Where is the Wise Man?

Graeco-Roman Education as a Background to the Divisions in 1 Corinthians 1-4

Adam G. White

• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9780567681645
• eBook ISBN:
  9780567664174
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Études bibliques

The divisions in the Corinthian church are catalogued by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:12: "Each of you says, 'I follow Paul,' or 'I follow Apollos,' or 'I follow Cephas,' or 'I follow Christ.'" White shows how these splits are found in the milieu of 1st-century Graeco-Roman education. By consulting relevant literary and epigraphic evidence, White develops a picture of ancient education throughout the Empire generally, and in Roman Corinth specifically. This serves as a backdrop to the situation in the Christian community, wherein some of the elite, educated members preferred Apollos to Paul as a teacher since Apollos more closely resembled other teachers of higher studies.

White takes a new and different direction to other studies in the field, arguing that it is against the values inculcated through "higher education" in general that the teachers are being compared. By starting with this broader category, one that much better reflects the very eclectic nature of Graeco-Roman education, a sustained reading of 1 Corinthians 1–4 is made possible.

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

In 1 Corinthians 1–4, Paul deals with divisions (σχίσματα, 1.10) in the Christian community at Corinth that have arisen from preferences over favourite teachers.1 There divisions are described in Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 1.12: ‘Each of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ”.’ It is the argument of this book that the divisions are only between two factions: the followers of Paul and the followers of Apollos.2 More specifically, it will be argued that a number of problematic opinions arose amongst the members of the Apollos faction that have led them to favour their teacher over Paul.3 These include: misconceptions over the wisdom (σοϕία) and content of the Christian message (1.18–25); confusion over the particular status of the ‘chosen ones’ (1.26–31); false expectations over the rhetorical style of the Christian teacher, and, within that, disdain at Paul’s refusal to employ contemporary oratorical methods (i.e. ‘wise speech’, σοϕία λó

ου) in his own preaching (2.1–5); and, finally, a false understanding of what determined the quality and character of the ‘mature ones’ (τέλειοι/πνευματικοί) in Christ (2.6–16).

The sheer complexity of these issues has given rise to a variety of scholarly interpretations over the years, all seeking to locate the problems in a particular social or theological context. But in an article provocatively subtitled ‘Did Paul Seek to Transform Graeco-Roman Society?’ Peter Marshall sets out the following challenge:

I am concerned that, in our efforts to place Paul in his world, we are resorting too easily to parallelism without showing the contrast. Better results may be forthcoming if we could first show the extent to which technical ideals from the various philosophical schools had become commonplaces of popular morality or were in circulation among the educated Greeks, Romans and Jews through schooling and conversation. We must look for Paul’s own contribution, to define the differences between him and his contemporaries, in both degree and kind, and explain his reasons.4

My argument will, in part, attempt to take up this challenge. It will be argued in this book that in 1 Corinthians 1–45 Paul is being measured according to the standards of popular orators and philosophers and that the divisions occurred because Paul differed in so many ways from some of the Corinthians’ expectations. In other words, at the heart of the problem in Corinth is a partisan evaluation of Paul by the educated, elite leader(s) of the Apollos group, who have evaluated Paul against the values found in Graeco-Roman παιδεία.6 In response to these misconceptions, Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3–4, employs a series of six metaphors in order to explicate exactly what his role should look like; that is, a mother (3.1–4), a farmer (3.5–9), a wise master builder (3.10–15), a household steward (

κονόμος, 4.1–5) and, finally, a father brandishing a rod (4.14–17).

1.1 Literature Review

1 Corinthians 1–4 has been the subject of extensive discussion amongst Corinthian scholars and a full treatment of the volume of literature would create a book in itself.7 Moreover, the extent of this discussion has led to numerous suggestions as to the particular social backdrop that was informing the problems.8 For the sake of brevity, however, I will limit the present literary discussion to that which pertains to ancient education, as it is here that the focus of the investigation lies.

In 1952, Johannes Munck, in his book The Church without Factions, challenged the long-standing thesis of Baur (i.e. that behind the various parties mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1.12 was a conflict between a Pauline ‘Gentile’ and a Petrine ‘Jewish’ Christianity) by demonstrating that it was not a Judaizing group behind the problem. He proposed instead that in 1 Corinthians 1–4, Paul was not arguing against false doctrine, but rather ‘the Corinthians regarded the Christian message as wisdom like that of the Greeks, the Christian leaders as teachers of wisdom, themselves as wise, and all this something to boast about’.9 His thesis was an early statement of the view that behind the situation in 1 Corinthians 1–4 were Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman values,10 and ever since this influential study scholars generally agree that the divisions at Corinth are best explained in the social and cultural milieu of Roman Corinth.11

Munck’s work was groundbreaking, but it was the extensive research of E. A. Judge that laid the foundations for subsequent scholarship on the issue. Between 1960 and 1961, Judge produced a two-part article titled ‘The Early Christians as a Scholastic Community’. Here he suggested that the activities of the Christian groups could be classified in three ways: first, their cultic activities; second, their function as agencies of welfare; and third, their activities as a scholastic community.12 At the heart of Judge’s thesis was the suggestion that the New Testament churches ‘were founded and to some extent carried on under the auspices of visiting professional preachers, which makes them parallel in some respects to the philosophical movements of the day’.13 This led him to posit the quite provocative suggestion that the class to which Paul belonged was the sophists.14 This work was continued a few years later in a 1966 article titled ‘The Conflict of Educational Aims in the New Testament’. In this article Judge suggested that the early church presented a new way of life that supervened the existing educational systems (Greek and Jewish), but in defining this new way ‘analogies and technical terms drawn from education are quite commonly used. Many of the officials mentioned in connection with the churches exercise what we might call educational roles.’15 He argued, ‘What we are observing is a matter of adult education, or indeed, as the apostles might have put it, a kind of higher education “in Christ,” which is the complete development of man.’16 Judge suggested that the apostles were not concerned with an educational system as such; rather, they were dedicated to ‘the preparation of man for his proper end’. This ‘new man in Christ’ was characterized by three consistent features: the notion of the spiritual man (one who possessed the Spirit of God); of the complete or adult man (growth towards a full personal development ‘in Christ’); and of the loving man (since man is to grow to completeness in Christ, the manifestation of love will be the necessary sign of growth).17 This work was further developed in a 1983 paper titled ‘The Reaction against Classical Education in the New Testament’. Here Judge focused on the conflict between Paul and those who espoused the reigning values of higher education. He argued that Paul deliberately refrained from the formal techniques of persuasion

because he rejected the moral position one must adopt to employ them, and that he was driven into a confrontation with those in the churches who did use them by the fact that his own followers were disturbed by his irregularity. They would have liked him to have done it properly too.18

He states further that Paul was asserting a new source and method of knowing about the ultimate realities of the world, and about how one should live in it...

Table of contents

• Library of New Testament Studies
• Dedication
• Title
• Contents 
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Part I The History of ΠΑΙΔΕÍΑ
• Chapter 2 ΠΑΙΔΕÍΑ and Enculturation
• Chapter 3 ΠΑΙΔΕÍΑ and Educational Theory: Classical Theorists
• Chapter 4 Educational Theory in the Early Empire
• Part II Paul’s Defence of his Style (1 Corinthians 1–2)
• Chapter 5 Christ and the Wise Man
• Chapter 6 Paul and the Orators
• Chapter 7 God’s Wisdom and True Maturity
• Part III Paul’s Role as an Apostle and Teacher (1 Corinthians 3–4)
• Chapter 8 The Corinthians’ Immaturity
• Chapter 9 Paul’s Role as a Teacher
• Chapter 10 Paul and the Intellectual Clients
• Chapter 11 Paul the Father
• Chapter 12 Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index of Ancient References
• Index of Modern Authors
• Copyright