Paul identifies the rulers of this age among those who adhere to the wisdom of this age and are passing away (2:6–8).188 These are elitists who from the arena of politics think themselves wise in deliberating rhetoric. Their effectiveness depends on “their own or their cohorts’ power to persuade,” and this reliance blinds them from perceiving the power behind the “supposed weak wisdom” of God in Christ.189 If they had truly known this wisdom they would not have crucified Christ. More specifically, then, they are represented by Pilate, the Roman prefect, who in collaboration with the chief priests, scribes, and perhaps Herod Antipas, sentenced Jesus to death. An oral tradition of this sort was probably known by Paul before written in the Gospels.190 Equally, Paul may be informed by Ps 2:1–2 in which the kings of the earth and rulers (οἱ ἄρχοντες) come against the anointed one, which in early Christian tradition is interpreted as those who put Jesus to death according to God’s predetermined plan (Acts 4:25–28). If Satan and his minions are meant by the ἄρχοντες and “spirit of the world,” they play an indirect role inadvertently influencing Jesus’s eventual crucifixion (Luke 22:3–4; John 13:26–27; 14:30), but Paul’s argument here seems to foreground human rulers. God’s wisdom confronts Roman ideology and elitists by disrupting their order through the power-in-weakness of the cross.191 What at first seemed to be the execution of just another pretender to the throne and opponent of Caesar unleashed divine power both mightier and wiser than anything the Greco-Roman world had to offer.
Fourth, Paul calls the crucified Christ the Lord of glory. Perhaps he derives this title from prophetic-apocalyptic traditions; “the glory of the Lord” in Isa 40:5 may be his primary source.192 The Isaianic context is cited more explicitly in 1 Cor 2:16, and perhaps informs some of Paul’s other thoughts, too. The Isaianic glory is associated with salvation and divine presence for both God’s people and the Gentiles (40:5b; 66:18–19), and this presence guides the restored people through a new exodus and wilderness journey to Zion as though in a triumphal procession (40:3; cf. 43:2–17; 48:20–21).193 This anticipated era is characterized by God’s Spirit being poured out on God’s people and making the wilderness fertile ground (32:6–20; 44:3; 59:21; cf. 42:1; 58:4–7; 59:4, 15; 61:1–4). The glory of the Lord also stands over against the “glory of man” representing what is beautiful and prestigious in the eyes of the world. Human glory passes away, but God’s word abides forever (40:6–8). Paul interprets these prophetic words as fulfilled in his day with the crucified and resurrected Christ imparting his glorious salvation and presence through the Spirit that teaches and guides faithful people during their travels in the metaphoric new exodus-wilderness to final salvation (cf. 1 Cor 10:1–11). Such teaching is God’s “word,” divine wisdom that confounds transient human prestige.
Fifth, this wisdom is spoken in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God preordained before the ages. Two implied reasons rulers cannot grasp this wisdom is because it has been hidden and originated before the present age to which they belong. Paul might be presupposing wisdom personified in precreation discourse (Prov 8:22–31; Sir 1:1–10). This idea, however, seems developed from the disclosure of salvation in Isa 40 again, and Paul adds from his quote in 2:9 the idea of preordination—God has prepared beforehand amazing things for those who love God (2:9 cf. Rom 16:25–26). As well, prophetic traditions that anticipated Christ’s crucifixion, especially by the hand of rulers, he probably interprets as predestined by God (Ps 2; cf. Acts 4:25–28). Namely, God determined ages ago that this salvation through the Christ event would take place, and God revealed it to the prophets, though in a hidden manner prior to Christ’s advent. It remains a hidden mystery to those who do not have God’s Spirit, but God is now disclosing that plan to Christ’s followers in a progressive way. This wisdom is for our glory, that is, for the purpose of bringing salvation to those who love God and follow the Lord (cf. Rom 8:18, 28–30).
Scripture allusions in 2:6–8 are interwoven with his artistic argument, but now in 2:9 he presents an inartistic proof in the form of an oracle or testimony of the ancients, by using an explicit citation formula, just as it is written. The citation in 2:9 may be loosely referencing a string of scriptures emphasizing divine revelation: what eye has not seen and ear has not heard (Isa 64:3[4]), nor has entered into the heart of humans (65:17) what God has prepared for those who love him (Sir 1:10). Another possibility is that he cites from a text no longer extant. Pseudo-Philo L.A.B. 26.13 and 1 Clem. 34.8 may be two independent sources that cite from such a text.194 If the Isaiah texts are primarily in view, their context and thematic parallels may imply that in the anticipated era of restoration and new creation, God’s people who were spiritually blind will once again see and hear, along with Gentiles, and be saved (33:17–22; 40:5; 52:10, 15; 66:18–19).195 For Paul, in any case, now that the Christ event has taken place, the anticipated era is currently being fulfilled. Christ’s followers can now “see” and “hear” (i.e., understand) the profound revelation of God’s salvific plan and spiritual benefits pertaining to it.
His citation is followed up by an analogy between God’s Spirit and the human spirit along with three guiding antitheses contrasting worldly and spiritual-revelatory wisdom—the spirit of the world/the Spirit which comes from God, human teaching/spiritual teaching, and the natural (soulish) person/extra-natural (spiritual) person (2:10–15). He advances a rhetorical question that prompts the response that no one knows the things of a human (i.e., one’s inner thoughts, plans, and intentions) except the spirit of that human. This is not referring to the Holy Spirit but the “I” or inner self of humans that engages the mind though not equated with it (14:14; 16:18; Rom 8:16; 2 Cor 12:2–3).196 Then from lesser to greater Paul argues that the things of God no one could know, except the Spirit of God who searches God’s thoughts, plans, and intentions, the depths of God.197 And such plans and thoughts are disclosed to those who are in Christ.
The first antithesis affirms that we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God. In Pauline cosmology this phrase might convey satanic power over the world (cf. 1 Cor 5:5; 2 Cor 4:4),198 but in this context it stresses the ideology of the present age epitomized by elitism that values human power, high status, and clever speech. At conversion the confessors received God’s Spirit, not this ideology (12:13; Rom 8:9). There is an implicit exhortation from this that since the Corinthians value this ideology, they lack the spiritual maturity needed to fully appreciate divine wisdom. The Spirit enables believers to know the gifts granted us by God. This phrase points back to 2:9.199 Those who have God’s Spirit can understand and receive all kinds of salvific blessings, not the least of which are wisdom from and fellowship with God. Not only does God’s Spirit reveal wisdom but it also takes an active role as its teacher.200 The Spirit, it seems, prompts and works with the mode of communication Christian teachers like Paul employ as they connect with others. The Spirit helps supply the teachers’ words, which then become a powerful tool for persuasion. Such teaching is effective not because of the teachers’ rhetorical talents but because they are Spirit-led and committed to the task of interpreting spiritual things to those who possess the Spirit.201 Spirit-inspired words, then, contrast words taught by clever human wisdom, and this identifies a second antithesis. In 2:13 λόγος (speech/word) and σοφία (wisdom) are again combined as in 1:17, 2:1, 4, this time to contrast rhetorical education with the Spirit’s
