Who are the Lowly, Weak and Despised? A Re-evaluation of 1 Corinthians 1:26–31

Abstract

Abstract:Scholarship on 1 Corinthians has almost universally understood 1:26 as a window into the sociological setting of the early church in Corinth. A largely proletariat view of the constituency of the Christian congregation has held sway for centuries on the understanding that Paul highlights to his Corinthian audience their status—that not many of them were wise, not many of them were influential and that not many of them were of noble birth. This article offers a fresh exegesis of 1 Corinthians 1:26–31 to re-evaluate this consensus. Firstly, it will identify some exegetical problems with the traditional understanding. Secondly, it will consider the possibility that Paul's ὅτι construction in 1:26 is being utilised as an interrogative rather than a declarative construction. Thirdly, it will examine Paul's argument from 1:10–4:21, as well as the broader biblical concept of the "despised" in Paul's use of ἄτιμος.