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§5 Before and After God’s Call (1 Cor. 1:26–31)

The verses of this paragraph are packed with theological substance and significance. Paul directs the Corinthians to remember and reflect upon themselves both when they were called (at or before the time of their call) and in or after their calling. Before God chose them most of the Corinthians were nobodies. After being called by God, however, the Corinthians are instruments of God’s own power with Christ Jesus as the source of their lives. To make this argument Paul engages in a careful, deliberate play on the LXX version of Jeremiah 9:23–24. His citation of Scripture is clear in verse 31, where he quotes Jeremiah 9:24 LXX; but already in verses 26–27 mentions of the wise, the influential, and the strong echo the language of Jeremiah. Paul creates this contrast scheme to humble the Corinthians in order to check their boasting and heighten their appreciation for the saving work of God in Jesus Christ. Paul tells the Corinthians that in light of what God has done in Jesus Christ the only legitimate boasting that Christians can do is to boast about what God has done.

1:26 / Paul begins this section of the letter with the word “for” (untranslated in the NIV), because he is explaining what he had said in verses 18–25 through personal illustration and application to the Corinthians. His remarks to the Corinthians are clear and straightforward: “brothers and sisters” (in the NIV, brothers; see the discussion of this form of salutation in the commentary on 1:10–17). Paul tells the Corinthians to think about their calling—this admonition may be either a command (imperative) or an observation (indicative), since the same form of the word serves both purposes in Greek; yet the tone seems directive. The remark continues the theme of calling that Paul registered at 1:1, 2, 9, 24. His concern at this point, however, is specifically related to who the Corinthians were at the time of their calling. Paul wants the Corinthians to recognize that God did not choose them according to the standards of the world (“according to the flesh”; Gk. kata sarka; NIV = by human standards). Thus, God’s way of relating to the Corinthians actually judges their standards, revealing their inadequacy and the inappropriateness of the way some of them have been evaluating others (including Paul). Paul explicitly denies that many of the Corinthians were wise, … influential, … of noble birth. The language at this point reflects Jeremiah 9:23 LXX with some changes:

Paul: “wise ones” (sophoi)

Jeremiah: “wise one” (sophos)

Paul: “influential ones” (dynatoi)

Jeremiah: “mighty one” (ischyros)

Paul: “well-born” (eugeneis; NIV has “of noble birth”)

Jeremiah: “wealthy one” (plousios)

In the first case, the difference between Paul and Jeremiah is simply that Paul has used a plural rather than a singular. In the second case, the difference is the slight one between influence as social strength and might as raw physical power. In the third case, the difference is between heritage and accumulated assets. Jeremiah’s remark was inclusive and meant to name those who would be self-satisfied with their physical goods. Paul’s reference to being well-born could relate to wealth, but the connection is not necessary.

The language may reflect the Corinthians’ own boasts. Indeed, in the verses that follow, Paul’s remarks will locate his rhetorical audience—although the identities of those to whom Paul speaks are not to be pressed excessively. Verse 26 has been simplistically interpreted in a literal fashion in the past: commentators have suggested that the members of the early church were from the low, even lowest, classes of society. But the text merely recognizes that only some of the Corinthian Christians were from the upper classes of social order. The church was likely made up predominantly of middle-class craftspersons and merchants, and persons who were well-to-do, as well as slaves, some of whom could have been people of means and education (cf. 7:21–24). The most remarkable sociological feature of the early church was that it was genuinely transsocial, including members from all classes of society. But Paul is not here primarily concerned with sociology; rather, his point is theological—God is no respecter of persons! God freely chooses whomever God pleases at will, and not in a manner beholden to human standards. God’s grace does not necessarily correlate to social order or human patterns of evaluation.

1:27–28 / Paul extends the basic rhetoric of verse 26 in these two verses, and the lines reflect the language of Jeremiah even more closely than before. The initial word “but” calls attention to the juxtaposition of these lines to the preceding remarks and prepares for the ensuing contrast scheme in these verses. Again, Paul offers three sets of comparisons:

IN OPPOSITION TO:	GOD CHOSE:
the wise	the foolish things of the world
the strong	the weak things of the world
the things that are	the lowly things of [the] world, the despised things—and the things that are not.

God’s choices defy and demolish the logic, power, and recognized standards of the world. God’s freedom and sovereignty are demonstrated in God’s inexplicable actions that reveal God’s grace.

Paul’s rhetoric explicitly states the purposes of God’s seemingly odd choices. First, God’s actions shame the wise and the strong. In both the LXX and the NT the word for shame (Gk. kataischynō) means “to be disgraced,” particularly as a result of divine judgment. Thus, the verb implicitly registers eschatological divine action. Second, Paul says God chose the lowly, the despised, and the things that are not in order to nullify the things that are. In other words, God chose nobodies or low-bodies to undo the somebodies of this world. To nullify (Gk. katargeō) indicates divine eschatological elimination, as one sees from the consistent use of this verb in Romans and 1 and 2 Corinthians. Paul uses this rhetorical flourish to confront the Corinthians with the fact that God’s calling of them, like God’s saving action through the cross of Christ, defies the world’s standards and even judges those standards to be inadequate and inaccurate. In doing this God reveals a graciousness and authority that is independent of the world’s norms and judgments.

1:29 / Paul continues to explain the purpose of God’s choices by completing the sentence that began with verse 26. This final clause states what God’s ultimate purpose is in making choices that themselves have the aims of shaming and nullifying those who are recognized by the world. Paul says God disgraced and disqualified those who are honored in the world so that no human could boast before God. The cross of Christ and the calling of the most lowly Corinthians occurred so as to eliminate the possibility that humans would feel self-satisfied and would arrogantly elevate themselves before God. Paul makes frequent use of the verb to boast (in the NT outside the thirteen Pauline letters only James employs this verb [twice]). For Paul “to boast” is to do far more than merely to brag or to self-promote. For a human “to boast” is for the person to glorify the self in a way that either refuses to recognize God or presumes that God is bound to recognize the human’s status. Paul can use this verb positively with the connotation that humans recognize the glory of God’s actions and “boast” of what God has done (see Rom. 2:17; 5:2, 11; 1 Cor. 1:29, 31; 2 Cor. 10:17; Phil. 3:3). In the present verse Paul has human self-satisfied and self-praising boasting in mind.

1:30 / Here, Paul again addresses the Corinthians directly. This new sentence informs them of what they should already know, but apparently have forgotten—that it is by God’s own work that they have been established in Christ Jesus. The Corinthians have whatever life they now live only as a result of God’s work in and through Christ, not by means of their own efforts. Thus, by God’s own actions Christ Jesus has become wisdom—unlike that of the world—to and for the Corinthians. Jesus Christ informs the Corinthians of who God is and how God relates to humanity. Paul explains Christ as wisdom from God in an explanatory phrase (the NIV casts his argument well), that is, [Christ Jesus is] our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Thus, Paul’s focus is on God’s saving work in Christ; he is not elaborating abstract christology here. As God unsettles the world’s wisdom in Christ and eliminates the possibility of humans laying claims on God’s grace, God demonstrates a peculiar power that sets people (by God’s choice) right with God (righteousness), sets people apart for God’s purposes and service (holiness—as in sanctification, not a status but an identity in terms of devotion to God’s intentions), and delivers people from estrangement from God for devotion to and a relationship with God. The description of salvation that Paul offers here is not strictly sequential; rather, he refers to facets of the gem of grace. At most, Paul’s observations may mean that humans are redeemed as God’s work in Christ Jesus sets them right and sets them apart.

1:31 / Paul returns to the theme of boasting, although now he has a positive image in mind. He explains the reasonable results of God’s justifying, sanctifying, and redeeming work. His point is self-evident: God is the source of legitimate Christian glory. Paul modifies a quotation from Jeremiah so that it fits the Corinthian situation more precisely. Jeremiah says, “Let the one who boasts boast about this”—this line introduces the legitimate reasons for boasting (“ ‘that [the person] understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord”). Paul does not give the full quotation, rather he replaces “about this” with in the Lord and thus truncates the statement so that it defines for the Corinthians appropriate boasting. In Paul’s declaration, the Lord is Christ Jesus who has been identified in the saving activity that Paul delineated in verse 30. Recognition of the lordship of Christ Jesus is the key to correcting the situation in Corinth.