The Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians

Abstract

Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is the last word on the Holy Spirit—or so it would seem, with its copious discussions of the Spirit in relation to the cross, the church, spiritual gifts, and resurrection. Yet this letter is anything but straightforward, and its take on the Spirit is anything but spiritual. Earthy, tenacious, and sensible, yes—but spiritual? Not in the sense of otherworldly and unearthly. If insight into the Holy Spirit can be wrested from this letter—and it certainly can—it seeps from fractures and surfaces in ambiguity, where sarcasm, practicality, and competing claims to experience collide.