1 Corinthians 2

1 Corinthians 2 is the second chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is authored by Paul the Apostle and Sosthenes in Ephesus, composed between 52–55 CE.[1]

1 Corinthians 2
Page 78 of Papyrus 46 (ca. AD 200) showing 1 Corinthians 2:3–11. P. Mich Inv. 6238. University of Michigan.
BookFirst Epistle to the Corinthians
CategoryPauline epistles
Christian Bible partNew Testament
Order in the Christian part7

Text
Page 79 of Papyrus 46 (ca. AD 200) showing 1 Corinthians 2:11–3:5. P. Mich Inv. 6238. University of Michigan.

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 16 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

Old Testament references

New Testament references

Paul's preaching ministry in Corinth

Acts 18:1–17 recounts Paul's departure from Athens and his arrival in Corinth. The writer of the Acts of the Apostles states that Paul "testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ, but when [the Jews] opposed him and blasphemed, [Paul] shook his garments and said to them, 'Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles'." Lutheran theologian Harold Buls describes Corinth as "was much like the city of Athens. They admired philosophers and orators. They were always sitting around waiting to hear or tell the latest philosophy. Many of them were sophists, teachers of speech and philosophy who came to be disparaged for their oversubtle, self-serving reasoning. Many of them were skilled in devious argumentation."[3] In 1 Corinthians 2:1 Paul recalls that he "did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom". He states that he spoke "in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling" and "my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom".[4] Acts reports that

The Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you".[5]

Verse 2
For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.[6]

Buls notes that "'For' is the explanatory 'you see' and explains verse 1".[7]

The rulers of this age

Paul refers twice to "the rulers of this age" (Greek: των αρχοντων του αιωνος τουτου, tōn archontōn tou aiōnos toutou).[8] Dutch theologian Hugo Grotius suggests that the rulers of this age are the "politicians, who adhere to justice and understand history" [9] but Heinrich Meyer in his Commentary on the New Testament is critical of this opinion: "to say that Paul’s meaning is that he does not teach politics is to limit his words in a way foreign to the connection", preferring a broader meaning of rulers and dominant powers "in general". Some writers (Cameron, Hammond, Vorstius, Lightfoot, Locke, Stolz and Rosenmüller) have associated the words with the Jewish leaders referred to by Paul in his speech in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia:

The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus (Acts 13:27)

but again Meyer also suggests this understanding limits the scope of Paul's intention.[10]

Verse 16
For "who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ. (NKJV)[11]
  • "Who has known the mind of the Lord...?": either a citation or allusion to Isaiah 40:13. The "scheme of salvation by Jesus Christ" is drawn in His eternal mind with the sense of the Spirit of God in the writings of the Old Testament, so that no natural man could have known any of these things.[12]
  • "The mind of Christ": the same with "the mind of the Lord" proves that Christ is the Lord. The apostles and ministers of the Gospel, even all true believers, cannot get it from any natural man, but from Christ alone.[12]
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See also

References
  1. Barton & Muddiman 2007, p. 1108-1109.
  2. Footnote in 1 Corinthians in RSV Second Catholic Edition 2006
  3. Buls, H. H., Buls' Notes on 1 Corinthians 2:1–5, accessed 17 March 2017
  4. 1 Corinthians 2:3–4
  5. Acts 18:9–10
  6. 1 Corinthians 2:2 NKJV
  7. Buls, H. H., Buls' Notes on 1 Corinthians 2:1–5, accessed 17 March 2017
  8. 1 Corinthians 2:6 and 2:8
  9. Annotations on the New Testament, volume 6 on Paul's Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians and Galatians: Zuidema edition, Groningen 1828
  10. Meyer's NT Commentary on 1 Corinthians 2, accessed 18 March 2017
  11. 1 Corinthians 2:16 NKJV
  12. John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible, – 1 Corinthians 2:16

Bibliography
  • Barton, John; Muddiman, John, eds. (2007). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199277186. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
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