In this column we will examine the key words used in 1 Cor 1:17-3:23, highlight how the preaching of the cross was received by the wise and foolish of the world (1 Cor 1:17-31) and consider why a quotation is made from Jeremiah 9.
Key Words
In 1 Cor 1:17-3:23, the following words have a high concentration of usage which helps identify the key themes of the text.
- ‘wise’/‘wisdom’ (1:17,19,20,21(2),24,25,26,27,30; 2:1,4,5,6(2),7,13; 3:19)
- ‘foolish’/‘foolishness’ (1:18,20,21,23,25,27; 2:14; 3:19)
- ‘world’ (1:20,21,27(2),28; 2:12; 3:19,22)
- ‘preach’/‘preaching’ (1:17,18,21,23; 2:4)
- ‘spiritually’/‘spirit’ (2:4,10,11,13,14)
The inspired apostle discusses how his preaching is received by the wise and foolish of the world (1:17-31). The Spirit goes on to detail that the wisdom Paul speaks has been revealed by the Spirit of God, and will be understood by spiritual individuals (2:1-16).
The Preaching of the Cross
At the outset of the section, Paul[1] explains that he had not been sent to baptise but to preach (1 Cor 1:18). Whilst the Jews wanted a sign, as they did with the Lord (cf. Matt 12:38-39[2]) and the Gentiles wanted worldly wisdom; God chose ‘preaching’ as the method by which he would ‘save’ (1 Cor 1:21, 22).
In 1:26-31, Paul goes on to relate this to the demography that God had called and chosen. By choosing the foolishness of preaching ‘not many’[3] wise of the world had been called. By contrast, God had called and chosen the foolish,[4] weak, base and despised things of the world to confound the wise and mighty (cf. 1:26 and Jms 2:5). The five-fold repetition in 1:27-28 highlights this:
| 1 Corinthians 1:27-28 Structure | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ‘God hath chosen’ | ‘the foolish things of the world’ | ‘to confound’ | ‘the wise’ |
| ‘God hath chosen’ | ‘the weak things of the world’ | ‘to confound’ | ‘the things which are mighty’ |
| ‘hath God chosen’ | ‘base things of the world, and things which are despised… and things which are not’ | ‘to bring to nought’ | ‘things that are’ |
The Spirit through Paul highlights that God chooses the base things of the world so ‘that no flesh should glory in his presence’ (1 Cor 1:29[5]). To illustrate this point, the Spirit ‘quotes’ from another scripture to show what we should ‘glory’ in:
That according as it is written, “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord”. 1 Cor 1:31[6]
On this occasion, the Spirit chooses to quote a short passage from Jeremiah 9:
But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord’ Jer 9:24
Before going on to see both a) the depth of connection between these two passages and b) why Jeremiah 9 is quoted in this context, it is worth noting that the inspired apostle changes the end of the quotation by summarising ‘in this, that he understandeth…’ (Jer 9:24) to ‘in the Lord’ (1 Cor 1:31). [7], [8],[9]
The apostle brings Jeremiah 9 as evidence for that in which we should glory. Jeremiah also states what men should not glory in:
Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom (cf. 1 Cor 1:26 ‘wise men’), neither let the mighty man glory in his might (cf. 1 Cor 1:26 ‘not many mighty’), let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this (cf. 1 Cor 1:31 ‘he that glorieth), that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.
Jeremiah is condemning the wise, the mighty and the rich for glorying in their wisdom, might and riches, two of the three elements picked up by the Spirit in 1 Cor 1:26[10]. When we examine the extended context of this quotation, more connections can be highlighted.
In Jeremiah 8-9, God is castigating the nation on a number of levels (the verbal connections are tabulated below):
| Jeremiah 8-9 | 1 Corinthians 1 & 2 |
|---|---|
| “we are wise…the pen of the scribes is in vain…what wisdom is in them” (8:8-9) | “the wisdom of the wise…the scribe” (1:20) |
| “are ashamed” (8:9) | “to shame the wise” (1:27 NASB, NET) |
|
“know not me” (9:3) “refuse to know me” (9:6) |
“knew not God” (1:21) |
| “who is the wise man?” (9:12) | “where is the wise” (1:20) |
| “let not the wise man glory in his wisdom” (9:23) | “wise men after the flesh” (1:26) |
| “neither let the mighty man glory in his might” (9:23) | “not many mighty” (1:26) |
| “righteousness” (9:24) | “righteousness” (1:30) |
| “let him that glorieth glory in this” (9:24) | “he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1:31) |
- God challenges the ‘wise men’, the scribes, and questions whether they actually have wisdom (Jer 8:8-9; cf. 1 Cor 1:20) and explains that the wise men will be put to ‘shame’ (Jer 8:9; cf. 1 Cor 1:27).
- Yahweh explains that the nation refuses to ‘know’ him (Jer 9:3,6; cf. 1 Cor 1:21) and queries whether there is a ‘wise man’ who can understand (Jer 9:12; cf. 1 Cor 1:20).
- Lastly, God challenges the wise, mighty and rich not to glory in their wisdom, might or riches (Jer 9:23; cf. 1 Cor 1:26), but to glory in understanding and knowing God (Jer 9:24; 1 Cor 1:31).
Jeremiah 9 is cited to sharpen our focus on that in which we should glory. Israel, and the Corinthian ecclesia, had to learn that contrary to popular opinion, the scribes did not have any true wisdom and they would be put to shame (Jer 8:8-9). They were not to glory in the wisdom of the world or the riches and might of man but rather to glory in understanding and knowing God: ‘He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord’.
Conclusions
The simple declaration of ‘Jesus Christ and him crucified’ (2:2) was the method God chose to preach in the 1st century. Likewise we should not be ashamed of the ‘foolishness of preaching’, which is the power of God unto salvation (Rom 1:16).
God does not want us to glory in the wisdom of the world, in our might or our riches, He wants us to glory in understanding and knowing Him (Jer 9:24). In our next column, we will examine how we come to know ‘the things of God’ (1 Cor 2:11-12).
[1] As illustrated in the first column in this series, when we refer to Paul, we assume that he is speaking ‘not…by the will of man’, but by the ‘wisdom given unto him’ (2 Pet 1:21; 3:15).
[2] The Lord’s response to the Pharisees in Matt 12:39 implies that the Jews in Paul’s day were equally an ‘evil and adulterous generation’.
[3] It is important to be fair to the text on this point. The text does not exclude wise, mighty and noble individuals from the calling of the gospel (cf. Dan 1:4); it simply states that they were in the minority (‘not many’ – 1:26).
[4] This is clearly describing foolishness in a ‘wisdom of the world’ sense, not spiritual foolishness (cf. Matt 25:3)!
[5] Phil 3:3 ‘rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh’ provides the correct attitude to rejoicing/glorying and the flesh (it uses the same Greek terms as ‘flesh…glory’ in 1 Cor 1:29).
[6] Also cf. 2 Cor 10:17 where Jer 9:23 is cited again by the Spirit to the Corinthians.
[7] This is an example of ‘complementary difference’ in quotation (Adey, 2011). The inspired apostle is not citing the Masoretic Text or the LXX as both the MT and the LXX (NETS and Brenton) have ‘boast in this’, rather than ‘boast in the Lord’. In this regard, the author recommends A. Gibson, “Inspiration and Quotation”, The Testimony, 53, 204-212 and J. Adey, “Complementary Difference: Why New Testament quotations often differ from their Old Testament source”, CeJBI 5/1 (2011): 10-27.
[8] Whilst ‘the Lord’ in Jeremiah is YHWH, in the context of Corinthians ‘the Lord’ is clearly being applied to the Lord Jesus Christ (1:2, 3, 7, 10; 2:8).
[9] 1 Cor 1:30 ‘in [Gk: en] the Lord’ is further informed by 1 Cor 1:30 ‘ye in [Gk: en] Christ’.
[10] The third term in 1 Cor 1:26 is ‘noble’ which is not the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew ‘rich’ in Jer 9:23 (sw. Isa 53:9 ‘rich’; cf. Matt 27:57 ‘rich’). That said, the Greek term translated ‘noble’ is used in connection with wealth in Luke 19:12-27. As a result of two verbal connections (‘wise…mighty’) between Jeremiah 9 and 1 Corinthians 1, do we have warrant to connect ‘rich’ with ‘noble’?
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One