Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [1 Corinthians: Chapter 2].
cleverness or grandiloquence, but I went to the opposite extreme
of diffidence and nervous self-effacement" (Robertson and
Plummer). Paul had been in prison in Philippi, driven out of
Thessalonica and Beroea, politely bowed out of Athens. It is a
human touch to see this shrinking as he faced the hard conditions
in Corinth. It is a common feeling of the most effective
preachers. Cool complacency is not the mood of the finest
preaching. See \phobos\ (fear) and \tromos\ (trembling) combined
in 2Co 7:15; Php 2:12; Eph 6:5.
2:4 {Not in persuasive words of wisdom} (\ouk en pithois sophias
logois\). This looks like a false disclaimer or mock modesty, for
surely the preacher desires to be persuasive. This adjective
\pithos\ (MSS. \peithos\) has not yet been found elsewhere. It
seems to be formed directly from \peith•\, to persuade, as
\pheidos\ (\phidos\) is from \pheidomai\, to spare. The old Greek
form \pithanos\ is common enough and is used by Josephus (_Ant_.
VIII. 9. 1) of "the plausible words of the lying prophet" in 1Ki
13. The kindred word \pithanologia\ occurs in Col 2:4 for the
specious and plausible Gnostic philosophers. And gullible people
are easy marks for these plausible pulpiteers. Corinth put a
premium on the veneer of false rhetoric and thin thinking. {But
in demonstration} (\all' en apodeixei\). In contrast with the
{plausibility} just mentioned. This word, though an old one from
\apodeiknumi\, to show forth, occurs nowhere else in the New
Testament. {Spirit} (\pneuma\) here can be the Holy Spirit or
inward spirit as opposed to superficial expression and {power}
(\dunamis\) is moral power rather than intellectual acuteness
(cf. 1:18).
2:5 {That your faith should not stand} (\hina h• pistis hum•n m•
•i\). Purpose of God, but \m• •i\ is "not be" merely. The only
secure place for faith to find a rest is in God's power, not in
the wisdom of men. One has only to instance the changing theories
of men about science, philosophy, religion, politics to see this.
A sure word from God can be depended on.
2:6 {Among the perfect} (\en tois teleiois\). Paul is not here
drawing a distinction between exoteric and esoteric wisdom as the
Gnostics did for their initiates, but simply to the necessary
difference in teaching for babes (3:1) and adults or grown men
(common use of \teleios\ for relative perfection, for adults, as
is in 1Co 14:20; Php 3:15; Eph 4:13; Heb 5:14). Some were
simply old babes and unable in spite of their years to digest
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