Status Claims in the Church

From 1 Corinthians in the Everyday Bible Study series on the New Testament. The theme and subtitle explored in the always challenging 1 Corinthians is Living Together in a Church Divided. Writing these volumes has been one of my favorite writing projects, and I hope to help lay folk Bible readers, small group teachers, and pastors preparing sermons.

The questions at the end of this, and every passage in these volumes, are by Becky Castle Miller.

1 Corinthians 1:18–2:5

18       For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

         “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;

                  the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20       Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

26       Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

2:1      And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

         The word on the streets of Corinth could have been expressed with the Latin word Romanitas: the desire to look like, act like, and be given status and honor like a Roman. Corinth was filled with Rome wannabes. Achieving Rome’s status symbols gave people in Corinth honor (Winter, After Paul Left, 1-28). In our day status can be marked by driving a Porsche into the church parking lot. Or by telling a gaggle of folks that you have just returned from Italy, not just any place in Italy, but from Portofino. Or by using a foreign word, like Romanitas, that could give off a whiff of sophistication. Or by reminding someone in the office, with a touch of indirection, that you have the power to hire and fire. Or that your church has lots of deep pockets and big givers, and that they expect you, their pastor, to attend events with high society. Or that you are a member of the local posh country club. Or that your “kicks” cost $$$$. I could go on. You know the drill. We will never be totally redeemed from our desire to be noticed (or more).

         The house churches of Corinth had their own jet set, and their own poor and enslaved persons. It was a multi-status church. Erastus was the director of public works (Romans 16:23), Crispus was a synagogue leader (1 Corinthians 1:14; Acts 18:8), we know names of some heads of households (like Stephanas and Chloe; cf. 1 Corinthians 1:11, 14, 16; 11:22; 16:15), some others had sufficient funds to support Paul with connections and resources and funds (like Gaius, Titus Justus, Phoebe; 1 Corinthians 1:14; Acts 18:17; Romans 16:1-2), and we know Aquila and Priscilla were sufficiently funded to travel and work in various places, but they needed to work as artisans to provide for themselves (1 Corinthians 16:19; Romans 16:3). Not to be ignored would be the lower classes, the poor, and slaves (1 Corinthians 7:21; 12:13; 11:22; Wright-Bird, The New Testament in its World, 482). A Roman society graded humans on the basis of a person’s heritage, military accomplishments, public benevolence, and even public speaking. Privilege ruled Roman society. At the top was the emperor with citizenry split into two major permanent groups: patricians (people with heritage and wealth) and plebians (the rest of the citizens, who were patronized by the patricians). The government class of Rome and Roman societies were composed of senators (most were patricians) or equestrians (knights).

         In Corinth the pursuit of glory and status, the wisdom of this world, conflicted with a life shaped by the cross, the wisdom of God. Gordon Fee calls the conflict between the human quest for honor and the cross the “ultimate divine contradiction” (Fee, 1 Corinthians, 78). Today’s passage displays this conflict, so we will take one theme at a time. If you like to mark your Bible, you could mark in a different color which expressions indicate worldly wisdom and which God’s wisdom. By the way, our passage begins a section that extends all the way to 3:23. Living together well will require us to take a fearless look at what’s actually going on in our churches.

Wisdom of the world

         The clash of cosmic realities in Corinth occurred at both the level of ideas and practices. By practices I mean the way people behaved and related with one another. High status folks had the habit of keeping low status folks in their place, which meant keeping themselves in their place. Much could be said about this, but people of privilege maintain their privilege in many ways, not least in policies, laws, practices – intentional or not, conscious or not – that maintain privilege at the expense of excluding others from that privilege. We use the word “welfare” for what poor people are given by the government. But more government money is distributed in cash and benefits and resources to the wealthy than to the poor. “If you count all public benefits offered by the federal government, America’s welfare state (as a share of its gross domestic product) is the second biggest in the world, after France’s. But that’s true only if you include things like government-subsidized retirement benefits provided by employers, student loans and 529 college savings plans, child tax credits, and homeowner subsidies: benefits disproportionately flowing to Americans well above the poverty line. If you put aside these tax breaks and judge the United States solely by the share of its GDP allocated to programs directed at low-income citizens, than our investment in poverty reduction is much smaller than that of other rich nations. The American welfare state is lopsided” (Desmond, Poverty, By America, 91). That we use the term “welfare” only for the poor reveals that it belongs to “them” and not to “us,” but we are the beneficiaries.

Notice how Paul describes their and our sort of wisdom of the world in today’s passage, and I don’t provide references to keep from clogging up the sentences. He calls it “foolishness” and the “wisdom of the world” and “human wisdom” and “human strength” and “human standards” and “signs” and “influential” (or social power) and “noble birth” and the “wise” and the “strong” and “eloquence” and “wise and persuasive words.” Three times the NIV has “human wisdom,” which can be the summary expression for Paul.

         There are a few expressions here that open the door for us to enter and observe what was happening in the house churches. I imagine this on the basis of these terms: some people had a noble heritage, that is, they had status in the Roman system. Perhaps equestrians. Perhaps even patricians but more likely plebians with some real estate, wealthy, and social power. Their social power flowed from their “human wisdom,” which was based on “human standards,” and they had “human [social] strength” because of their “noble birth” and their “eloquence.” These were well-spoken, intelligent, socially gifted and socially known believers in the church of Corinth.

         The social positions of some of these Corinthians are found in these terms: “wise person” and “teacher of the law [of Moses]” and “philosopher of this age,” or “this Era’s disputer” (Second Testament). Those in Paul’s mind who are troubling the churches in Corinth are those with social standing and verbal skills. They are the ones standing up front, leading the room, and guiding the board. Not many of that sort were believers. But their power and authority in the Corinthian assemblies transcended their numbers. Notice Paul’s repeated words: “Not many… not many … not many of you” (1:26).  Paul inserted a few lines back a very serious warning about the Corinthian way of life. It marks those who are “perishing” not those who “are being saved” (1:18). They are marked by the behaviors that characterize “this age.” The cross sits in judgment on all this. The cross measures the wisdom of God. Over and over in today’s passage you will read that this world has been shocked by the act of God, the revelation of Jesus Christ on the cross. Every script in the Roman way gets flipped by the script of the cross. “Not many of you…” remember is how Paul puts it.

         An analogy will bring this to clarity with ease: on most church boards you will find white men who are socially skilled businessmen or corporate types, lawyers, medical experts and scientists, and those with social power in the community. At times, and in some cases more often than that, they are on boards because of their human [social] status and power not because of their spiritual maturity, theological expertise, or pastoral gifts. That’s Corinth all over again. When Corinth types sit behind closed doors making decisions for the whole church on the basis of their skill set in the corporate or law or science world, they have some chance of getting things mostly right. But often their judgments are skewed because they are insufficiently shaped by the wisdom of God.

Wisdom of God

         In contrast with Romanitas’s quest for social honor, instead of signs and wisdom, instead of power and social influence, Paul shoves forward nothing less than his most controversial vision for how followers of Jesus are to conduct themselves in Corinth. His watchword over and over and over and over: “cross of Christ” (1:17). A second century Roman leader, Pliny, called the cross-shaped vision of Christians a “nothing but a debased superstitution carried to great lengths” (Pliny, Epistles 10.96.8). The logic of the cross leads to both humility (before God and with one another) as well as unity with one another. Paul himself was a witness for this approach to living the logic of the cross, what Michael Gorman has called over and over “cruciformity” and which I like to call “Christoformity.” Paul, in one sense, bragged that he himself could be persuaded and could persuade others on the basis of what he had accomplished by human, Jewish standards (Philippians 3:5-6). Instead of that sort of persuasion, Paul chose to forfeit what he had accomplished for sake of Christ. He even considers his accomplishments as “feces” (3:7-11; Second Testament).

In our passage the ideas at work in his watchword include “message of the cross” as the “power of God,” whether it climbs up to social power or not! And the “wisdom of God” and “the foolishness of what was preached” and “Christ crucified” are three pregnant expressions for Paul. God has “called” all believers to this gospel and a life that looks like “Christ crucified.” This message is, looking at it through the lens of Romanitas, the “foolishness of God” and the “weakness of God” and, notice this, this is what the “testimony about God” sounds like. Living and preaching this gospel operates with the “Spirit’s power” and “God’s power.”

A word about preaching. Paul’s statement that he did not come to Corinth with the skills gained through education of “eloquence and human wisdom” (2:1). Some think Paul does not believe in the skills of communication, but no one can read Paul’s letters, not least Romans, and not be impressed with his abilities. Rather, what Paul’s against is the self-promotion, the pride, and the pursuit of glory that can be acquired by the one on the platform behind the pulpit (McKnight, Pastor Paul, 159-161).

Corinth in our day

         One might ask how we can do this in our churches. It’s too easy to point long fingers with snarled noses at the Corinthians and to ignore our own similar ways of life. How can we avoid Romanitas in order to communicate with clarity the gospel about Christ crucified, the message of the cross? The first thing is to get out of the way. You and I need to see ourselves as mediators and agents of God’s message about Jesus Christ instead of people who are gaining status and power and celebrity. The second thing is to find friends who can observe us and listen to us and offer the wisdom of the cross as the mirror in which we see ourselves. If we reject them, or worse, turn to retaliation, we have exposed ourselves as those addicted to Romanitas, whether we see it and confess it ourselves. If when we are told the truth we have to rip the sutures tying together our lips and then to defend ourselves, with vehemence, we need to read this passage all over again. We need more “Christ crucified” and less “influential” and “human standards” and “noble birth.”

         A counter point in ministry. Some people degrade themselves, see themselves as imposters, feel shame over their body or gender or accomplishments or lack of status (even when they have it). Some were ignored or fell into the cracks of their family: loved and ignored results often in the feeling of unworthiness. For such persons, Paul’s cracking the whip about Romanitas will feel wounding, and can lead into a deeper spin into the vortex of shame. Paul’s words are not for them. His words for them are the comforting words that we are elevated with a gospel social power and status because in Christ we know a “wisdom from God” and that Jesus is “our righteousness, holiness and redemption” and that we can “boast in the Lord” (1:30-31). Such persons need to read Brennan Manning’s ideas about grace for ragamuffins and less Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s call for costly grace!

         A distinction between two words may help all of us. The two words are “jealousy” and “envy.” The second word points at us when we want what others have – a bigger home, a fancier car, a better job, a network with so-and-so in it, an affluent income, a higher position on the flow chard. Envy is to want what others have and drives the American spirit of competition (instead of cooperation). Jealousy, though used all the time for envy, points at a person’s status and their efforts to gain it, to sustain it, and to protect it. When a person moves into your faith community with skills better than yours in leadership, speaking, and influence, you may experience jealousy over the status you formerly had. Envy and jealousy, both of them, are Romanitas, especially the latter.

Questions for Reflection and Application

1. What similarities and differences do you see between the ways status was displayed and measured in the Roman Empire and today?

2. Why did the cross of Christ look like foolishness to people seeking Romanitas?

3. What do you think of the revelation that the USA’s government subsidies go more to the already-rich than to the poor?

4. Do you feel the sting of Paul’s words correcting your own status-seeking, or do you feel his grace for people marginalized by society who carry the wisdom of God?

5. In what ways have you seen church leadership positions given to people with wordly wisdom and status instead of Godly wisdom?

Matthew Desmond, Poverty, By America (New York: Crown, 2023).

Michael Gorman, Cruciformity, new edition (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2020).

Scot McKnight, Pastor Paul (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2019).

Pliny, Epistles https://www.attalus.org/old/pliny10b.html (trans. J.B. Firth with minor revisions)

Bruce Winter, After Paul Left Corinth (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2001).

N.T. Wright, Michael Bird, The New Testament in its World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2019).