Faith and Reason in Paul's Epistles
A study of the relationship between faith and reason in Paul's theology, such as we are now going to undertake, would seem to be a particularly fruitless investigation. We all know from the opening chapters of I Corinthians that the apostle, as a preacher of the message of the cross, fought jus...
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| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
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| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
[1958]
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| In: |
New Testament studies
Year: 1958, Volume: 4, Issue: 2, Pages: 93-100 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Parallel Edition: | Electronic
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| Summary: | A study of the relationship between faith and reason in Paul's theology, such as we are now going to undertake, would seem to be a particularly fruitless investigation. We all know from the opening chapters of I Corinthians that the apostle, as a preacher of the message of the cross, fought just as bitterly against the wisdom of this world as against the attempt to achieve righteousness through works. The wisdom of this world and the righteousness based on works are both characteristic of the man who is seeking to assert himself before God and whose attempt miscarries. Just as Christ is the end of the law, it must apply in the same sense that he is the end of the wisdom of this world. God has destroyed it through the cross (I Cor. i. 18ff.). From now on the words ‘He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord’ hold good both for Jews and Greeks alike (I Cor. i. 31). One cannot seriously discount the significance of these passages by saying they contain nothing but exaggerated and casual utterances. Paul has expressed himself here in fundamental, comprehensive and consciously offensive terms, in order to demonstrate the contrast between the news of the Crucified, a σkáνδαλoν for the Jews and a μωία for the Greeks, and the wisdom of the world, which is foolishness in God's eyes. These words of the apostle have in fact given offence again and again. Since the days of Celsus and Porphyrius they have aroused the indignant protests of the opponents of Christianity. Goethe voiced them quite openly, ‘Living till seventy wouldn't be worth the trouble, if all the wisdom of the world were folly in the sight of God’ (Max. und Reflex. 2). We must certainly not forget that in I Cor. i-iii the apostle is speaking about the wisdom of the world and not directly about reason itself. But this distinction does not seem to help us much. The trenchant answer which Paul gives his opponents who contest his claim to be a true apostle and man of the Spirit forces us to ask whether he leaves man's reason any place at all: ‘Yes, we certainly walk in the flesh (έν σαρkί) but we do not wage our war in the manner of the flesh (kατα σαρkα)—for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God for the destruction of strongholds—as we destroy sophistries (λoγiσμoúς) and all arrogance, which exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring every thought (νóημα) into captivity under the obedience of Christ’ (II Cor. x. 3-5). |
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| ISSN: | 0028-6885 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: New Testament studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0028688500011450 |