Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2.1-5

2.1: Paul did not come to the Corinthians proclaiming (there is that word again) the mystery of God (is this the same as the message about the cross from 1.18?) using rhetorical skills or even human wisdom. Why, then, is this so important nowadays? Or is it that Paul knows that they must see a changed life first, that they must have a change of mind and heart in order to know the wisdom that is from God, in order to delve deeper and deeper into the truths of God?

2.2: Paul chose to live the way of renunciation; he chose to know nothing among the Corinthians except Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. This can mean a few things, but it seems plausible that he chose the way of self-giving and self-renunciation. It can also mean, or this meaning can be added to the last: He preached Christ and His death and self-giving, and did not bother with the convincing words of philosophy or sophistry.

2.3: Paul came with an attitude of a servant to his master. He came to serve the Corinthians. He came to the Corinthians in weakness and fear and trembling. This phrase, “fear and trembling” occurs a few other times in Paul’s letters, namely 2 Cor.7.15 (The proper attitude of the Corinthians to the arrival of Titus…complementary to being obedient), Eph 6.5 (slaves obedient to masters; a slaves attitude to his master), and Phil 2.12 (work out salvation with…). Generally, these phrases seem to connote the proper attitude of a lesser to a superior. Once again, this points to the self-emptying attitude that Paul learned from Jesus Christ, especially in His crucifixion.

2.4: This self-giving is a demonstration of the freedom from and the work of the Holy Spirit. Paul let his life – under the power of the Holy Spirit/ in Christ – that spoke for itself. Paul knew that the message of the cross, the mystery of God (once again: are they equivalent? It seems so here.) was foolishness, that God emptying himself, suffering, and dying was foolishness to the Greek mind. He did not speak what they would have thought of as plausible words of wisdom. Instead, Paul demonstrated what a life in the Spirit is like. His proclamation (once again, this word comes up) was through deeds of the Spirit. The mystery of God, which Paul proclaimed, came by way of a demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power. Now, does this mean that the Corinthian church was mostly Gentile, because earlier Paul was saying how the Jews wanted to see signs (1.22), and the proclamation of Christ crucified (which by now seems to be the mystery of God he was proclaiming because of the frequency of how the word proclamation is being used) was a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (1.23). What I am asking is: aren’t these signs to the Jews and therefore this type of proclamation through deeds is not a stumbling block to the Jews. In the end though, I think that Paul is not talking about miracles (though he might be), but about the demonstration of a changes, pure, holy life that gives of itself.

2.5: Paul proclaimed the mystery of God (the self-emptying, self-giving nature of God = the message of the cross, proclaiming Christ crucified) in this manner – through deeds, not through convincing arguments – so that the faith of the Corinthians did not rest on human, intellectual knowledge, but on the power of God. Therefore, it is through the proof of a life lived in the Spirit that Christ is proved. How hard this is to come by when our tendency is towards pride and a demanding of rights! None of us likes to be offended, but if we suffer offense, loss of rights, and give of ourselves in humility and truth – in Christ – we will be God’s true ambassadors to the world. This reminds me of two stories that I heard in the last two days – both at work, speaking with people in the construction/demolition industry. I spoke to one man from Nigeria, Africa who said that the preachers in his country were always one-upping each other in order to attract more converts and more money. He said that you could not be on TV as a pastor unless you were performing miracles, that you would be considered a laughing stock. He told me this because he asked me if my motive for going into the ministry was for money or for what? Another story: a guy I work with told me that he went to Catholic school. During his time at that school a priest told him, in front of his eighth grade class that he was going to hell, not for anything he had done, but because he was born out of wedlock. The actions of Christians can be atrocious. And yes, grace is available for us all, live according to what you believe. If you have stopped acting like a Christian, don’t call yourself one; or, if you call yourself a Christian, you must work out your salvation with fear and trembling, submitting yourself to God, so that He may change you. It is so easy for our sinful nature to rear its ugly head, whether it is in need of approval, in pride, in asserting one’s own rights, in self-pity, in debauchery, in whatever of the dead fruits of the world. We must watch our lives and our doctrine closely (1 Timothy 4.16). Lord, help us. Live in us and change us. Make us more like you.