the kingdom of God that is being revealed to them is not characterized by clever words but the Spirit’s power that works miracles and transforms lives.
In prospect of Paul’s return, the Corinthians must now decide how to behave; the result of their choice will determine Paul’s actions when he arrives. If they follow his exhortations, he will visit them with the parental affections of love and an attitude of gentleness. If they persist in arrogance, he will discipline them with a metaphoric rod of correction. Fathers in patriarchal homes were expected to physically discipline their children, even with a stick (Prov 22:15; 2 Sam 7:14; Philo, Spec. Leg. 2.231–32). In wisdom discourse this was not considered abusive but reflected instead God’s love as a disciplining Father (Prov 3:11–12; Sir 30:1–2).326 In like manner, teachers and tutors punished students in order to improve their learning.327 Both father and teacher roles enable Paul’s metaphor of the disciplining rod, but the former has more authority here. What type of punishment might Paul be referring to with this rod? Richard Hays relates this to the showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal (1 Kgs 18:20–40), and Roy Harrisville, with Moses and Pharaoh’s magicians (Exod 7–9).328 Perhaps a more relevant parallel describes Paul being filled with the Spirit’s power and temporarily blinding a false prophet who attempts to obstruct his ministry (Acts 13:6–11). Similar discipline might be enforced when Paul warns the Corinthians that he will not “spare” them in an upcoming visit (2 Cor 13:1–2). This power represents the apostle’s God-given and effectual authority to impose a discipline appropriate to the offense, such as when he expels the fornicator in the next chapter.
113. See the Outline for other proofs. On their function (pisits/probatio/confirmatio), see Aristotle Rhet. 3.13.1–2; Rhet. Her. 1.3.4; 3.4.8; Quintilian Inst 3.9.1–6; Mitchell 1991:202–7.
114. Fitzmyer 2008:66–67, provides a convenient list of devices in this letter.
115. cf. Arzt-Grabner et al. 2006:85. Differently, Smit parallels Apollos’ name (Ἀπολλῶς) with the concept of perishing (ἀπόλλυμι) to connect the perishing ones with Apollos’s followers (2002:243–44). The Corinthian congregants, however, indiscriminately belong to those who are called, believe, and are being saved, and this doubtless includes the Apollos group—they all belong to Christ (3:22–23; cf. 1:2).
116. In this text, however, God does the triumphal leading “in Christ” and Christ may be imagined as the triumphant general.
117. For examples see Beard 2007; Perkins 2012:68.
118. For further, Livy Hist. Rom. 45.38–40; Josephus Bell. 7.5.4–6; Aus, 2005:3–4; Versnel 1970:56–57.
119. The tropaion originally marked the turning point of a war when the enemy was routed. It was placed at the location on the battlefield where this reversal of fortune took place and commemorated victory (see Mattingly 2006:912). For Romans it was displayed in processions and on military iconography that inundated Rome and its colonial cities. A procession relief with tropaion from the Roman Temple of Apollo Sosianus (1st c. BCE) can be seen in Maier 2013:41–42. See also the Gemma Augustea (101) and Dupondius coin at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropaion. Special thanks to Brigitte Kahl for directing me here.
120. Malcolm 2013a:3–4, 156, 165, highlights this state in 1 Cor 1 and its outcome in 1 Cor 15.
121. In Isaiah the LXX and MT promote that God will hide (κρύπτω/סתר) the cleverness of the clever, whereas 1 Cor 1:19 uses thwart (ἀθετέω). Perhaps Paul replaced the term, being influenced by κενόω in 1:17 (“render ineffectual”). Otherwise, he might be combining Isaiah with Ps 33[32]:10, or his Greek version already rendered סתר based on its later sense of “to upset/tear down.” See discussion in Stanley 1992:185–86. Paul’s word strengthens rhetorically the citation’s negative connotation (Barclay 2015:5).
122. Cf. Oropeza 2002a:104
123. The γραμματεύς, translated also as “scribe,” could be understood as Jewish scholars of the Torah. In Isa 33:18 (cf. 29:11–12), however, it refers to the “one who counted” (cf. Wilk 2005:138), which seems to be clerical or a tribute collector. For Paul’s audience, γραμματεύς might mean “civic leaders, instructors in the gymnasia and scholar/scribe”: Dutch 2005:278–87 (287). In Acts 19:35 it refers to a magisterial position in Ephesus (where Paul happens to be as he writes 1 Cor). This meaning seems more appropriate for 1:20.
124. On συζητητής as a sophist, see Meyer 1877:1.38–39.
125. Pogoloff 1992:160.
126. Wilk 2005:139, shows that active forms of the verb μωραίνω (“to make foolish”) connect these texts.
127. These themes are also prevalent in other Jewish literature, as Williams 2001:61–81 demonstrates.
128. Ciampa/Rosner 2010:99.
129. See e.g., Gal 3:13; 11QTemple 64.6–13; 4QNah 3+4 i 4–9; cf. Josephus Bell. 1.4.6[97].
130. See further Williams 2001:51–54; Schnabel 2006:128–29.
131. On the Greek pursuit of wisdom, see e.g., Herodotus Hist 4.77.1; Aristides 1.330; Aristotle N.E. 6.7.2; Fitzmyer 2008:159.
132. See Paige 2004:207–18.
133. See examples in Adams 2008:112–21; Elliott/Reasoner 2011:102–7; Cook 2014.
134. Cf. Dodson 2012:1–2.
135. See further Hengel 1977:51–63.
136. See examples of such characters related to theatre mimes in Welborn 2005, and now Barclay 2015:7–9.
137. Similarly, see Schottroff 2012:722.
138. Barclay 2015:10.
139. See Introduction.
