The Art of Biblical Shame
Summary
When reading 1 Corinthians, it is easy to mistake Paul's discussion of weakness and strength as a universal condemnation of power. On the contrary, Paul presents the teaching of the cross as a way of replacing one kind of power with another. You might be tempted to let yourself off the hook by claiming that he is replacing man's power with God's power. Well, OK, but you are avoiding the tougher question: how is God's power made manifest? In abstraction? Theoretically? Intellectually? In chapter 4 of 1 Corinthians, Paul demonstrates what God's power consists of and how it is to be wielded in the church. Like the embarrassment of confession, it is neither theoretical, invisible nor mystical. You should be so lucky. (Episode 105; 1 Corinthians 4; Subscribe: http://feedpress.me/the-bible-as-literature; "Cool Hard Facts" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http:// creativecommons .org/ licenses /by/3.0/)When reading 1 Corinthians, it is easy to mistake Paul's discussion of weakness and strength as a universal condemnation of power. On the contrary, Paul presents the teaching of the cross as a way of replacing one kind of power with another. You might be tempted to let yourself off the hook by claiming that he is replacing man's power with God's power. Well, OK, but you are avoiding the tougher question: how is God's power made manifest? In abstraction? Theoretically? Intellectually? In chapter 4 of 1 Corinthians, Paul demonstrates what God's power consists of and how it is to be wielded in the church. Like the embarrassment of confession, it is neither theoretical, invisible nor mystical. You should be so lucky. (Episode 105; 1 Corinthians 4; Subscribe: http://feedpress.me/the-bible-as-literature; "Cool Hard Facts" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http:// creativecommons .org/ licenses /by/3.0/)
