1 Corinthians 1:13-16 and Verbal Dictation

13Has Christ been divided? Surely it wasn’t Paul who was crucified for you, or into Paul’s name that you were baptized! 14I thank God that I didn’t baptize any of you except for Crispus and Gaius, 15So that nobody could say that you were baptized into my name. 16Well, I did baptize the household of Stephanos, and as for the rest, I don’t know whether I baptized anyone else. — 1 Corinthians 1:13-16

I advocate looking at the Bible to see how it was actually produced rather than producing a theory of how it must have been produced and then imagining that this was what happened. When I read 1 Corinthians 1:13-16, I have to ask myself how one could hold a theory of verbal dictation on this passage. (Any form of verbal inspiration seems a stretch to me.) It’s so human. In fact, one of the things I love about the Bible throughout is how the human character of each of the writers comes through. Complaining Jeremiah, vigorous Paul. Well, now we have forgetful Paul.

He’s glad he only baptized two people. Oh, sorry, he baptized another family. Hmmm! He’s not sure if he baptized anyone else. Now I don’t want to make fun of Paul, though I suspect during his lifetime that might have been good sport. I like to imagine Luke ribbing Paul from time to time about being a bit over the top. But that passage is the way a human being writing a letter would write, and not the way the omniscient Holy Spirit would write.

Paul is inspired, but his words are not dictated. At least so it appears to me.