Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
1 Corinthians 2:6-16, The rulers of this age
Paul speaks of a hidden wisdom of God, planned before time began, which the rulers of this age failed to grasp, or they would never have put Jesus to death.
1 Corinthians 2:6-16, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul says he does teach wisdom to the mature, but it belongs neither to the present age nor to its rulers, who are passing away. It is God's hidden plan, prepared before time, which those rulers failed to grasp, or they would never have put Jesus to death. Who these rulers are, human or spiritual, is debated. God has made this wisdom known by his Spirit, and the person who has the Spirit shares the mind of Christ.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/present-age-and-age-to-come\/","n":"This age and the age to come","s":"Jews divided history into the present age, under the rule of evil nations, and the age to come, when God would rule unchallenged. The sufferings expected before the change were called birth pangs.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/powers-over-the-nations\/","n":"Rulers and powers over the nations","s":"Many Jews believed each nation had a spiritual ruler set over it, often hostile to God's people. Paul's rulers, authorities, powers and thrones belong to that picture.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/imperial-cult\/","n":"Caesar worshiped as savior and lord","s":"Augustus and the emperors after him were hailed as savior, lord and son of a god, and in the eastern provinces they were worshiped. The titles the Gospels give Jesus were already being used for Caesar.","r":""}
Mature was a philosophers' word for those advanced in wisdom (Keener and his notes). Jewish writers set the present corrupted age against an everlasting age still to come (the cultural backgrounds notes). Who the rulers of this age are is disputed. Keener notes that many scholars take them as angelic powers, but thinks earthly rulers fit the context better, the powerful people of 1:26-28; the cultural backgrounds notes speak of human power that passes away. Heiser points out that the Greek translation of Daniel calls both the prince of Persia and Michael archon, and argues that Paul means the spiritual rulers of the nations. Arnold agrees: Paul calls Satan archon elsewhere, and the verb for coming to nothing is the one he uses for the powers in 15:24, never for the doom of unbelieving people. He thinks the powers worked through Pilate and the priests, and that Paul's point is that "not even the angelic powers could understand the secret wisdom of God." Bailey reads the phrase against a Roman colony that worshiped Caesar. Most Jewish teachers did not think the Spirit active in their own day, so knowing God's mind by the Spirit was a radical claim (Keener).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 1 Corinthians 2:6, 2:7, 2:8 and 2:10-13
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 1 Corinthians 2:6, 2:7 and 2:8
- Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, ch. 28, Divine Misdirection, and ch. 37, This Means War
- Kenneth E. Bailey, Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes, section 1.3
- Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness, ch. 7, The Defeat of the Powers at the Cross, The Attempt to Ruin God's Redemptive Plan (1 Cor 2:6-8)
