1 Corinthians

Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible

Charles Campbell

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9780664232535
• eBook ISBN:
  9781611648430
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

This latest commentary in the Belief series looks at Paul's theological wrestling with the divisions facing the early church in Corinth. These divisions arose for many reasons, among them the practices of the community: baptism,the Lord's Supper, preaching, and the exercise of spiritual gifts. 

The contemporary church in North America is likewise dealing with divisions of various sorts. Who can preach? Who can celebrate Communion? Who can marry whom? With this commentary Charles L. Campbell helps preachers understand how to better respond to those questions in their own settings.

Introduction
Why 1 Corinthians? Why Now?

Creative theological thinking, Mary McClintock Fulkerson has noted, “originates at the scene of a wound.”¹ Moreover, this theological thinking is not brought in after the wound is described, as if theology had a full-blown doctrine of God or church that is neatly applied to the wound. There is not a linear movement from theology to wound but rather a dynamic relationship between theological reflection and the wound that needs to be addressed. Theology interprets the wound and may even help one perceive the wound. But the wound also informs and shapes the theological reflection. “Theologies that matter,” Fulkerson writes, “emerge out of dilemmas—out of situations that matter. … Wounds generate new thinking”; they generate an impulse toward creativity and change.²

Paul’s creative theological thinking in 1 Corinthians has this character; it “originates at the scene of a wound.” The entire letter represents Paul’s theological wrestling with the deep wound of division in the Corinthian church. This wound is not simply an intellectual dilemma or a contested idea, though differing ideologies appear to be part of the problem. Rather, the wound takes shape in the embodied practices of the community, whether it be the practices of baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and preaching; the acts of taking others to court and eating meat at elite banquets; or the exercise of different spiritual gifts.

The character of the divisions in Corinth has been dissected by countless scholars. Because we know about these divisions only through Paul’s response to them, any conclusions we might draw are limited. Whatever the specifics may be, however, we can discern through the letter some general outlines. First, there were social and economic divisions, creating a hierarchy of “high” and “low,” “weak” and “strong” in the church. Consequently, there were tensions between the elites and those of lesser status. Indeed, this social hierarchy appears to be a central issue in the community that contributes to other divisions.³ Second, related to the hierarchical divisions, there were philosophical differences in the community. More than likely, these divisions revolved around popular philosophical trends that were “in the air” rather than more formal, developed philosophical systems (e.g., Gnosticism).⁴ The elites in the community were probably more knowledgeable of these philosophical trends and more responsive to them, which led to convictions about human bodies and spiritual knowledge that were not shared by others in the community.⁵ Third, ironically, these divisions often emerged around different spiritual gifts, as Paul notes at the beginning of the letter and addresses repeatedly. Both cultural assumptions about social hierarchy and philosophical assumptions about spiritual knowledge shaped some members’ approach to spiritual gifts, leading to hierarchy and division in that area as well. Finally, add to all these divisions the community’s conflict with Paul himself, who not only preaches the “weak” and “foolish” cross, but does so in an unimpressive rhetorical manner. The wound in Corinth is deep.

Contemporary churches in North America are currently dealing with some analogous wounds. Christian communities find themselves in a time of transition and division. And some of the divisions are not unlike those in Corinth. Tensions continue in many churches around the ordination of women. As a professor of preaching, I talk to women seminarians every year who are called to preach but not allowed into pulpits in their denomination—a prohibition often grounded in interpretations of 1 Corinthians itself. Similarly, matters of sexuality continue to divide churches, again sometimes shaped by readings of Paul’s letters, including his epistle to Corinth. How may LGBTQ+ persons participate in church leadership? Who can preach and celebrate the Lord’s Supper? Who can marry whom? Denominations and churches have split over precisely these questions, and resolution and reconciliation seem to be a long way off in many contexts.

Moreover, adding to these divisions, and sometimes shaping the response to them, contemporary churches are in a time of profound transition, which often feels like a wound. Many churches are experiencing a significant decline in both membership and influence. Demographic changes have created a new context for churches, one that is far more ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse. Contemporary churches may in fact now be able to relate better to that miniscule church in Corinth seeking to live out its life in a wildly diverse and cosmopolitan city. In this context, the comfortable old ecclesial patterns and assumptions are dying, while it is not clear what the shape of the new will be. The church finds itself in-between, in an unsettled, liminal space. As a result, anxiety, and even fear, ooze from the church’s wound. And often, as in Corinth, this conflict and anxiety comes to full expression in worship—the heart of the church’s life. Music. Worship leadership. Wedding services. All these have become the occasion for “worship wars” in an unsettled church.

Paul thus invites not only the Corinthians but also the contemporary church to engage in creative, transformative theology at the scene of a wound. Unfortunately, all too often interpreters have focused on Paul’s specific directives (e.g., about women or marriage), isolating them from Paul’s theology and writing them in stone. When one looks beneath the specific “presenting issues” in Corinth, however, one discovers in Paul’s letter not only theological affirmations but also a theological orientation that can be generative for the contemporary church. In response to this wound, Paul’s theology has a distinctive and instructive character; it is practical, apocalyptic, hermeneutical, and fragmentary.

Practical Theology

Theology at the site of a wound is necessarily practical theology. It is theological reflection on a particular situation. Such theology, first of all, attends to the shape and demand of the situation; the structure of the wound is “as much a part of the analysis as the presence of biblical and doctrinal elements.”⁶ Second, in addressing the wound, practical theology seeks to change the situation. It is not theology for the sake of theology; it is not a purely abstract intellectual exercise. Rather, it is theological reflection “shaped by a logic of transformation.”⁷

Paul’s practical theology in 1 Corinthians has both these characteristics. Throughout the letter Paul addresses the wound at the heart of the community, which is enacted in specific, divisive practices. The issues emerging from the scene of the wound have come to Paul in written or oral form as questions or requests. In response, Paul does not write neat, systematic theology. Rather, he engages in the messy work of practical, even pastoral, theology. His theology is in the service of the being-saved church (1:18; 15:2), not the academy or the theological guild. He speaks in medias res, as all busy pastors do. And he seeks redemptive change; he writes theology in service of the common good (e.g., 12:7); he seeks to build up the community of faith (e.g., chapters 3, 14). In so doing, he consistently seeks to discern the dynamic relationship between theology and wound.

Throughout the letter, Paul engages in the kind of practical theology described by theologian Serene Jones. The apostle is not specifically focused on one of the practical disciplines, such as pastoral care or homiletics. Rather, he approaches theology itself as a practical discipline. As Jones writes,

It has always seemed to me that any responsible Christian theologian should be, in fact, a practical theologian because—isn’t it obvious—the faith we teach is through and through a practical faith. It lives only insofar as it lives in the tissue of our everyday comings and goings, in our practices, and in our material, communal lives in all their complex, messy, graced fullness.⁸

Like Jones, and like contemporary pastors, Paul does his theology in a messy “in-between” space—in the dynamic, unsettled space where theological vision and Christian practice inform and interpret each other. As one of the Presbyterian Church’s Historic Principles of Church Order puts it, “truth is in order to goodness; and the great touchstone of truth, its tendency to produce holiness.”⁹ This principle echoes the character of Paul’s theology in 1 Corinthians. He is not interested in “truth for truth’s sake.” Rather, he wrestles with the ways in which theological convictions are embodied (or not) in the practices of a Christian community as well as the ways in which the ongoing, emerging life of the being-saved church shapes those theological convictions.

Doctrinal rules only become meaningful when they are enacted in the midst of life-stories. In other words, there are no doctrines lying around waiting for me to teach them in principle, as if they could be separated from the narrative, life-filled sites of enactment. They are what they are, incarnate. … What this means is that doctrines only take on life when they settle into the stuff of faith’s ongoing, practical unfolding.

Serene Jones, “Practical Theology in Two Modes,” 200–201

In this commentary I hope to respect the practical character of Paul’s theology. The goal is not the explication of abstract doctrines or the development of a coherent theological system but rather the exploration of the messy, dynamic relationship between theological vision and ethical practice. While the specific issues facing the church change, this practical theological orientation remains critically important. Looking beneath Paul’s specific directives (e.g., on sexuality and the role of women), the church can learn from Paul’s theological wrestling and explore the creative trajectories toward which his theology points. Moreover, the church can benefit from those places where Paul’s practical theology itself contains tensions and contradictions. At the scene of a wound, Paul reminds us, theological humility is required; there is no room for boasting. For we too “see in a mirror, dimly” and “know only in part” (13:12), even as we seek faithfully to serve the living God and build up the community of faith.

Apocalyptic Theology

Paul develops his theology within an apocalyptic framework. Although it may sound odd, Paul writes practical, apocalyptic theology. When most people think of “apocalyptic,” they probably think of a literary genre—a book like the Apocalypse of John. They imagine literature with wild, spectacular imagery and trips to heaven guided by angels and visions of the future. There are misogynistic images that demean women. There is violent warfare imagery as the battle rages between the forces of God and the forces of evil. There are swords and horses and plagues and blood—slaughter everywhere. There are good reasons many Christians avoid apocalyptic.

Recently, however, scholars have moved beyond considering apocalyptic as a particular genre with distinctive literary and metaphorical characteristics. Rather, apocalyptic is understood more as a theological orientation that crosses many genres in Scripture. Apocalyptic is a form of theological imagination.¹⁰ At the heart of apocalyptic imagination is a ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Publisher’s Note
• Series Introduction by William C. Placher and Amy Plantinga Pauw
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Why 1 Corinthians? Why Now?
• Commentary
• Postscript: What Have I Learned?
• For Further Reading
• Index of Scripture
• Index of Subjects