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The word(s) the Spirit gives: Lutheran and Reformed exegesis of 1 Corinthians 2:13

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2017

Steven Edward Harris
Steven Edward Harris*
Affiliation:
Hamilton, ON, Canadasteve.harris0@gmail.com
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Abstract

Distinctive Lutheran and Reformed theologies of the relationship between Word and Spirit influenced the history of Protestant exegesis of 1 Corinthians 2:13, which states, ‘we speak not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit’. The interpretation of the time of the Spirit's teaching (past or present) and the identity of the words taught (scripture or preaching/teaching) are seen to depend upon and develop these respective Lutheran and Reformed theologies. The essay concludes with a brief evaluation of the adequacy of these interpretations in light of the divine economy and some ecumenical considerations.

Keywords

1 Corinthiansdivine economyhistory of exegesisMartin LutherWord and Spiritpneumatology
Type
Research Article
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 70 , Issue 3 , August 2017 , pp. 295 - 309
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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References

1 Oberman, Heiko A., ‘ Curiosi te salutant: A Premature Assessment’, in Muller, Richard A. and Thompson, John L. (eds), Biblical Interpretation in the Era of the Reformation: Essays Presented to David C. Steinmetz in Honor of his Sixtieth Birthday (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1996), p. xii Google Scholar.

2 There is, in fact, a single Greek codex that reads ἐν διδαχῇ τοῦ πνεύματος ἁγιοῦ, and which was known in the sixteenth century. Cf. Beza, Theodore, Novvm D. N. Iesv Christi Testamentum . . . cum eiusdem annotationibus (Basel: Nicolas Barbarius & Thomas Courteau, 1559), p. 518 Google Scholar.

3 The classic study on Luther's pneumatology is Prenter, Regin, Spiritus Creator: Luther's Concept of the Holy Spirit (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1953; repr. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2001)Google Scholar. See more recently, Kärkkäinen, Pekka, Luthers Trinitarische Theologie des Heiligen Geistes (Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 2005; repr. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009)Google Scholar; Silcock, Jeffrey G., ‘Luther on the Holy Spirit and his Use of God's Word’, in Kolb, Robert, Dingel, Irene and Batka, L'ubomír (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther's Theology (Oxford: OUP, 2013), pp. 294–309Google Scholar; Althaus, Paul, The Theology of Martin Luther, trans. Schultz, Robert C. (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1966), pp. 35–42 Google Scholar; Bayer, Oswald, Martin Luther's Theology: A Contemporary Interpretation, trans. Trapp, Thomas H. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2008), pp. 239–54Google Scholar; Zahl, Simeon, Pneumatology and Theology of the Cross in the Preaching of Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt: The Holy Spirit between Wittenberg and Azusa Street (London: T&T Clark, 2010), pp. 1–9, 158–83Google Scholar; Thiselton, Anthony C., The Holy Spirit: In Biblical Teaching, through the Centuries, and Today (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2013), pp. 255–62Google Scholar.

4 Luther, Martin, ‘The Smalcald Articles’, 3.8.5, in Lull, Timothy F. (ed.), Martin Luther's Basic Theological Writings (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1989), p. 530 Google Scholar.

5 Ibid., 3.8.3, p. 530 (WA 50:245).

6 Thomas Aquinas, In I ad Corinthios 2.2.109: ‘Astruit enim modum convenientem, cum dicit sed in doctrina spiritus, id est, prout spiritus sanctus nos loquentes interius docet, et auditorum corda ad capiendum illustrat.’ Cf. Hugh of St Cher, In Epistolas omnes D. Pauli, Actus Apost. Epistolas septem Canonicas, Apocalypsim B. Joannis (Venice: Nicolas Pezzana, 1703)Google Scholar, fol. 78r: Quae & loquimur,] id est, docet [Spiritus] nos qualiter dona Dei manifestamus aliis, vel etiam ut sciamus quae loquimur.

7 Denis the Carthusian, In omnes beati Pauli epistolas commentaria (Cologne: Peter Quentel, 1538)Google Scholar, fol. 39v: secundum doctrinam nobis a spiritu sancto infusam.

8 Meyer, Sebastian, In utramque D. Pauli epistolam ad Corinthios commentarii (Frankfurt: Petrus Brubacchius, 1546)Google Scholar, fol. 16r: Que & loquimur.] Quia illa spiritu dei didicimus,. . . cuius & impulsu ea loquimur.

9 Nicholas of Lyra, Bibliorum sacrorum cum glossa ordinaria iam ante quidem a Strabo Fulgensi collecta: nunc autem novis, cum Graecorum, tum Latinorum patrum expositionibus locupletata: Annotatis etiam iis, quae confuse antea citabantur, locis: Et Postilla Nicolai Lyrani: Additionibus Pauli Burgensis ad ipsum Lyranum: ac ad easdem Matthiae Toringi Replicis, 6 vols., ed. Jean Dadré and Jacques de Cuilly (Venice, 1603), vol. 6, p. 212: sicut Spiritus sanctus nos instruit ad loquendum.

10 Zwingli, Huldrych, In Evangelicum historiam de domino nostro Iesu Christo Epistolasque aliquot Pauli (Zurich: Christoffel Froschouer, 1539), p. 454 Google Scholar: ‘Quae & loquimur.) Quae nobis dictante spiritu dei reuelata sunt, loquimur ac praedicamus. Hoc enim officium nostrum est. Neque tamen loquimur ea eruditio aut ornato sermone, quem docet humana philosophia, sed his uerbis quae spiritus intus suggerit.’ One Lutheran commentator, Erasmus Sarcerius (1501–59), follows this medieval and Reformed line of interpretation: Quae docet spiritus, Suggerit, tradit, suppeditat spiritus sanctus (In D. Pauli Epistolas ad Corinthios eruditae ac piae meditationes (Strasbourg, 1544), fol. 65v).

11 Bugenhagen, Johannes, Commentarius in quatuor capita prioris epistolae ad Corinthios (Wittenberg, 1530)Google Scholar, fol. H2r: docemus uerbis, quibus spiritus sanctus in scripturis locutus est; cf. fol. Hr: Boni doctores non solum recte docent, sed etiam iis uerbis quibus ipsi docti sunt a deo per sacras litteras.

12 Ibid., fols. [G8]v–Hr: Scire quidem simpliciter omnia solius dei est, sed Christiani sciunt omnia, quae scire eos necesse est ad salutem, haec enim eis reuelat per Euangelium & Scripturas sanctas spiritus sanctus, reliqua quae deus noluit reuelata libenter ignorant. Vt sciamus inquit, quae a deo donata sunt nobis, sciunt itaque haec omnia qui sunt in ecclesia sanctorum, ne aliquis Satanae minister incipiat aliena docere, quasi quaedam noua, quae ultra Euangelium & sacras scripturas deus uelit doceri, quemadmodum his laruis, sub nomine spiritus sancti, hactenus semper a temporibus Apostolorum, homines subinde decepti sunt.

13 Ibid., fol. Hr, Hv.

14 Mathesius, Johann, Homiliae Mathesii. Das ist: Außlegung und gründliche Erklerung der Ersten und Andern Episteln des heiligen Apostels Pauli an die Corinthier (Leipzig: Johann Beyer, 1590)Google Scholar, fol. 54r: ‘mit Worten, die der heilige Geist lehret, brauchet und führet, das ist, mit Worten, die der heilige Geist herfür gebracht hat’.

15 Osiander, Lucas, Epistolae S. Pauli Apostoli Omnes Quotquot Extant (Tübingen, 1583), p. 201 Google Scholar: eas que probationes adducimus, quae a Spiritu sancto nobis in Scriptis Propheticis sunt dictatae, & adhuc nobis a Spiritus S. dictantur. While the latter phrase could be read as indicating a contemporary speaking of the Spirit, it is better taken to refer to the Spirit reactualising in the present the biblical words given in the past.

16 Semler, Johann Salomo, Paraphrasis in Primam Pavli ad Corinthios Epistolam. Cvm Notis, et Latinarvm Translationvm Excerptis (Halae Magdeburgicae: Carol. Herm. Hemmerde, 1770), p. 54 Google Scholar: ‘vtimur potius argumentis, quae spiritus hic sanctus, longe praestantior magister, in prophetarum scriptis ipse praeiiuit’.

17 Ibid., pp. 54–5: Πνευματος ἁγιου, illud διδακτοις referri potest ad scripta veteris testamenti, hinc desumuntur loci ad demonstrationem; atque sic iam veteres, Theodoretus, Chrysostomus, Grotius et quidam alii; potest vero etiam ad apostolos hoc ipso tempore, trahi; atque sic plerique omnes solent intelligere. Malim vero priorem explicationem praeferre. I have not found Semler's claims regarding Theodoret and Chrysostom to be supported by their commentaries.

18 Ibid., p. 55: Itaque λαλειν ἐν διδακτοις πν. ἁγιου, idem est ac ἐπιδεικνυναι δια των γραφων etc.

19 Schmidt, Sebastian, Commentarii in Epistolas D. Pauli ad Romanos, Galatas & Colossenses. Una cum Paraphrasi Epistolae Prioris ad Corinthios, Utriusque ad Thessalonicenses, Prioris ad Timotheum, Epistolae ad Philemon, & Canctici Mariae (Hamburg: Benjamin Schiller, 1704), p. 828 Google Scholar: . . . sermonibus & verbis, quae Spiritus sanctus docet, & in Verbo suo, non in Philosophia, praescribit: quemadmodum etiam facere summi juris est, & decet.

20 Spener, Philipp Jakob, Divi Pauli Apostoli Epistola Ad Romanos et Corinthios homiletica paraphrasi illustratae (Frankfurt-am-Main: Johannis Davidis Zunner, 1691), pp. 290–1Google Scholar: quae de rebus divinis loqui volumus, non tam nostris, quam Spiritus S. verbis in Scriptura extantibus, exprimere laboremus.

21 Ibid., p. 291: Hoc usum terminorum Scholasticorum, qui non desumti sunt ex Scriptura, suspectum, aut saltem cautos circa eum facere nos debet. Potest enim facile etiam nobis nescientibus verbum tale adhiberi, quod rei magis oppositum quam congruum est. Si vero servamus verba, quae Spiritus Sanctus docet, plane de re ipsa certi sumus. Ô utinam Theologi nostri ad pristinam illam simplicitatem reducerentur.

22 Mathesius, Homiliae, fol. 54r: ‘Der heilige Geist hats selber gefasset, mit was worten man diesen heimlichen Raht Gottes verkündigen und lehren sol. Daß ist nu gar eine schöne und nützliche Lehre und grosse Regel für die Prediger und auch für alle Christen, das sie nicht sollen von Gottes Wort reden ihres gefallens, und wie es ihnen gelüstet, wort gebrauchen, Sondern reden es mit worten die der heilige Geist lehret. . . . Und spricht also der heilige Geist auch: Ich habe diesen heimlischen Rahtschlag Gottes und seinen Vaterlichen Willen im Worte gefasset, derselbigen sol sich nu ein jeder Prediger befleissigen, das wir uns nicht Wort erfinden nach unserm dünkel, Sondern binden uns an seine Wort, durch die Propheten und Apostel gefasset, das wir mit willen kein andere Pünctlein oder Iota gebrauchen.’

23 Erythropel, Rupert, Theologia Apostolica & Methodica: Ausführliche und richtige Außlegung der Ersten Epistel Pauli an die Corinther (Goßlar: Joh. Voigts, 1616), p. 59 Google Scholar: ‘Durch welchen [den heiligen Geist] wir wissen, wie reich wir von Gott begnadet seyn: Zu dem wir auch in die Schule kommen müssen, und lernen von Gottes Sachen nicht anders reden, als der heilige Geist davon geredet in Gottes Wort. Da fünff wort oder Sprüche der Schrifft mit Verstand geredet, besser sein, als viel tausent prechtige worte, I. Cor. 14.’

24 Mathesius, Homiliae, fol. 54r: ‘Das ist, wir predigen denselbigen Schatz des Euangelii . . . mit Worten, die der heilige Geist lehret’ (cf. n. 14 above).

25 Baumgarten, Siegmund Jakob, Auslegung der beiden Briefe St. Pauli an die Corinthier (Halle: Johann Justinus Gebauer, 1761), p. 95 Google Scholar: ‘Λογοι διδακτοι αυτου sind ein solcher Vortrag, solche Ausdrücke und Redensarten, die von dem Geist Gottes unmittelbar eingegeben und gelehret werden, Matth. 10, 19.20. 2 Sam. 23, 2. Marc. 13, 11. Luc. 12, 12.13. Damit wil Paulus zugleich einem Einwurf begegnen, daß sie eben diese Warheiten auf eine andere, menschlichen Geschmack gemässere, Art vorbringen könten; welches aber deswegen nicht geschehen könne, weil eben dieser Geist, der ihnen die Warheiten, den Inhalt des Vortrags eingebe, auch die Worte eingebe, bestimme und lehre. Folglich fliest daraus eine Verbindlichkeit, die vom heiligen Geist in der Schrift gebrauchten Ausdrücke beim Vortrag geoffenbarter Warheiten allen andern eigenen Ausdrücken vorzuziehen, nicht aber eine rechtmäßige oder notwendige Unterlassung und Hintansetzung des Gebrauchs menschlicher Hülfsmittel und des gehörigen Nachdenkens zur bequemen Einrichtung des Vortrags götlicher Warheiten, als welches (eine solche Unterlassung des eigenen Nachdenkens) nur bey der unmittelbaren Eingebung statfindet.’

26 Zwingli, Epistolasque aliquot Pauli, p. 454 (cf. n. 11 above).

27 van Est, Willem Hessels, In Omnes Divi Pavli Apostoli Epistolas Commentariorvm (Douai: Baltazar Beller, 1614), p. 259 Google Scholar: vtentes oratione qualem docet ac suggerit Spiritus-sanctus; van Til, Salomon, Commentarius in Quatuor Pauli Epistolas (Amsterdam: Gerard onder de Linden, 1726), p. 24 Google Scholar: testatur, se adhaesisse sermonibus & ratiociniis a Spiritu Sancto edoctis.

28 Musculus, Wolfgang, In ambas apostoli Pauli ad Corinthios epistolas commentarii (Basel: Joannes Hervagius, 1559)Google Scholar, col. 68: . . . Dei spiritu imbuti sumus, quem habemus non solum cordis nostri illuminatorem & doctorem, sed & oris gubernatorem & uerborum informatorem. Cf. Meyer, Sebastian, In utramque D. Pauli epistolam ad Corinthios commentarii (Frankfurt: Petrus Brubacchius, 1546)Google Scholar, fol. 16r: Quia illa [uerba] spiritu dei didicimus, qui & in cordibus nostris uera esse de Christo testificatur, cuius & impulsu ea loquimur, quo credentes salui fiant.

29 Vermigli, Peter Martyr, In selectissimam D. Pauli priorem ad Corinthios Epistolam (Zurich: Christoffel Froschouer, 1551)Google Scholar, fol. 48v: spiritum sanctum non modo res docuisse, uerum etiam sermones & uoces illis accommodatas applicasse.

30 Gwalther, Rudolf, In priorem D. Pauli ad Corinthios epistolam homiliae (Zurich: Christoffel Froschouer, 1572)Google Scholar, fol. 26v: Ita enim fanaticis occurrit, qui inspirationes & reuelationes nouas fingunt extra Dei Verbum, quod certißimum breuißimumque est ad omnis generis errores atque superstitiones compendium.

31 Ibid., fols. 26v–27r.

32 Pareus, David, In Diuinam ad Corinthios Priorem S. Pavli Apostoli Epistolam Commentarivs (Frankfurt: Jonas Rhodius, 1609), cols. 123–4Google Scholar: is [Spiritus sanctus] non solum res, sed & verba docet: hoc est, praescripsit literis sacris, qualiter exponi doctrina Euangelii debeat; Trapp, John, A Commentary or Exposition Upon All the Books of the New Testament (London: R.W., 1656), p. 663 Google Scholar: ‘So that not the matter only, but words also of holy Scripture are dictated by the Spirit, and are therefore to be had in higher estimation, 2 Pet. 1.21’.

33 Gwalther, Homiliae, fol. 27r: Debet ergo Spiritus cum Verbi praedicatione coniungi, neque credendum est spiritui quantumuis specioso, nisi quae dictat cum Verbo Dei in scripturis reuelato per omnia conueniant. Gwalther then quotes Gal 1:8, ‘But even if we or an angel from heaven . . .’. Cf. fol. 220r: Nam sunt qui clament, sic hoc statuatur [i.e. si omnium est judicare de doctrina], iam Verbum Dei hominum iudicio subiici. At non hoc vult Apostolus, sed vt de Scripturarum interpretatione & iis quae Verbi Dei nomine proponuntur, iudicium fiat. An scilicet quod a Prophetis illis dicitur, cum Verbo Dei conueniat?

34 Calvin, Comm. Cor. I, p. 529: Atqui absurdum esse videtur, iudicium permitti hominibus in Dei doctrinam, quae extra controversiam constituta esse debet. Respondeo, non subiici Dei doctrinam bominum censurae: sed tantum hoc dari, ut ex Dei spiritu expendant numquid verbum ipsius sit quod proponitur: an falso isto praetextu ornentur humana figmenta; cf. Commentaire de M. Jean Calvin, sur la premiere Epistre aux Corinthiens (Geneva: Jean Girard, 1547), p. 501: ‘Mais il semble aduis que cecy ne conuient pas bien, qu'il soit permis aux hommes d'asseoir iugement sur la doctrine de Dieu, laquelle doit estre hors de toute controuerse et different. Response. Vray est que la doctrine de Dieu n'est point subiette à la censure des hommes: mais seulement cecy leur est ottroyé, de poyser par l'Esprit de Dieu, si ce qui est proposé, est point sa parolle, ou non, & si les inuentions humaines ne sont point couuertes de ce faux pretexte.’

35 Calvin identifies prophecy with the proper interpretation of scripture. This might seem to bind the Spirit's work (the gift of prophecy) to the preceding, external Word, the text of the Bible. Yet prophecy is not simply interpretation, for Calvin, but also the wise application of that interpreted Word to ‘present needs of the church’ (CO 49:506, on 1 Cor 12:28: ad circumspiciendam praesentem ecclesiae necessitatem). At one point, Calvin says this occurs by wisdom, experience and skill (ibid.); elsewhere, however, he states that it comes ‘by revelation and the special impulse of God’ (CO 49:519, on 1 Cor 14:6: ex revelatione et peculiari Dei impulsu). If the latter is true, then it involves the Spirit's giving of internal words, wisdom and thoughts apart from – yet, of course, consistent with – the external Word of scripture.

36 Cf. Gwalther, Homiliae, fol. 220r.

37 For a parallel argument from a different disciplinary perspective, see Boda, Mark J., ‘Word and Spirit, Scribe and Prophet in Old Testament Hermeneutics’, in Spawn, Kevin L. and Wright, Archie T. (eds), Spirit and Scripture: Exploring a Pneumatic Hermeneutic (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2013), pp. 25–45 Google Scholar.

38 Henry, Matthew, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 3 vols. (London: Joseph Ogle Robinson, 1828), vol. 3, p. 1020Google Scholar.

39 Henry's exposition of Romans through Revelation was left unfinished at his death; 1 Corinthians was completed from his notes by Mr Simon Browne (see Henry, Exposition, vol. 1, p. 136).

40 Henry, Exposition, vol. 3, p. 726. Cf. ibid.: ‘They spake not matters of common conversation, but the word of God, and the praises of his name, as the Spirit gave them utterance. . . . They spake not from any previous thought or meditation, but as the Spirit gave them utterance; he furnished them with the matter as well as the language.’

41 See also, the language of the time aside, Henry's approval of Archbishop of Canterbury John Tillotson in saying, ‘if the conversion of infidels to Christianity were now sincerely and vigorously attempted by men of honest minds, God would extraordinarily countenance such an attempt with all fitting assistance, as he did the first publication of the gospel’ (Exposition, vol. 3, p. 726). Pentecostalism sees itself as a renewal of the first day of Pentecost narrated in Acts 2 and the missionary work that flowed from it. See e.g. Menzies, Robert P., Pentecost: This Story is Our Story (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 2013)Google Scholar.

42 Chemnitz, Christian, Commentariolus in Omnes Epistolas D. Pauli (Jena: Joh. Jacobus Bauhoferus, 1667), p. 226 Google Scholar: Unde dependeat efficacia Verbi divini? . . . A revelatione Spiritus Sancti: quia est ejus verbum. v.10. & 13. Adest igitur Spiritus Sanctus virtute & efficacia sua aequaliter & inseparabiliter verbo suo.

43 Mathesius, Homiliae, fol. 270r: ‘Aber da ist ein Geist, der da ein Wort eine zeitlang durch Judam, Bileam, und sonst durch Paulum, Johannem den Teuffer, durch Lutherum, und andere, geredt hat und noch redet.’

44 Luther, ‘The Smalcald Articles’, 3.8.3, p. 530 (WA 50:245).

45 Althaus, The Theology of Martin Luther, 35, with reference to WA 40/2:410ff./LW 12:369; WA 50:240; Book of Concord, p. 310.

46 Silcock, ‘Luther on the Holy Spirit’, p. 297. Silcock is correct to see Luther in continuity with the patristic tradition on this point. See esp. Augustine, In epistulam Iohannis ad Parthos tractatus 3; Gregory the Great, Homiliae in Evangelia 2.30.3; Gregory the Great, Moralia in Iob 27.23.

47 An earlier version of this paper was first presented at the conference The Protestant Spirit: The Holy Spirit in Protestant Thought, St John's College, University of Oxford, 23–25 Sept. 2015. My thanks to the participants in that forum for their helpful questions and insights. I would like to thank, in addition, Mark Boda, Alec Ryrie and Simeon Zahl for their conversation on the expanded argument of this article.