Not Many Noble

Would you have joined the church at Corinth?

Paul takes a headcount before making his point, and it is not flattering: not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. In that city those were legal facts before they were social ones. Rome had levelled Corinth and refounded it a century later as a colony settled heavily with freedmen, and the place ran on status the way other towns run on trade. Everyone in the room knew where they stood, and so did everyone who declined to come in.

What Paul says God did with the roster escalates line by line. The foolish things of the world to confound the wise. The weak things to confound the things which are mighty. Then he adds base things of the world, and things which are despised, and last of all things which are not, to bring to nought things that are. The last term names the absence of a rank altogether.

Set our version beside it without pretending they match. Ours moves. A reputation can be rebuilt, a credential earned late, and most of what we call being nobody would have looked like comfort to a Corinthian freedman. Theirs was fixed by birth and law.

The reason given is not therapy for the overlooked. That no flesh should glory in his presence. The roster was chosen for what it makes impossible in the room, and the next lines say where the boasting went: of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. James asks it in the same shape a generation later: Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith?

Whatever put you in the second half of that headcount is why your presence proves nothing about you. That is the design, and it is why the room holds.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 173 is Grace and Peace (Philippians 1:2).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna, Year Two