Читать книгу 1 Corinthians - Luise Schottroff - Страница 35

6 We do, however, speak about wisdom, a wisdom among those who are perfect. But this is a wisdom that does not depend on this world, nor on those ruling this world. They are in the process of losing their power. 7 We are speaking about divine wisdom, hidden in a mystery that God has prepared before all time, in order to enable us to share in the divine presence. 8 None of the rulers of this world has known it. For if they had known wisdom, they would not have crucified the representative of divine wisdom. 9 Much more, what has happened is what has been written: »What no eye saw and no ear heard and what arose in no human heart, that is what God has prepared for those who love God.« 10 God has revealed it to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit fathoms everything, even the depths of God. 11 What people can understand other people, if the human spirit is not within them? So it is also true that no one understands God without God’s Spirit. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that comes from God, by which we understand what God has given us. 13 We pass on this experience, not in the learned language of human wisdom, but in the language that the Spirit teaches. To the people who are filled with the Spirit, we open the gifts of the Spirit. 14 People who simply live for themselves, do not accept the gift of the divine Spirit, because they consider it to be foolish. They cannot comprehend the gift, for it can be effective only with the assistance of the Spirit. 15 But those with the Spirit examine everything, although their divine spirit can be evaluated by no human. 16 For, »Who has known the thoughts of the Eternal One, who will teach them?« We have the thoughts of the Eternal One.

This section has often been felt to be an alien element within the letter. The primary causes for that were, first, the concept of the mature (teleioi) in 2:6 conflicting with 3:1–4, and second, the language as a whole. Parallels to this language are found in Jewish wisdom literature, in Gnosticism and in Hellenistic cults.¹⁴¹ Nevertheless, I am already here setting forth the following conclusions: the text is from Paul, and it is not helpful to assume that he is arguing with opponents (see on 1:10). The »we« of the text is of central significance to what is being discussed. It refers to the congregation as the body of Christ (see the basic information after 2:5). The »we« does not refer exclusively to especially qualified proclaimers or to a group within the congregation who see themselves as set apart by God’s revelation. Paul is speaking in this section about the overwhelming happiness experienced by the »we,« the congregation.

Adolf Deissmann (1957, 106, n.2) correctly wrote about 2:6–16 that these sentences were »one of the greatest of Paul’s confessions.« He said that they had to be »the starting-point for an understanding of Paul on the great scale.«

2:6 The experience of happiness in the body of Christ is broached (2:6, 7, 13). The word lalein includes not only rational interpersonal speaking but also the babble of children, music, chatter and the language of animals.¹⁴² 1 Corinthians 12–14, the three chapters about experiences of the pneuma, God’s Spirit, can be read as a commentary on 2:6–16. It is true that in 1 Corinthians 14 Paul criticizes chaotic worship services, but he does not render a categorical critique of glōssolalein, the Spirit-empowered speaking in many native tongues (see the basic information on 14:1). In 14:15 it becomes clearer and more detailed what he means here in 2:6–16 by the Spirit-empowered speaking (lalein): to pray and sing with the heart¹⁴³ and the mind, that is, with pneuma and nous. For example, there are songs and prayers in one’s native language, which are incomprehensible to others (14:14). In German we can say about this: they are coming from the bottom of one’s heart; Paul calls this »praying with the pneuma.« He doesn’t want to distinguish this praying and speaking from, or, indeed, play it off against, a praying and singing in the lingua franca. Both are important. The lalein in 2:6 refers not only to communicatory speaking but also to praying from the bottom of one’s heart and to singing. Paul is no stranger to singing in the »language of angels« (see 13:1). It is not erroneous also to include visions in the experience of lalein.¹⁴⁴ 2:6–16 also includes rational speech, as especially 2:16 shows, where Paul emphasizes the word nous.

In order to demonstrate the riches of Spirit-empowered lalein, we should therefore already here take into consideration a text that is traditionally used to elucidate the »speaking in tongues« discussed in 1 Corinthians 14: The Testament of Job. It is a Jewish writing from the time of the Roman Empire, a writing whose precise date cannot be determined. This document narrates revelatory experiences. Job speaks with his three daughters at the end of his life and bequeaths them three sashes, which God had given him when he was in great distress. He had laid them on his daughters, and immediately all their sicknesses disappeared:

47.7 And then my body got strength through the Lord as if I actually had not suffered a thing. 8 I also forgot the pains in my heart. 9 And the Lord spoke to me in power, showing me things present and things to come. 10 Now then, my children, since you have these objects you will not have to face the enemy at all, 11 but neither will you have worries of him in your mind, since it is a protective amulet of the Father. Rise then, gird yourselves with them before I die in order that you may be able to see those who are coming for my soul, in order that you may marvel over the creatures of God.

48.1 Thus when the one called Hemera arose, she wrapped around her own string just as her father said. 2 And she took on another heart—no longer minded toward earthly things— 3 but she spoke ecstatically in the angel dialect, sending up a hymn to God in accord with the hymnic style of the angels.¹⁴⁵

The two other daughters of Job also wrap sashes around themselves and speak and sing in the language of angels. Here also rational language and the language of angels are not differentiated from one another. Both belong together. Job passes his revelatory experience on to his daughters. As he speaks he makes it clear that the revelation is an encounter with God, who heals the body and frees the inner person from thoughts about the devil (47.10) or about earthly things (48.2)/ the things of the kosmos (49.1, 50.1). Paul also immediately addresses this liberation from the structures of the kosmos/the world in 22:6b, 8: revelatory experiences have nothing to do with the wisdom of this age and the archons/the rulers of this age (on this, see the discussion on 2:8). He provides a positive definition of the content of the revelation and of the lalein, the speaking and the singing about it, as wisdom among the mature (2:6; on this see also 14:20). Maturity has two dimensions:

1. When people meet God »face to face« (13:12), this encounter changes them into new creatures. Everything that one longs for from God’s future is already happening now—in the midst of the world ruled by death and by the authority of the powers. Maturity is not a status people have,¹⁴⁶ but an unendingly rich experience of happiness and liberation. It is the direct experience of God’s care (2:9; 13:2) for those who love God.

2. In 2:9 the second dimension of maturity comes into view. Love for God expresses itself in doing the will of God. It is the Torah as the will of God, as that which is mature (Rom 12:2), that brings about maturity. In the Sermon on the Mount is a statement in full accord with this aspect of the issue: »Now, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect« (Matt 5:48). The Torah makes it possible to imitate God in that humans in their actions model God’s actions. The Babylonian Talmud elucidates this aspect of perfection:

R. Hama son of R. Hanina further said: What means the text [Deut 13:5]: Ye shall walk after the Lord your God? 4 Is it, then, possible for a human being to walk after the Shechinah; for has it not been said: For the Lord thy God is a devouring fire? 5 But [the meaning is] to walk after the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He. As He clothes the naked, … 6 so do thou also clothe the naked. The Holy One, blessed be He, visited the sick, … 7 so do thou also visit the sick (bSota 14a).¹⁴⁷

In 2:7 the divine wisdom, which is revealed to the mature in the encounter with God, is called, »hidden in a mystery« (cf. 14:2). The content of the revelation is the eschatological mystery in the sense of 14:1; 13:2; 15:51; cf. Rom 11:25, 33. The mystery is God’s own self and God’s action in the past, present and future.¹⁴⁸ In the encounter with God the mystery of God is revealed in such a way that paths into the future are opened for those who see and hear. The mysteries are hidden, but God reveals them to those who love God. They receive the pneuma, the Spirit, which gives them eyes and ears for God.

In Rom 11:33–36 there is a hymn of praise to God and God’s hiddenness that is related in content. 1 Cor 2:9, 10 can also be understood as words of praise. No one can make God an object of investigation, God makes God’s-self known, providing the Spirit’s power and the understanding (nous) for this (2:16). The content of the lalein of the wisdom of God can be filled in by Rom 11:33: »What immeasurable riches of God, what deep wisdom and inexhaustible knowledge …« That is language about the mystery of God that can be sung and prayed.

The wisdom of God is expressed again a second time in 2:7b as an encounter with God, using two quite emphatic thoughts: from eternity God decreed it would go to its recipients, and it thereby enables people to share God’s doxa (kavod), divine splendor, God’s presence, God’s very Self;¹⁴⁹ (on 2:8b, cf. Rom 8:29).

2:8 The rulers of this age, whose power has already been broken by God (see 2:6), are the authorities and rulers responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion (see above on 1:18). But these political rulers are merely the visible players in a network of power and destruction that Paul and many people of his time can also ascribe to demonic powers. Political structures reveal mythic dimensions and, thereby, their structural might. The word aiōn encompasses time and space as power structures that God opposes. That the rulers crucified Jesus shows how far the present ruling structures are from God. The Roman Empire is analyzed in 2:8 as a system of violence (on this see above, the basic information »The wisdom of this world« before 1:18). At the same time, the limit God has set for this system becomes visible. The fact that the Crucified One is called the kyrios tēs doxēs emphasizes the same thought found in 1 Cor 8:5–6: there is one kyrios, who sets limits for the lords of this world. In him God is present (cf. 2 Cor. 4:6).¹⁵⁰ God’s doxa provides the qualifications for this kyrios, distinguishing him from all the other kyrioi of this world. The genitive is genitive of quality.¹⁵¹ As the Risen One, this kyrios has enabled believers to participate in the divine presence. There is no allusion here to kyrios tēs doxēs as an attribute of God (which is found, above all, in 1 Enoch 22.14 and more frequently). It is not a question of ascribing divinity to Christ.

In 2:9 Paul is quoting from Scripture, but the citation has not been identified.¹⁵² 2:10a So its origin is unknown. And yet Paul has fully integrated its content and language into the context: the principal clause is in 2:10a, and the citation specifies the object of divine revelation: »That which no eye has seen …, God has revealed … to us.«

In 2:10b–15 Paul writes a brief discourse about the pneuma/the Spirit. 2:10b: The Spirit is given to us by God so that we can encounter God (on mystērion/mystery, see 2:7 above).

2:11 elucidates, through the understanding one person has of another, the equality with God that has been given, which makes knowing God possible.

2:12 contrasts the spirit of the world with the Spirit that comes from God; compare the distinction between the wisdom that comes from God and that from the rulers of this age, 2:6–7. On the practical consequences of such a distinction, see the basic information »The wisdom of this world« before 1:18.

2:12b: the power of God’s Spirit makes us able to recognize the gifts of God: liberation through the Messiah, who makes the new life as the body of Christ possible.

2:13 The Spirit is the teacher of a new language (see on 1:5). To this new language belongs the ability to interpret Spirit-imparted seeing, hearing and lalein, translating it into understandable language or into the situation one is experiencing. The word sygkrinein, which I am translating by »interpret,« is often translated by »compare,« »examine« or similar words. One assumed that ecstatic utterances and prophesies had to be subjected to a critical testing by making comparisons (for example, »in that we test the spiritual by what is spiritual«¹⁵³). This is correctly criticized by Dautzenberg: »This is really a strange view, assuming that a Proto-Inquisition was already underway in the Pauline congregations.«¹⁵⁴ Dautzenberg has put forward extensive and for me convincing arguments for translating sygkrinein (and diakrinein/diakrisis in 12:10; 14:29) as »interpret.«¹⁵⁵ I resolve the problem of whether the dative plural pneumatikois is neuter or an anthropocentric masculine by choosing the latter, in the light of 2:14–15: the interpretation is directed to »the people who are filled with the Spirit.«

2:14 speaks of psychikoi. This term has led to the question of whether Paul’s concept of humanity is dualistic: the psychē classifies humans negatively, and it is only the pneuma that makes them people who are in relationship with God. But the »physical« body is for Paul the body/person created by God (see 1 Cor 15:44–45);¹⁵⁶ and the spiritual body/person is the one who is raised into a new life in the midst of the experiences of violence and humiliation in daily life. »When Paul speaks about resurrection, he has these tangible bodies in mind. He assures these mangled, despised, tormented bodies that they are very valuable, temples of the sacred power of the Spirit … (cf. 1 Cor 6:19).«¹⁵⁷

In 2:14b and 15 Paul uses the word anakrinein three times. The discernment (anakrinein) effected by the Spirit is lacking in people who are not reached by God’s call (2:14). For that reason, they consider the power of God’s Spirit and the resurrection of one crucified (see 1:18) to be foolish, to be idiotic.

2:15 People filled with the Spirit have special discernment (anakrinein). They understand human hearts¹⁵⁸ and everyday experiences. God’s Spirit enables them to recognize the entanglements in which others and they themselves are caught up and to change them. The ultimate judgment about people, however, is left to God alone, and so those filled with the Spirit cannot by judged (anakrinein) by anyone, cf. 4:1–4, not even by other people of the Spirit. That does not mean that members of the congregation do not criticize themselves and one another, for the letter is a document of reciprocal critique between Paul and the congregation. This critique, however, is clearly different from God’s judgment. God’s judgment sets boundaries for the mutual critique: God’s Spirit in others is not the object of critique and judgment. And yet all questions about how life is to be lived are to be dealt with in a common interpretation of Scripture and mutual critique.

2:16 brings up once again and summarizes the decisive thought of the whole section, the great good fortune to be the sōma Christou. Paul first cites Isa 40:13, »Who has known the understanding of the Eternal One …?« The depths of God (2:10) are hidden from all (cf. Rom 11:34–35). The answer to the rhetorical question from Isa 40:13 in 2:16a is: no one. The same thing is also said in the quote of uncertain origin in 2:9: no eye has seen it; no ear has heard it.

2:16b: And yet »we,« the body of Christ, through God’s care for us (2:12), are gifted with the greatest good fortune (cf. 2:10). As members of the body of Christ we see God face to face (13:12), even if we find ourselves enmeshed in structures of violence, surrounded by suffering and death. We see God’s justice, for which we hope. We hear God’s self-revelation in the words of the Torah. Without God’s power, all that people see is the victory of violence, when they look upon the Crucified One and the crucified. They say: it is not wise to enter into solidarity with those who are crucified (2:14). Those gifted with God’s Spirit see that the Crucified One has been snatched away from death by God, he is risen. We see and experience the resurrection of all the dead, for which we hope. The triumphant brief concluding statement summarizes all that: »We have the understanding/thinking of the Eternal One.« Paul gives importance here to the word nous/mind/thinking (see also 14:14–15 and above on 2:6). God’s gift brings eyes for the resurrection and for God’s new creation, but also the critical mind that searches everything (2:10), even one’s own entanglement in worldwide sin, in the structures of the world (see above 2:6, 8 and the basic information on »The wisdom of this world« at 1:17).

The congregation is the place where God is present. 1 Corinthians is filled with such felicitous assertions (see also the introduction to 3:1–23).

In Isa 40:13 LXX the word kyrios refers to God. In the Pauline response, we find in some Greek manuscripts: We have the mind of the Messiah. Other manuscripts have … the mind of the kyrios. On the basis of texts from Paul’s time, Howard (1977, 80) shows convincingly that people like Paul do not yet replace the Tetragrammaton with kyrios but insert the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew letters into the Greek text. In sentences that then comment on the Scripture quotes, references to the Tetragrammaton were rendered by kyrios. So, in his response to Isa 40:13, Paul can have written kyrios and thereby assumed God (the Tetragrammaton of the citation). In the second century the word kyrios was increasingly applied to Christ. The manuscripts that in this place have Christos instead of kyrios wanted to achieve a greater Christological clarity: »We have the mind of the Messiah«—as a response to the question, »Who has known the mind of the Eternal One?« It must remain hypothetical what Paul wrote in place of the Tetragrammaton. But he did not yet use kyrios for Jesus/the Messiah in the sense of referring to God by using this word.¹⁵⁹ It is likely that in his response (2:16b) he was referring to God. In interpreting Paul, the post-Pauline process of Christologizing that is visible here needs to be taken into account. Paul does not understand the Messiah to be a divine figure.