Apostolic Responsibilities

Paul’s description of apostolic ministry in 4.1-5 does little more than imply what constituted his responsibilities as God’s agent. His characterisation of apostles as ὑπηρέται Χριστοῦ suggests only their subordinate and auxiliary role as assistants in God’s administration. The construction οἰκονόμους μυστηρίων θεοῦ, on the other hand, goes further, indicating that the responsibilities of the apostles primarily involved the dissemination of the heavenly goods entrusted to them. As stated earlier, the genitive in οἰκονόμους μυστηρίων is objective, so that the apostles are administrators who dispense μυστήρια θεοῦ. But what is it that Paul refers to here as God’s mysteries?

In both ancient Jewish and early Christian literature, the general sense of μυστήριον, as Markus Bockmuehl indicates, involves ‘any reality of divine or heavenly origin specifically characterized as hidden, secret, or otherwise

inaccessible to human knowledge’.¹⁰⁸ Bockmuehl further notes that God’s mysteries generally involve two main areas: ‘redemption (eschatology, cosmology) and sanctification (halakhah)’; ‘[b]oth are God’s property and prerogative . . . and can be described as stored up in heaven’.¹⁰⁹ In general agreement with Bockmuehl,

107 The inverted pyramid of 3.21-23 must therefore be regarded as an instance where Paul sought, as Clarke, Theology, 101, remarks, ‘to limit the perception of his status, whilst not removing it’.

108 Bockmuehl, Revelation, 2.

109 Bockmuehl, Revelation, 125. ‘With few exceptions, however, the writers’ interest centres on secrets of the celestial world, where the privileged seer glimpses prepared storehouses of the

165 Benjamin Gladd adds that God’s mysteries have an inherently polemical role,

functioning as an apocalyptic motif to subvert conventional knowledge of the present age.¹¹⁰ The mysteries to which Paul refers in 1 Corinthians imply these very themes.

According to 1 Corinthians, the mysteries entrusted to the apostles consist of divine and eternal wisdom (2.7) specially disclosed through God’s spirit (2.10). More specifically, Paul equates the μυστήριον τοῦ θεοῦ with the message of the

crucifixion of Jesus Christ (2.1-2), that is, the gospel (1.17-18; 15.1-8).¹¹¹ In the first, then, God’s mysteries have a decidedly Christological focus and consistute Paul’s theology of the cross.¹¹² Still further, God’s mysteries include the ‘wider implications of the work of God in Christ’, namely righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1.30), including the unimaginable future inheritance which remains unknown to the ‘rulers of this age’ (2.8), yet awaits ‘those who love God’ (2.9).¹¹³ These insights have been disclosed to the apostles and it is they who are responsible for

proclaiming God’s mysteries, firstly to unbelievers for the purpose of salvation (1.18, 21, 24), and secondly to believers for the purpose of maturation (3.2).¹¹⁴

Central to Paul’s understanding of his apostolic task, however, is the manner in which the gospel message is to be communicated. Paul maintains that he was sent to proclaim the gospel (εὐαγγελίζομαι), not with rhetorical flair—that is, without eloquent speech (σοφία λόγου [1.17; cf. 2.1, 4]) or impressive bodily presence

eschatological Heilsgüter along with other furnishings of heaven which demonstrate God’s universal saving sovereignty’ (125-26).

110 Gladd, Mysterion, 105-107. Gladd also notes that Second-Temple Jewish references to God’s mysteries consistently allude to Daniel 2. Bockmuehl, Revelation, 124, explains that during the post-exilic period an increasing interest in hidden wisdom arose among the various Jewish groups. ‘These emphases’, Bockmuehl states, ‘were further accentuated in the Graeco-Roman period, sometimes in response to stimuli from Hellenistic culture and religion’.

111 For the original reading of 2.1 with μυστήριον, rather than μαρτύριον, see Veronica Koperski, '"Mystery of God" or Testimony of God in 1 Cor 2,1: Textual and Exegetical Considerations', in New Testament Textual Criticism and Exegesis: Festschrift J. Delobel, ed. A. Denaux (BETL 161; Leuven:

Leuven University Press, 2002), 305-15; cf. Gladd, Mysterion, 123-26.

112 Bockmuehl, Revelation, 165: ‘Paul’s message about Christ crucified is called the mystery of God’.

113 Bockmuehl, Revelation, 162. Gladd, Mysterion, 157, adds that ‘the μυστήριον in 2:1, 8 [sic, 2.7?]

is the Messiah, Lord of glory reigning while he is defeated and accursed’ (original emphasis).

114 Throughout 1 Corinthians 1-4 Paul associates apostleship almost entirely with the task of preaching: ἀπέστειλέν με Χριστὸς . . . εὐαγγελίζεσθαι (1.17); ἡμεῖς δὲ κηρύσσομεν Χριστὸν

ἐσταυρωμένον (1.23); ἦλθον . . . καταγγέλλων ὑμῖν τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ θεοῦ (2.1); ὁ λόγος μου καὶ τὸ κήρυγμά μου (2.4); σοφίαν δὲ λαλοῦμεν (2.6); λαλοῦμεν θεοῦ σοφίαν ἐν μυστηρίῳ τὴν

ἀποκεκρυμμένην (2.7); ἃ καὶ λαλοῦμεν (2.13); οὐκ ἠδυνήθην λαλῆσαι (3.1); πανταχοῦ ἐν πάσῃ ἐκκλησίᾳ διδάσκω (4.17). This is also the case in most of 1 Corinthians 3-4, although veiled in metaphor: γάλα ὑμᾶς ἐπότισα (3.2); ἐγὼ ἐφύτευσα, Ἀπολλῶς ἐπότισεν (3.6); θεμέλιον ἔθηκα (3.10);

ἐγὼ ὑμᾶς ἐγέννησα (4.15).

166 (παρουσία τοῦ σώματος [2 Cor 10.10; cf. 1 Cor 2.3])—but by simply announcing the message of the crucified messiah (1.17-18; 2.2).¹¹⁵ Paul’s gospel, as he explains later in the epistle, consists of the message of the death, burial, resurrection, and

appearances of Jesus Christ (15.1-8). And when stripped of all rhetorical adornment, this gospel is no less than the power of God for salvation (1.18; cf. 1.24; Rom 1.16; 1 Thess 1.5) and the very means by which the Corinthians themselves are being saved (1 Cor 15.2).¹¹⁶ Paul, therefore, insists that his proclamation must not aim to

manipulate his audiences, but simply to relay the revelation which he has been entrusted. In his ministry Paul seeks to remove unnecessary ornamentation from God’s message so that faith might rest on Christ’s power, rather than on Paul’s own persuasiveness (1.17; 2.4-5).

It is significant that Paul’s understanding of the agency and power of the gospel together with his disavowal of rhetorical invention, is also underscored throughout 1 Corinthians 1-4 through the way he refers to his preaching. As Litfin explains,

The verbs Paul uses to describe his public speaking, such as εὐαγγελίζω, κηρύσσω, καταγγέλλω, and μαρτυρέω, are decidedly non-rhetorical. No self-respecting orator could have used such verbs to describe his own modus operandi. Indeed, even though they deal with the subject of public speaking such verbs play no significant role in the rhetorical literature. This is understandable because these verbs describe a form of speaking which is at its core the antithesis of rhetorical behavior. The principles of rhetorical adaptation are irrelevant to the κῆρυξ. His role is not to discover the persuasive probabilities inherent in his subject, or search the τόποι for arguments that will carry weight with his listeners, much less to package the whole so that the message will be irresistible.

That sort of thing belongs to the persuader. The herald’s task is not to create a persuasive message at all, but to convey effectively the already articulated message of another. The matter of rendering that message persuasive is not his affair. It is not surprising, then, that such verbs were largely unusable to the rhetoricians. Nor, in the light of Paul’s understanding of his mission, is it surprising that he should embrace such verbs for his own. He perceived his public speaking in a profoundly different light from the orators who were so prominent in his day. He had been entrusted with a message and it was his task to announce it in simplicity to all who would listen.¹¹⁷

Given Paul’s manner of articulating his preaching ministry elsewhere, his portrayal of apostles as oikonomoi of God’s mysteries becomes more understandable. As a commercial agent Paul is a messenger, a mere conduit of the word of the cross.¹¹⁸ His chief responsibility is to take the currency entrusted to him—the foolish message of the crucified messiah (1.21, 23)—and to invest it in the market of the

115 Litfin, Proclamation, 181-209; Winter, Sophists, 141-64.

116 Schütz, Authority, 40-53. For the word of the cross as empowering epistemological and ecclesiological/ethical transformation, see Alexandra R. Brown, The Cross and Human Transformation:

Paul's Apocalyptic Word in 1 Corinthians (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995), 157-67.

117 Litfin, Proclamation, 195-96.

118 Bockmuehl, Revelation, 166: ‘[T]his metaphor fits perfectly with the function of Paul’s ministry as a source of revelation’.

167 unbelieving world. But whereas commercial administrators generate profits,

apostles produce converts (κερδαίνω [9.19-22]). Paul’s investments require neither flamboyance nor clever marketing, only the simple depositing of God’s heavenly resources (1.21; 3.5; 15.2, 11). As agents commissioned to various parts of the Gentile world, the apostles are simply purveyors of God’s salvific message. And all profits are ultimately for God’s benefit.