It’s no secret that I’ve been a little bit captivated by Paul—so captivated that I wrote a whole book about him, and the social and ethical quandaries that he and his writing provoke. I have to admit, though, that the epistle readings from him in the lectionary rarely grab my attention. I think it’s because there’s usually not much of a narrative to grab on to. Unlike passages from the gospels or from the Hebrew Bible, so often the lectionary’s readings from the epistles are didactic or wordy, without much action. So I don’t tend to preach from Paul’s letters very often. In fact, I happen to be preaching this coming Sunday, and I’m using the Matthew text. But I thought, when looking at this week’s lectionary readings and thinking about what to write about here, that the 1 Corinthians passage was actually very interesting too.
Paul’s letters are formulaic; they follow a pretty predictable pattern that begins with a greeting and then proceeds to a kind of introduction that usually foreshadows the content of the letter up front. You can tell a lot about how one of Paul’s letters is going to go by the pleasantries (or lack thereof) he unfurls in the early verses. Galatians, for example, is immediately harsh and angry, which is pretty much how the rest of the letter goes. 1 Thessalonians is almost saccharine at the beginning, and indeed the rest of the letter suggests a dear relationship between Paul and the folks in Thessalonica. Paul’s introductions often give away the endings.
Of all of Paul’s communities, we have the clearest picture of Paul’s relationship with Corinth, because we have several points of contact between him and them preserved in the New Testament. There are at least 3 of Paul’s letters to Corinth in the canon—1 Corinthians plus at least two (and possibly more) letters that were edited together to make up what we now know as 2 Corinthians. Beyond that, though, we also probably have little citations of the Corinthians’ letters or communication to Paul; when Paul starts a sentence with “now concerning the matters about which you wrote,” as in 1 Corinthians 7:1, he’s probably then going on to spell out what they wrote in his next clause: “it is well for a man not to touch a woman.” (This has caused a lot of confusion over the years, as many readers have understood that “it is well for a man not to touch a woman” to be Paul’s perspective, when it is likely the question posed by the Corinthians to Paul, and Paul goes on to land in a somewhat different place in his response). So, we can see something of a relationship between Paul and the Corinthians across time, in a way that we don’t get with other communities.
It's interesting, then, to see a passage like 1 Corinthians 1:10-18, the lectionary reading for this week. I think it’s fascinating as a view into Paul’s pastoral practice and presence. The main problem in 1 Corinthians is divisions and factions, and true to form, Paul addresses that right here, at the beginning of the letter. He wants them to be in agreement and not be divided, and he’s worried about it, because of reports from “Chloe’s people.” That is, someone has passed on to Paul that there are problems in Corinth, and he’s writing to address them. (Chloe’s people, by the way, might be employees or slaves of the woman Chloe who undertook trade or travel between Corinth and Ephesus, where Paul wrote the letter from, who acted as couriers of information back and forth, and perhaps even letter-carriers for something like 1 Corinthians). Paul will go on to spend most of the letter detailing these divisions and quarrels in chapters 5-9, and offering his solutions and exhortations about it in the later chapters, especially 10-13.
One of the things he’s really worried about is that people are glomming onto leaders and identifying as being part of Paul’s camp or Apollos’ camp, or “belonging” to one or the other person. Paul thinks this attraction to charismatic leadership is a bad thing, and he particularly seems glad that he has not given people much of a reason to follow him (rather than following Jesus). And this is the part I love—in verses 14 through 16, as a way to head this off, Paul starts to list the people he baptized (Crispus and Gaius), then realizes that he missed some folks (the household of Stephanas), then finally admits that he really can’t remember who else he baptized. I guess in the days before the backspace key, you just had to keep going when you made a mistake or omission, and explain it on the fly. Paul just fumbles his way through the uncertainty.
As someone who has been in some form of pastoral ministry for a couple of decades now, this is very relatable. People are always coming up to me and reminding me of things I’ve said in a sermon, things that happened in rituals I took part in, or the outlines of events I helped plan, and I often have absolutely no memory of those things. Sometimes I do remember specifics, of course, but after so long, things tend to blend together. It’s not that I don’t care (and Paul seems to care deeply too), it’s just that, like any kind of work, some of the details fall out of the mind as soon as they are dealt with, and others stick. Think about your own work—do you recall every spreadsheet, every conference call, every meeting or conference or customer? Probably not. The same is true for ministry, and I think it’s just great that the small bit of information we have about the practice of ministry in New Testament is actually honest about that!
I like to imagine the scene when this letter arrived. Typically not too many folks could read, so perhaps they gathered together to hear the letter read out loud by someone who was literate, everyone listening together all at once. What was the reaction in the room when they read this part, when Paul couldn’t remember who he had baptized? Were they shocked, angry, or knowingly nodding their heads with a smile on their faces? (“There goes Paul again, forgetting everything.”) Honestly, this part about baptism was probably quickly forgotten, since Paul’s letter then went on to list a lot of conflicts and bad behavior in the community, being pretty specific at points, and calling people out. That likely grabbed people’s attention and memory of the letter, and probably dominated folks’ memories of hearing it for the first time.
But if they ever invented a time machine, I’d love to go back and see the look on Stephanas’ face when he heard that for Paul, his baptism was an afterthought.
I was reminded of a scene from the movie "The Turning Point" where Shirley McClain asks her former ballet director why he picked Anne Bancroft for the starring role over her (this was the turning point in her life), and he says that he doesn't remember. We never know how or when our actions can have a profound impact on someone.