1 Corinthians 1:17

a justifies Paul's thanking God that he had baptised so few: “For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to evangelise ”. The infs. (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:1 f., 1 Corinthians 9:16; 1 Corinthians 15:11; Romans 15:17-21) are epexegetical (of purpose); and pres., of continued action (function), οὐκ … ἀλλά no qualified, but an absolute denial that Baptism was the Apostle's proper work. For the terms of Paul's commission see Galatians 1:15 f., Ephesians 3:7-9; 1 Timothy 2:7; also Acts 9:15, and parls. Baptism was the necessary sequel of preaching, and P. did not suppose his commission narrower than that of the Twelve (Matthew 28:19 f.); but baptising might be performed vicariously, not so preaching. “To evangelise is to cast the net the true apostolic work; to baptise is to gather the fish already caught and to put them into vessels” (Gd [190]). It never occurred to P. that a Christian minister's essential function was to administer sacraments. The Ap. dwells on this matter so much as to suggest (Cv [191]) that he tacitly contrasts himself with some preachers who made a point of baptising their own converts, as though to vindicate a special interest in them; cf. the action of Peter (Acts 10:48), and of Jesus (John 4:1 f.).

[190] F. Godet's Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[191] Calvin's In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii.

1 Corinthians 1:17 b. οὐκ ἐν σοφίᾳ λόγου is grammatical adjunct to ἀλλὰ (ἀπέστ. με Χρ.) εὐαγγελίζεσθαι; but the phrase opens a new vein of thought, and supplies the theme of the subsequent argument up to 1 Corinthians 2:6. In 1 Corinthians 1:14; 1 Corinthians 1:17 a Paul asserted that Christ sent him not to baptise, but to preach; further, what he has to preach is not a philosophy to be discussed, but a message of God to be believed: “L'évangile n'est pas une sagesse, c'est un salut” (Gd [192]). In this transition the Ap. silently directs his reproof from the Pauline to the Apollonian party. In σοφία λόγου (see 1 Corinthians 2:1 to 1 Corinthians 4:13; cf. the opp [193] combination in 1 Corinthians 12:8) the stress lies on wisdom (called in 1 Corinthians 1:19 f. “the wisdom of the world”) sc. “wisdom” in the common acceptation, as the world understood it and as the Cor [194] expected it from public teachers: “in wisdom of word” = in philosophical style. “To tell good news in wisdom of word” is an implicit contradiction; “news” only needs and admits of plain, straightforward telling. To dress out the story of Calvary in specious rhetoric, or wrap it up in fine-spun theorems, would have been to “empty (κενώθῃ) the cross of Christ,” to eviscerate the Gospel. The “power of God” lies in the facts and not in any man's presentment of them: “to substitute a system of notions, however true and ennobling, for the fact of Christ's death, is like confounding the theory of gravitation with gravitation itself” (Ed [195]). For κενόω, factitive of κενός (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:14), see parls.; the commoner syn [196], καταργέω (1 Corinthians 1:28, etc.), means to deprive of activity, make impotent (in effect), κενόω to deprive of content, make unreal (in fact).

[192] F. Godet's Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[193] opposite, opposition.

[194] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[195] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2

[196] synonym, synonymous.