111. Cf. Litfin 189.
112. See also Quintilian Inst. 12.2.6; Cicero Inv. 1.1; cf. Dio Chrysostom Or. 47.1.
Wisdom and Leadership in Light of the Proclamation of the Cross: First Supporting Proof (1:18—4:21)
The first supporting proof of the appeal for unity centers on the proclamation of the cross among Jews and Gentiles (1:18–31).113 Paul then applies the content of this message to his own persona and preaching in relation to spiritual wisdom (2:1–16), and subsequently to Apollos and himself as ministers (3:1—4:5). After this he makes another appeal, this time for his recipients to imitate him (4:6–16), and he warns them to be prepared for his upcoming visit (4:17–21). These passages reveal that apart from competitive allegiances, the congregation is plagued by quarreling, misperceptions about wisdom and speech, and boasting related to status.
Wisdom and Foolishness of the Cross (1:18–31)
The type of eloquence that our apostle discourages from becoming preeminent in the congregation does not prevent him from exhibiting his own stylistic features throughout the rest of this chapter, including rhetorical questions (1:20), chiasm (1:22–23), irony (1:21, 25, 27–28), anaphora or stressed repetition (“not many . . . not many . . . ”: 1:26), and antitheses: perishing/being saved (1:18), foolishness/power (1:18), foolish/wise (1:21–25, 27), wisdom of God/wisdom of the world (1:20–21), weakness/strength (1:25, 27), noble/lowly (1:26, 28), and things that are/things that are not (1:28).114
The message of the cross refers to the apostolic proclamation about Christ crucified. This message elicits antithetical responses that interact with wisdom and prophetic-apocalyptic discourses. Those who are being saved believe in the message of the cross, and for them it provides a channel for God’s power to save and transform their lives as well as endow them with true spiritual wisdom. Those who are perishing think the message of the cross is foolishness. They, too, have wisdom and power, but it is related to rhetorical eloquence and the authority of Caesar (2:4–5, 8).115 They belong to the corrupted world and current age that found its inception through the fall of Adam and the old creation, which characterizes sin and death, belongs to Satan, and will ultimately meet its destruction in the age to come (1:20–21a; cf. 5:5; 15:21–28; Rom 5:12–20). The Christ event marks the inception of the new creation and salvific era invading the present world. Its participants will experience the full realization of this salvation in the age to come (Gal 1:4; 2 Cor 5:17; 6:2). The present tense of salvation and destruction in 1:18, then, implies that both are currently in the process of their respective states; their full realization does not take place until Christ returns. Before that day arrives, the present state of the perishing ones could be changed for the better if they start believing the message of the cross. Conversely, those who believe must continue believing if they are to experience final salvation on that day.
This antithetical pairing of destruction and salvific life perhaps imagines a triumphal procession similar to 2 Cor 2:14–16, where Paul classifies again two types of people using this similar terminology.116 The Corinthians, highly influenced by Roman culture, no doubt had heard of such processions in Rome, and knew of these events via depictions in art, inscriptions, and literature.117 A victory celebration of this sort for Romans included the victors of war entering and parading through their city on horses and chariots complete with an entourage of statues, paintings, gold, silver, and other booty, animals to be sacrificed, incense bearers, and of course, prisoners of war who were often executed at the end of the spectacle (cf. Plutarch Aem. 32.3–34.4).118 In this light, Christ’s death might be imagined in different ways depending on the viewer. For those who are perishing, he resembles a weak, Jewish rebel being crucified or, if in a triumphal procession is in view, bound as a prisoner of war at the feet of the Roman emblem, the tropaion.119 This symbol of triumph was made from wood, shaped like a cross, and bore the armor of the defeated foes. Whether through bearing his own cross or being tied to the tropaion, he is paraded through the city streets on his way to be executed. We could surmise that for Paul Christ’s death represents the turning point of human history. Rome’s displays of power eventually give way to the more powerful images of resurrection and the defeat of death. At the end of the metaphorical procession depicting the age of now and not yet, such worldly powers will be shamed and destroyed (1:19, 27–28; 2:6). And those deemed foolish by the world’s standards, who identified with Christ and his cruciform sufferings, will be vindicated.120 The cross in 1:18 will result in the triumph of resurrection in 15:57.
The apostle cites Isa 29:14 in anticipation of this victory—God will destroy the wisdom of the wise and thwart the cleverness of the clever.121 In Isaiah, Israel’s leaders are confronted for depending on human wisdom and Egyptian advisors instead of consulting God, the divine counselor (Isa 19:11–13; cf. 30:1–7; 31:1). Failing to seek their Lord, they become spiritually blind, and face impending judgment (29:1–12, 14), and a reverse ordering will occur in which the humble will be joyous and lifted up, but the proud will be humbled (29:18–19; cf. 27:1; 29:1–8).122 Consequently, God will turn the counsel they receive into foolishness (19:3, 11–14). Paul’s rhetorical questions in 1:20 continue to be informed by Isaiah: Where is the wise? recalls the elitist counselors of Isa 19:12. Where is the clerical magistrate? echoes 33:18b.123 However, the third question, Where is the sophist debater of this age? finds no parallel in Isaiah.124 Stephen Pogoloff is apropos that the last of the three questions “most naturally refers to the rhetorician skilled at declamation and extemporaneous courtroom displays. Increasingly, such persons were called sophists, and were sought by all status seekers as prizes.”125 Paul apparently wants to make sure that his auditors do not miss the point that this question pertains to the way they esteem oratory performances. All the same, three inquiries begin with “where” and are probably informed by the threefold pattern in Isa 33:18. The questions prompt the response that clever and prominent speakers are nowhere to be found at the time of the Lord’s visitation. Paul’s fourth question, Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? may come from Isa 44:25 where the Lord again turns the advice of wise counselors into foolishness.126 “Yes” is the answer Paul expects from Corinthians.
Our apostle recontextualizes Isaiah’s discourse in order to associate human counsel void of divine direction with the wisdom of this age characterized by sophists and royal elitists (cf. 1 Cor 2:4–8). Through Isaiah the relevant message for the Corinthians is that divine wisdom stands over against worldly wisdom; the latter incurs divine judgment, and there is an anticipation in which the absence of true wisdom will be remedied.127 Whereas the concept of foolishness turns out to be antithetical to this wisdom, Paul presents a reverse ordering in which proclamation of the crucified Messiah, perceived by the wise in this world as foolishness, has become the means by which divine wisdom is revealed. This wisdom, incidentally, is not measured by the entertainment value of the speaker’s performance, nor by the weight of eloquent words used, but by the divine mind’s penetrating and disclosing insights communicated through God’s