The rulers of this age.

[Ben C. Smith]

1 Corinthians 2.6-8 NASB:

6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age [τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου] has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory....

Commentators are split over whether to interpret the italicized phrase as earthly rulers (Herod and Pilate, for example) or as demonic forces. But let us assume here, at least for the sake of argument, that it means demonic forces. I want to list a few passages that may shed light on whether or not these demonic forces may be standing behind human crucifiers of Christ, since it has been opined in some quarters that to interpret the text in this way is to (unfairly) read the human crucifiers into the text.

Here are the passages, in narrowing layers of relevance.

There are spiritual entities who correspond to humans on a national level.

Deuteronomy 32.8 LXX (the Masoretic reads sons of Israel instead of angels of God):

Ὅτε διεμέριζεν ὁ ὕψιστος ἔθνη, ὡς διέσπειρεν υἱοὺς Αδαμ, ἔστησεν ὅρια ἐθνῶν κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ἀγγέλων θεοῦ.

When the most high divided the nations, as he dispersed the sons of Adam, he set up the borders of the nations according to the number of the angels of God.

Daniel 10.13, 20 NASB:

13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. ....

20 Then he said, “Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come.

There are spiritual entities who may influence human words and deeds on a personal level.

This influence may be direct (in the form of demonic possession) or indirect (in the form of tormenting a person until he or she yields).

1 Kings 22.19-23 NASB:

19 Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left. 20 The Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead?’ And one said this while another said that. 21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ 22 The Lord said to him, ‘How?’ And he said, ‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so.’ 23 Now therefore, behold, the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the Lord has proclaimed disaster against you.”

1 Chronicles 21.1 NASB:

1 Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel.

Job 1.12 NASB:

12 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that [Job] has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.

The result of this permission includes attacks on his livestock and servants by Sabeans (1.15) and Chaldeans (1.17), as well as slightly more direct attacks on his children, such as fire from heaven (1.16) and a windstorm (1.18-19). After Job still does not curse God, in 2.6 the Lord gives Satan power over his health, the only proviso being that his life must be spared; in 2.7 the result is boils all over his body.

Ascension of Isaiah 5.14-15 (translation by R. H. Charles):

14. And when Isaiah was being sawn in sunder, he neither cried aloud nor wept, but his lips spake with the Holy Spirit until he was sawn in twain.
15. This, Beliar did to Isaiah through Belchira and Manasseh; for Sammael was very wrathful against Isaiah from the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, on account of the things which he had seen regarding the Beloved.

Luke 22.31 NASB:

31 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; 32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."

Luke 22.3-4 NASB:

3 And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve. 4 And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them.

John 13.27 NASB:

27 And after the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Jesus therefore said to him, "What you do, do quickly."

Acts 5.3 NASB:

3 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land?"

2 Corinthians 11.13-15 NASB:

13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

1 Peter 5.8-9 NASB:

8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

There are spiritual entities who receive unmitigated credit for human words and deeds and for other life circumstances.

Mark 8.33 (= Matthew 16.23) NASB:

33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter, and said, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."

Notice that Jesus himself never even acknowledges Peter qua Peter; to hear Jesus say it, one might think that he was back in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. This credit even goes in reverse, when it is God getting the credit for acting through humans, as in Romans 16.20 NASB:

20 And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Your feet must belong to the Roman believers, yet it is God doing the crushing.

1 Corinthians 5.5 NASB:

5 I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Confer 1 Timothy 1.20. I do not think we ought to imagine Paul personally marching this poor person to stand before the very throne of Satan; rather, I think Paul expects this person to start suffering like Job did.

1 Thessalonians 2.17-18 NASB:

17 But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short while — in person, not in spirit — were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. 18 For we wanted to come to you — I, Paul, more than once — and yet Satan hindered us.

Members of my family, including my own parents, still say things like this. They are not claiming to have been granted an unwelcome and impromptu audience with the Prince of Darkness himself; rather, they are claiming that certain eventualities of life owe themselves to Satan.

Revelation 2.10 NASB:

10 'Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

I bet there will be jailers and local officials involved, too; yet it is the devil who is really casting believers into prison.

If we grant that 1 Corinthians 2.6-8 depicts demonic forces as having crucified Christ, but we also happen to think that humans physically drove in the nails, as it were, are we reading those humans into the text? Sure, but are we not reading humans (or life circumstances) into the Revelation 2.10 and 1 Thessalonians 2.17-18 and the rest, too?

If for some reason we prefer to think that these passages are only about Satan (or the devil), that he is personally and without earthly assistance imprisoning people and hindering Paul on his way to Thessalonica, then I suggest that we have perhaps made a prejudicial exegetical decision, however unconscious, that ancient writers are not allowed to credit demons alone when humans and ordinary life circumstances are involved (even though it happens all the time in certain circles even today).

Ben.

PS: Even if my argument here is valid, it does not necessarily mean that Paul had humans in mind in 1 Corinthians 2.6-8. It merely means that reading humans into the text is not automatically poor exegesis.

[Secret Alias]

I am not sure we should assume that the various texts which make up OUR New Testament were read in the same way or had the same POV or theological assumptions. A certain portion of our canon belonged to one pre-existent group (later identified as 'sectarian' because of a false assumption of unity in the beginning) and another another. The Pauline portion of the canon might not have been read the same way as Revelations and vice versa.

In the late second century Irenaeus led a ecumenical effort afforded by massive falsification of pre-existent texts. Hebrews for instance did not originally read the way it does now, nor the gospel, nor the epistle of Paul. I don't think these differences were minor (as most do).

I think these things (i.e. that the textual differences were MASSIVE not merely minor 'mistakes' or corrections) should be obvious but aren't because people are basically unable to escape from their presuppositions. Their presuppositions go to the core of who they are.

[Blood]

Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age [τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου] has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory....

Commentators are split over whether to interpret the italicized phrase as earthly rulers (Herod and Pilate, for example) or as demonic forces. But let us assume here, at least for the sake of argument, that it means demonic forces. I want to list a few passages that may shed light on whether or not these demonic forces may be standing behind human crucifiers of Christ, since it has been opined in some quarters that to interpret the text in this way is to (unfairly) read the human crucifiers into the text.

For Paul, the "rulers of this age" are neither Herod, Pilate, or demonic forces. "The rulers" are the Jews, as the same writer makes explicit in 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 what is only implicit here:

For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last. (NIV)

The only people potentially capable of understanding the "hidden wisdom" of God are the Jews -- not Herod, Pilate, or any other heathen. But according to Paul, they don't actually understand the secret meaning of the Bible. Only he does. Because of this fatal error, they crucified the Lord of Glory, or, to put it another way, "killed the Lord Jesus."

[Ben C. Smith]

I am not sure we should assume that the various texts which make up OUR New Testament were read in the same way or had the same POV or theological assumptions. A certain portion of our canon belonged to one pre-existent group (later identified as 'sectarian' because of a false assumption of unity in the beginning) and another another. The Pauline portion of the canon might not have been read the same way as Revelations and vice versa.

Which would imply that the highlighted tendency was spread out across various different groups: all the more reason not to ignore it while interpreting 1 Corinthians 2.6-8.

Ben.

[Bernard Muller]

It just happens I have a blog post on this exact topic: http://historical-jesus.info/68.html
Cordially, Bernard

[Secret Alias]

But taking things to the macroscopic level, the concept of the 'rulers of this age' (even though the Greek is not explicit about this) derives ultimately from the concept of κοσμοκράτωρ which above all else was an Imperial title. Even if someone swore up and down that they didn't mean Caesar, no one would believe them. But this is the key to understanding and coming to terms with the limitations of using our existing canon as any source of compass to navigate our way through ancient waters. If human rulers (= Imperial rulers) are meant there is ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE that the original material from earliest Christianity survived in its original form.

The heretics essentially say Christianity was headed by 'fathers' (a 'father' = Pope) who manifested the Father who is higher than the ruler of the world.

Translation - the head of Christianity was superior to Caesar.

[Ben C. Smith]

It just happens I have a blog post on this exact topic: http://historical-jesus.info/68.html
Cordially, Bernard

I had indeed read that, not long before posting. Thanks, Bernard.

[Secret Alias]

In Egypt there was always one 'father of the fathers' (= papa = grandfather) who was the living embodiment of the heavenly father. The Emperor was just the cosmocrator.

[GakuseiDon]

Hi Ben, good to see you back here! I've been concentrating on other things so haven't posted here for a while, but seeing some of your interesting new threads here is too much temptation!

A couple of months ago I posted a lengthy review of Richard Carrier's 'On the Historicity of Jesus' on my website here:
http://members.optusnet.com.au/gakuseid ... eview.html

I've been slowly updating it based on feedback I've been getting, so any feedback you or anyone else on this board have would be greatly appreciated. (I'll start a new thread for this.)

In Section 4.4 of my review I discuss Paul's "Rulers of this Age". One thing that might interest you is the possible link to Psalm 2. I've copied that part of Section 4.4 below.

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There is one other source that Paul may have used here that Carrier has ignored: the Hebrew Scriptures. No-one doubts that Paul and the early Christians looked to the Old Testament to 'find' information about the Messiah. Does it say anything that might help us understand Paul?

First, let's recap what Paul is saying in 1 Cor. 2:

1. The rulers of this age did not know that Christ was being sent to be crucified
2. If they had known it, i.e. if they had been wise enough, they wouldn't have crucified Christ
3. Now that they have crucified Christ, they are perishing

Is there anything in the Old Testament where Paul might have seen such an event 'predicted'? Yes there is: Psalms 2. Psalms 2 refers to the Messiah and what will happen when he comes. I've reproduced this short Psalm below (KJV). I've bolded key words, though it is worth reading the whole Psalm to recognise the echoes in the unhighlighted passages that are undoubtedly reflected in the later New Testament:

• Ps 2.1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
  2.2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed [Messiah], saying,
  2.3 "Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
  2.4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision."
  2.5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
  2.6 "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
  2.7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
  2.8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
  2.9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
  2.10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
  2.11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
  2.12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Here we see the 'prediction' laid out: the kings of the earth and the rulers will work together against God and His Messiah, but they should 'be wise' and 'kiss the Son', otherwise the kings and rulers will 'perish from the way'.

Obviously, from Paul's perspective, the kings and rulers did not 'kiss the Son'. They crucified Christ, and so Paul expects them to perish with Christ's imminent return.

To me, if Paul understood Psalms 2 as a prophecy about the Messiah, then he would have assumed that Christ was crucified as a conspiracy at the end of this age by the kings and rulers of the earth. I doubt that Paul would have put much thought into this, like wondering 'Is it fair to include Jewish rulers or Roman rulers or Persian rulers into this?' Simply: the Hebrew Scriptures said it was them, so he went along with that.

To be fair to Carrier, it is conceivable that Paul saw Psalms 2 and still interpreted it to be a reference to Satan and the demons. But considering the lack of evidence that 'rulers of this age' refers to Satan and demons, and the non-ambiguity of the location of the kings on earth in Psalms 2, I don't see any reason to propose that view as the more likely one.

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(Edited to Add): This hasn't made it into my review yet, since I'm still deciding whether it needs to be in there, but Origen also references Psalms 2 when discussing the meaning of Paul's "rulers of the age" and "wisdom of the rulers of the age". For Origen, the "wisdom" may have been astrology and Greek philosophy on divine matters ('science, falsely so called') used by earthly rulers, and in fact some of those earthly rulers may well have been supernatural creatures themselves (see below). Origin then brings in Psalms 2:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... en124.html

• When these, then, and others of the same kind, possessing each his own wisdom, and building up his own opinions and sentiments, beheld our Lord and Saviour professing and declaring that He had for this purpose come into the world, that all the opinions of science, falsely so called, might be destroyed, not knowing what was concealed within Him, they forthwith laid a snare for Him: for "the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers assembled together, against the Lord and His Christ." But their snares being discovered, and the plans which they had attempted to carry out being made manifest when they crucified the Lord of glory, therefore the apostle says, "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect, but not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, who are brought to nought, which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

The thrust here for me is that Origen seems to believe that the natural reading of "rulers of this age" as used by Paul refers to earthly rulers, but Origen is not happy about that. He wants to bring in a cosmic element. In De Principiis Book 1, Origen gives his opinion that Ezekial's prince of Tyre was a former angel:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... en122.html

• We have shown, then, that what we have quoted regarding the prince of Tyre from the prophet Ezekiel refers to an adverse power, and by it it is most clearly proved that that power was formerly holy and happy; from which state of happiness it fell from the time that iniquity was found in it, and was hurled to the earth, and was not such by nature and creation. We are of opinion, therefore, that these words are spoken of a certain angel who had received the office of governing the nation of the Tyrians...

How that fits into all this though I honestly don't know. Origen writes (in same link as just above):

• There are also certain princes of this world spoken of as possessing a kind of wisdom which will come to nought; but whether these are those princes who are also the principalities with whom we have to wrestle, or other beings, seems to me a point on which it is not easy for any one to pronounce.

I think he was as lost on this as we are! I can see him often making the following marginal notes "WTF Paul??!!!"

[Stephan Huller]

This use of the Psalm appears in Justin