PAUL AND THE RHETORIC OF REVERSAL: KERYGMATIC ...

Corinthians 5–14 this corrective of the cross is applied to an observable pattern of ethical
issues.
Although Hall concedes to de Boer that the cross is prominent in chapters 1–4 but
“missing” from chapters 5–16, 89 this seems unjustified. As Grayston argues, the cross is
decisive in chapters 1–4, and can be seen as shaping the exhortation of the subsequent
chapters:
In contrast to the ebullience of some competing Corinthian Christians, Paul
expects the apostolic commission to be marked by deprivation, social rejection,
and self-sacrifice. In that measure, the apostolic norm was the crucifixion of
Christ. 90
[H]e had to develop in them an awareness of the crucifixion as the critical
principle for assessing their manner of life. 91
Hoskyns and Davey concur:
[T]he references to the death of the Christ with which St Paul punctuates the
Epistle are in no sense casual; in no sense do they lie on the periphery of what he
is saying. Every aspect of Corinthian piety is described, criticized, and judged in
the light of Christ’s death, and throughout St Paul not only speaks as the apostle
of Christ Jesus but (as he himself had said) is determined to know nothing among
them but Christ, and him crucified (1 Cor. 2.2). 92
H.H. Drake Williams III argues vigorously for the centrality of the cross in Christian
ethics in general, and in 1 Corinthians in particular. This is reflected in the letter’s
89 Hall, Unity, 44.
90 Grayston, Dying, We Live, 27.
91 Grayston, Dying, We Live, 50.
92 E.C. Hoskyns and Noel Davey, Crucifixion-Resurrection: The Pattern of the Theology
and Ethics of the New Testament (London: SPCK, 1981), 125.
97