Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Sin, 1 Corinthians 1-2

1 Corinthians comes next, written from Ephesus to Corinth on Paul's "third missionary journey."

Paul calls them "sanctified" (1:2) and implies that God can keep them "guiltless" (anenkletos) until the end (1:8). Given the profile of the Corinthians elsewhere, this cannot involve complete moral perfection. This is something to keep in mind as we move through the letter.

Of note is that God's choice of the weak shows His strength. We have no basis on which to boast before God (1:29). We are to boast in the Lord (1:31). Christ is our "wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1:30). What Paul means is that the cross defines true wisdom over and against the wisdom of the "Greeks." Christ provides the only effective path to justification or righteousness. Christ is the one who can put us in the state of belonging to God. And Christ is the one who has redeemed us from our sins.

1 Corinthians 1 thus plays into a positional sense of holiness and righteousness, although as we have seen and will see, it does not contradict a requirement for true righteousness for believers as well.

1 comment:

Angie Van De Merwe said...

I am afraid that I have been a "fool", as I learn more (accademically and experientially)...therefore I would rather be a Greek than a "Fool"!!! People respect the Greeks!!!!(just being a "Human" doesn't qualify!) And the philosopher kings were the ones in "leadership" in Plato's "Republic"...(not that I have sought "leadership")...but Christ...
The Greeks understand that the paradox of "truth", is all about "meaning" and "bias" (where one throws in his "cup")...The West has understood "logic" to be "the defined and absolute truth"...as based on historical science...since, the Scriptures were not written by historical scientists, we cannot take their "meaning" as literal...all religions are based on "meaning making"...so as Origon would say "What law"?