All The Saints (part 17)

Pressing that button, Paul continues, writing “God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).  Here, it is helpful to replace the Greek “Christ” with the Hebrew “Messiah,” re-reading the affected portion of the sentence to say “this mystery among the Gentiles, which is the Messiah in you, the hope of glory.”  Paul places the Messiah in the midst of the Gentiles, referring to Him as their hope, and ultimately to their confession of Him as Lord of all as the foundation of their ability to participate in part of the Creator God’s purposes for His covenant people, which is to reflect His glory into the world.  With the ministry of Jesus as a guide, this reflection of glory has substantially revealed itself as acts of self-sacrificial love. 

Beginning with the call of Abraham, this representation of the Creator God in and for the world had been the task assigned exclusively to Israel, with the attached and concordant blessings that would flow to them for successfully carrying out this endeavor.  That which indicated one’s status as a member of Israel were the covenant markers to which have been referred ad nauseum.  With the coming of the Christ, and with the dawning of the new age of the new creation portended by His Resurrection, with an ongoing sense of “already but not yet,” this task is now assigned to the church of the Christ that is composed of all peoples. 

Building to a crescendo in this portion of his letter, Paul adds “We proclaim Him,” that being His Lordship contra-Caesar and all of the world’s pretenders to power, “by instructing and teaching with all wisdom,” though it may seem like the height of foolishness to proclaim the imperial reign of one crucified by Caesar, with such foolishness amplified by the subsequent and attached message of that person’s resurrection from the dead, “so that we may present every person mature in Christ” (1:28).  One does well to hear “every person” as yet another extension of the inclusive and world-embracing “all” which has colored the first quarter of the letter.

Moving along to the second chapter, Paul’s inclusive language expands, and we join together with the gathered church at Colossae and hear “For in Him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form” (2:9).  This “Him,” of course, is the previously referenced “Messiah in you, the hope of glory.”  Not only is there an “all” in the filling that has resulted in “all the fullness of deity” dwelling in Him in bodily form (a basic messianic premise), which should be heard according to the melody that has been supplied to “all” in what has been heard prior to this, but Paul emphasizes the totality of that filling, extending it to the church, composed of Jews and Gentiles, looking at them as the manifestation of Jesus in the world and writing “and you have been filled in Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority” (2:10). 

As can be seen and heard, Paul not only provides assurance to Gentiles while also exhorting the church in general, but he also seizes upon the opportunity to assert Jesus Lordship and His kingdom as superior to all other kings and kingdoms.  Thusly he reminds all believers, both then and for all time, as to where their patriotic loyalties should primarily lie, while also reminding them that their loyalty to Jesus, to His kingdom, and to the call and demands of that kingdom, will infiltrate all aspects of their lives.    

Absalom (part 12)

This exile that David was experiencing had several of the marks of the curses promised in Deuteronomy.  The author reports: “As David was going up the Mount of Olives, he was weeping as he went; his head was covered and his feet were bare.  All the people who were with him also had their heads covered and were weeping as they went up” (2 Samuel 15:30).  Does this not sound like the way that slaves would be carried off by a conquering foe?  Is it possible to find this paralleled in Deuteronomy?  There one reads of “hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty” (28:48a). 

David, with all of his riches, was fleeing Jerusalem with nothing.  In fact, this is evidenced by the fact that shortly thereafter, “Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth… had a couple of donkeys that were saddled, and on them were two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred raisin cakes, a hundred baskets of summer fruit, and a container of wine” (16:1b), so as to provide for the king and his people during their journey into exile for lack of faithfulness to their covenant responsibilities. 

In the midst of the travel of his travail, David, having begun to recognize where his faults had been and what it was that had brought him to this horrible predicament, begins to strategize.  He has already sent the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem for good reason, and implores the Creator God to turn the advice of one of his chief advisers, Ahithophel, who was now supporting and advising Absalom, into foolishness.  In addition, he employed the priests, Zadok and Abiathar, to serve as his spies within Jerusalem. 

As David begins to remember the God of Israel and His faithfulness, he also begins to be fully cognizant of the exilic nature of what is happening to him, and vice versa.  No doubt this experience is going to serve him well, if in fact his God does restore him to the throne, which at this point was certainly not a foregone conclusion.  Remember, even if David is removed from the throne, the promise is that the God of Israel would make a dynasty of his house, which he could very well do through Absalom, who, at this point, has carried out a successful rebellion and insurrection without shedding any blood. 

In considering that, it is worth once again making note of the strategy which might very well have been being employed by Absalom.  Absalom has, quite possibly, positioned himself as a new Moses that is leading a new exodus for Israel, with a delivery from a new Pharaoh, that being David, who had become an oppressor in Israel.  Remember, Israel began to suffer oppression in Egypt when a Pharaoh came to power that did not know Joseph. 

Naturally, it was not so much that said Pharaoh did not know Joseph,  but more that he had forgotten what had been wrought on behalf of Egypt, with Egypt gaining an empire through the power and deliverance of the God of Joseph and Israel.  In making his case, Absalom could certainly point to David’s less than just actions and point out that David had forgotten the faithful, powerful, delivering, kingdom giving God of Israel---the very God that had delivered David from Saul and from his own earlier time of exile and oppression.          

Furthermore, as one examines the potential of Absalom positioning himself as a new Moses and leading a new exodus, it should be remembered that Israel’s Egyptian exodus was carried out with no bloodshed.  Moses had attempted such and failed, earning only a personal exile which eventually resulted in his calling by the covenant God.  Israel did not rise up en masse to overthrow and defeat Egypt by means of violence.  They did not have to resort to war.  Rather, their God worked for them.  The Creator God brought Egypt low through plagues and the eventual death of the firstborn.  

Foolish, Weak, Low, Despised, Nothing (part 1 of 2)

But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong.  God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, so that no one can boast in His presence. – 1 Corinthians 1:27-29  (NET)

As an attempt is made to come to a proper understanding of what the Apostle Paul is here attempting to communicate, we need to keep in mind what it is that he has been setting forth to this point of his letter to the congregation at Corinth.  Paul has been writing about the cross, which, in and of itself, would be taken to be odd, as crucifixion (due to the profound shame associated with it, which was of paramount concern in an honor and shame culture) was most assuredly something that generally went unmentioned in polite society. 

Paul, in a nod to cultural sensibilities of the day, has called the message of the cross “foolishness to those who are perishing” (1:18).  Indeed, if one wanted to rally a movement, it would be foolish in the utmost to make consistent reference to the fact that your leader was crucified.  Paul however, clearly unconcerned about so much foolishness, and in making reference to this same cross, reports on God’s plan to “destroy the wisdom of the wise” and “thwart the cleverness of the intelligent” (1:19).  He has reminded his readers that while the “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks ask for wisdom” (1:22), he preaches “about a crucified Christ” (1:23).  As we should be well aware, a “crucified Christ” was an absolute oxymoron.  There could be no such thing.  In his day, crucifixion, especially for a Jew, meant precisely the opposite of “anointed one” (Messiah/Christ).  For all, Gentiles included, crucifixion implied failure.  Thus, the implication of that, echoing the “foolishness” mentioned before, is that the cross is not a miraculous sign for the Jew, nor the sign or indication of wisdom to the Greeks. 

For the Jew, as it is worth reiterating ad nauseum, in light of the fact that it would be Jews that first came to believe in Jesus as the Christ, and who also would seemingly violate their strict monolatry/monotheism to worship the crucified One, it was quite contrary to the miraculous, as the cross was a sign merely that a person had failed in their messianic quest, getting him and (most likely) his followers crucified.  The Gentiles (the Greeks) would have looked at all of these attempted overthrows and revolutions, in the face of Roman power in expectation of their God acting on their behalf, as foolishness.  The dominant Greek philosophies of stoicism and Epicureanism would have spurred a general questioning of the need for all the hope and all the bother.  

In general, stoicism postulated a God that was far away and apathetic to the plight of humanity.  Broadly speaking, the epicureans said that the purpose of life is to pursue pleasure.  Clearly, their constant expectation of God’s action in Messiah and its underlying revolutionary fervor that took thousands of the Jews to their death, fit neither one of those models.  It is for these reasons, at the very least, that the message of the cross, of the crucified Christ, was “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1:23b). 

In the face of all of this, Paul continues on to write that “to those who are called” (1:24a), Christ is both “the power of God” (1:24b), thus fulfilling the Jewish requirement for a miraculous sign, and “the wisdom of God” (1:24c), thus fulfilling the Greek need for wisdom.  To this, Paul adds, “Think about the circumstances of your call, brothers and sisters.  Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position” (1:26).  We must notice that Paul writes “not many,” which would imply that some members of the congregation that he was addressing were wise and powerful and privileged (or perhaps desired positions of power and privilege), while also making mention of the fact that this is added shortly after Paul’s mention of “those who are called.”  In this, we are able to see that to them, because the Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, it did not matter that none but a few of the called were wise or powerful or born to positions of privilege.  

Demonstration Of The Spirit & Of Power

My conversation and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on the power of God. – 1 Corinthians 2:4-5  (NET)

When the Apostle Paul writes these words, is he denouncing or decrying the diligent pursuit of wisdom and knowledge through intensive study?  Is he indicating that his preaching itself is somehow a demonstration of the Spirit and of power?  Is he claiming that the preaching itself, rather than being based on investigation and research and a searching out of truth through all available means, is based exclusively on a delivery of knowledge by the Holy Spirit?  Contrary to how this passage is often widely understood, the answer to the questions just posed is “absolutely not!”  Unfortunately, there is sometimes a tendency to over-spiritualize things, which usually occurs through a willful lifting of words from their context, thereby creating a paucity of meaning.  It is up to those in a position to do so, to set about in correction of the error.   

The context for the text is to be found in the first chapter of this letter to the church at Corinth.  In the eighteenth verse Paul writes, “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1:18).  That actually lines up quite nicely with the last part of the fifth verse of the second chapter, where we see Paul sharing about “the power of God.”  In 1:18, Paul says that the message of the cross is the power of God for those who are being saved.  This idea echoes well with Romans 1:16, in which we find that the “Gospel…is God’s power for salvation.”  The message of the Gospel, that Jesus, the crucified and resurrected Messiah, is Lord of all, naturally carries with it the message of the cross, thus making it possible for these verses to be linked.

Returning to the first chapter of the Corinthian letter, we find that “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks ask for wisdom” (1:22).  Paul’s response to that is to say “but we preach about a crucified Christ” (1:23a), which of course includes the message of the cross---part of the Christ-event, all of which is intended to speak to the power of the Creator God.  Paul adds that this preaching about the cross is “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1:23b).  Going further, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, Paul says the “Christ,” that being Jesus, the man that was ignominiously crucified and put to a horrible, cursed death on a Roman cross, “is the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1:24), as well as the One “Who became for us wisdom from God” (1:30b).  Without getting into what precisely is meant or implied by the use of “wisdom” here, we see that throughout this section of the first chapter, Paul sets up the clear contrast between God’s wisdom and human wisdom.  In God’s wisdom, as Paul has come to understand it, Jesus went to the cross.  This defied all human wisdom (as Paul has also apparently come to understand it), as in the eyes and hearts and minds of most observers, and on the surface, nothing good or positive could come from such a thing. 

Having prepared his readers, Paul goes on to say, “I did not come with superior eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed the testimony of God” (2:1b).  Because of what the cross represented (cursing, shame, and the end of a movement in the case of the now failed revolutionary leader), there was no human wisdom in what he preached, which we saw in the first chapter.  However, Paul insists that the testimony of God that he brought was “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (2:2b).  Indeed, to this he shortly adds that his conversation and his preaching “were not with persuasive words of wisdom,” which is obviously the case, as he has already declared that the message of the cross, of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, which Paul said was the only thing with which he was going to concern himself (2:2a), was foolishness.  He agreed that it was the antithesis of human wisdom, and he well understood this, so Paul has created the very construct of comprehension in which his preaching the message of the cross could not have been conducted in persuasive words of human wisdom.

His preaching of the cross was the “demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”  As was said earlier, it was not the act of preaching that was the demonstration.  Paul was not necessarily declaring himself to be “under the anointing” of the Spirit and in the power of God, at least in the way that many in our own time hear and define such a thing, with this then being subsequently demonstrated in his preaching.  Far from it.  In fact, Paul would say that any proclamation of Jesus as Lord (the Gospel) was made under the Spirit’s power.  It was the facts that he preached, that of the cross, the death, and the subsequent Resurrection of Christ from the grave, that was what he understood to be God’s demonstration of the Spirit and of power.  His message, which spoke of the work of the Spirit and God’s power over death, was not going to be understood in the normal way, as the crowning of the world’s King, most definitely, had not taken place in the normal or expected way. 

Yes, Paul determined to preach Jesus, and to preach Him crucified, so as to be able to preach Him raised up from the dead, in an impressive display of the power of God.  That is most certainly the non-human-wisdom message that Paul preached.   It was that message---the content rather than the manner of preaching---the bringing and hearing of which Paul believes to be the source of faith (Romans 10:17), that would enable the one that comes to be a believer, by the same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead, to bypass the inherent and underlying foolishness of the message (and the method), so as to be brought to the place of belief in the content of the message, and to an understanding of the salvific power of God.