a few house-assemblies, and one whole-assembly which gathered to celebrate the Lord's supper.
By that time, Corinth had developed into a bustling trade hub, and a flagship of Roman culture.
After Paul had moved on to Ephesus, an Alexandrian (Egyptian) Jew called Apollos rose to prominence within the Corinthian community… and he didn't always agree with what Paul taught.
As did all of Paul's assemblies, the Corinthian Christians had questions which arose within the community, both from the divergence of teachings among the various evangelists who came there, and from everyday issues of life which they didn't know how to interpret in light of the new religion to which they had converted.
Paul's letter is in response to a letter from the assembly, and from word brought to him by "Chloe's people".
Although many of the problems within the group are rather mundane, Paul was also clearly concerned about a tendency among some in the group toward views more aligned with what we see among Egyptian Jewish communities of the time -- a belief that salvation is attained through wisdom in this life. Clearly, such a view is diametrically opposed to what we've seen thus far of Paul's theology, which held that salvation is to be attained only at the Day of the Lord, and only by rejecting power, wealth, and status.
It is important to note here that the "wisdom" faction is not associated with the Jerusalem group, for reasons which should be obvious to anyone who has read my posts up to this point. His arguments with James and Peter differ sharply from his arguments with those aligning themselves with the teachings of Apollos.
Not only does Paul's argument with Apollos give us wonderful insights into how Paul saw the religion, and how the religion was morphing beyond his control and the control of Jerusalem as it expanded as a result of their aggressive evangelism, but it also provides us with citations from Paul of extremely early Christian creeds which predate his mission.
This is a longer letter than the two previous ones we've examined, and it's getting late here in my neck of the woods, so I'll have to begin an examination which will have to be continued later.
He begins with his customary greeting:
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
To the assembly of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Note that Sosthenes, Paul's current traveling companion (and probably his scribe for this letter), is not designated as having been "called… by the will of God" to be an apostle, but that all the followers of Jesus are "called" to be "his holy people", that is, the righteous remnant of prophecy.
I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way — with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge — God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
A few important notes….
Again, these are people whom God has chosen by His grace, through belief in the resurrection of Jesus.
Paul anchors the gifts of speech and knowledge to their status "in Christ", and will later contrast this view of knowledge with a view of "wisdom" which he clearly opposes.
Also, Paul mentions "spiritual gifts". As we'll see going forward, these are gifts granted by the Holy Spirit at conversion, and each member of the assembly is supposed to have received some sort of spiritual gift, which might be prophecy or healing or what have you.
And as always, this group is "eagerly awaiting" the imminent return of Jesus in power. And if they stay firm in their faith, God will find them blameless on the "day of our Lord", a re-interpretation of the apocalyptic Day of the Lord as outlined in Jewish prophecy.
My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s people have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel — not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Several important points here.
First, this group not only knows Paul, but also Apollos, and Peter. Again, we see this missionary network, and we see that Peter could not have been a fiction devised by Paul, since some in this group apparently felt greater loyalty to him -- and why not? -- than they did to Paul.
Also we see that the various missionaries were not in agreement about the doctrine of the group -- hardly the hallmark of an organized scam operation. (Not that there's any real indication that the movement ever was a scam, but some have raised the question.)
Here, too, we get more information about methods of conversion and induction, which again are thoroughly Jewish -- specifically, by baptism. Not that water rituals were unique to Judaism, but clearly there is no need to go searching beyond Judaism for the roots of the conversion ritual, which was baptism in the name of Jesus, the Anointed One. Sure, we could to seeking "parallels" outside of Judaism, but why do so, given the fact that everything about this group is so firmly rooted in the Jewish religion?
Finally, Paul sets up an opposition between the previously-mentioned knowledge which comes from Christ, and eloquent "wisdom" which comes from elsewhere, and which can lead one astray from the power of God's resurrection of Jesus as the first fruits of the coming elevation of the faithful.
And I'm afraid I'll have to leave it there for now because it's late and I need to sleep.
More later, and thanks again for your patience.
