“Some Have No Knowledge of God”: The Resurrection and the Knowledge of God in 1 Corinthians

Abstract

Scholars have long debated whether 1 Corinthians is unified and, if so, whether the unity consists in an error on the side of the Corinthians and/or a theological or pastoral objective of Paul. The present argument is that the unifying thematic axis of 1 Corinthians as a letter consists in a Trinitarian knowledge of the God of Israel. This knowledge of God is given in Christ crucified and raised according to the Scriptures and through the Spirit, and this same knowledge addresses the twin concerns of idolatry and sexual immorality among the Corinthians. The epistle is accordingly an exercise in acknowledgment of God’s revelation of himself to Paul and the churches and in doxological discipleship. If so, it follows that the unity of 1 Corinthians emerges from something prior to Paul and over his own intention, something self-commending even as it finds expression in Paul’s written thought. God knows his people and is known in Christ through the Spirit by those whom he has raised with Christ to newness of life and filled with his Spirit. In this knowledge, they, the Israel of God, know where they have come from, who they are and must be, and where they are going. Everything Paul writes to them about all the gritty particulars of life derives from this reciprocal, lived knowledge.