Paul is writing to the church he established in Corinth, a wealthy and growing city that was once destroyed and then rebuilt by Rome. Judy Fentress-Williams documents that this letter is being written around the time when the city is closing in on one-hundred years after its rebuilding (Fentress-Williams, 2021). The formation of this community was deeply influenced by the fact that many of the members of newly formed Roman colony were formerly enslaved.
Theological Reflection
While rhetoricians held privileged positions in cultures like Corinth at that time, Paul minimizes his own impressive skills to instead reveal the glory of God working through him in the Spirit. To a community that is already vying for attention, power, and privilege, Paul—the messenger of the Word—rests on the power of God at the foot of the cross, rather than his own strength and skill. In lieu of his own rhetorical skill, he wants them to focus on the content, which is “Jesus Christ and crucified” (v. 2).
Through this humble stance, Paul aims at quelling the internal divisions by demonstrating Christ-like behavior and submission to the centering message of Christ crucified. The rootedness he wants to emphasize reminds the community that, in Christ, there is no division, and the crucifixion must be the center of the Christian church moving forward.
He urges the Corinthian church to decenter the wisdom of the world and to understand that the wisdom he speaks of is something they are still being trained on. He has not yet taught them such wisdom in full detail. In pointing to the tragic mistake made by the Roman Empire in crucifying Christ (v. 9), he paints a picture of the supposed wisdom of rulers of this realm, as compared to God’s rule. Through this comparison, Paul begins to draw a distinction between the Spirit of God and the mind of humans. His choice of words contrasts human and divine spirit in a way that “underscores not only the otherness of God but also the action of God and the divine initiative” (Collins, 123).
God’s Spirit—the primary agent making revelations, preparing untold things, offering gifts for the chosen—is also a Spirit of revelation that communicates to human beings. Paul and his community of fellow preachers are among those who have received this revelation. He is clear, however, that there are those who received the Spirit and those who have not, and therefore some are spiritual and others are unspiritual.
The Spirit that Paul and his fellow preachers have is from God, knows God, and is of God (v. 11, 12, 14). Staying rooted in this Spirit helps one discern things of the Spirit, and to be unfazed by scrutiny. Paul culminates this point by saying that having a discerning spirit mean having the mind of Christ himself in us.
The implications of the larger context for the letter to the Corinthians are woven through these verses. The human spirit, unlike the Spirit of God, is rooted in conflict, rhetoric, comparisons, and tends to focus on earthly things. As Paul deals with oral reports from Chloe’s companions, and the content of the letter brought to him by the emissaries, he begins to draw these distinctions between human and divine wisdom to eventually demonstrate how following God’s wisdom will help the floundering community to grow.
His counsel to the church in Corinth resonates today because we struggle still with many of the same questions that beset them.
Faith in Practice
Set an intention to embody God’s Spirit this week in your work, in your interactions, even in how you read or listen to the news and interact with social media. As you find yourself responding and reacting to things, ask yourself: Does this response align with the mind of Christ? Where are the points of challenge for you? Use them to consider how Christ is inviting you to grow into his likeness in this season.
The Reverend Deepu Varughese George is a transitional deacon and candidate for the priesthood in the Diocese of West Texas, currently serving as Deacon-in-Charge at Grace Episcopal Church, Weslaco, TX. His work focuses on integrating behavioral health into primary care to increase access to mental health in the Rio Grande Valley, a region located along the U.S.-Mexico border.
