ok@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au (Richard A. O'Keefe) (04/05/91)
I was in a bible study group last night. We are working through a
particular workbook which I shan't name, because I don't think much
of it. Last night's study had the title "The War Between the Spirit
and the Flesh". One question in the workbook bothered me very much.
It pertained to 1 Cor. 1:26, which reads in the NIV translation
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called.
Not many of you were wise by human standards;
not many were influential;
not many were of noble birth.
What was the question in the workbook?
"What three kinds of people does God seldom call?"
That really upset me. I spent 10 minutes trying to convince the other
people in the Bible study group (who are, one and all, genuine
Christians that I like and admire) that 1 Cor. 1:26 didn't say *any*
kind of person was "seldom called by God", only that the church in
Corinth didn't have many of those particular sorts. I tried to
explain that *every single one* of the wise/influential/noble people
in Corinth could have been called by God and that would be compatible
with (the NIV translation of) what Paul wrote. If you doubt this,
consider the following table:
what sort of response> called by God not called or
and accepts call rejects call
what sort of person?V Total
wise/influential/noble 90 10 100
ordinary 810 7290 8100
Of the people who are wise &c, what proportion are called? 90%
Of the people who are called, what proportion are wise &c? 10%
But the other people in the group (and, spare me days, two of them were
qualified and registered nurses) could not see any difference between
the two questions
"are people who are wise &c seldom called"
and "are many of the people who are called wise &c".
They insisted that 1 Cor. 1:26 *did* say that people who are wise by
human standards and so on *are* "seldom called by God" and made it plain
to me that they thought that this meant that people who are wise by
human standards have an additional burden of pride and so on which makes
them unlikely to even listen to Godly matters. Well, 1 Cor. 1 _does_
seem to say that human wisdom is an obstacle, but it still doesn't follow
that God doesn't *call* these people, only that they find it hard to
respond. I couldn't even convince them that "whether God seldom *calls* a
class of people" and "whether people in that class seldom *respond*" are
distinct questions. (They may of course have the same answer. I am not
denying predestination, though I have grounds for believing that most of
the people in this group _would_ deny it.)
Now, I haven't my Greek NT with me, so I haven't checked what the actual
text says. (Oops, perhaps being able to read Greek counts as being "wise
by human standards"...) Maybe I have misunderstood. But it was a very
frustrating experience, and I was almost frightened by the inability of
these good people to understand why I said "how can I go back to the
University where I teach and look at my colleagues and say 'God seldom
calls people like them'?"
Disclaimer: I am not for an instant suggesting that being a scholar or
knowing about current philosophy or having connections are moral
excellences or that such people are better off than "ordinary" people,
or that such people are not called upon to "boast in the Lord" instead
of their own powers, nor yet that they may find it humiliating to
"become as little children". What bothers me is the teaching that God
"seldom calls" such people, and the eager acceptance of this teaching.
Thanks for letting me vent my frustration.
--
It is indeed manifest that dead men are formed from living ones;
but it does not follow from that, that living men are formed from dead ones.
-- Tertullian, on reincarnation.
[Now you understand why faculty find teaching statistics so
frustrating...
One place where Jesus explicitly deals with this issue is the "rich
young ruler". See Mat 19:23 ff. It seems to me that Jesus really
does say that worldly riches can be an obstacle to responding to God.
It also seems to me that Mat 19:26 says that even so, God is in the
business of overcoming obstacles.
--clh]