Professor James D.

Romano
NE517 (Fall 2021)
Gary Chan
October 31, 2021

Critical Review on Brian Tucker’s Reading 1 Corinthians

In Reading 1 Corinthians, Brian Tucker attempts to guide his reading to read the first

Corinthians through the lens of social identity and self categorization theories. He argues that

this letter to the Corinthians had an intention to shape their social identity. Tucker referred to the

works of Henri Tajfel and John Turner where it is suggested that “people gain their identity not

only from their self-conception but also from the groups to which they belong”. According to

Tucker, people who belong to a group are expected to follow the norms of the group which is

categorized as “ingroup”. For those who are not part of the ingroup are categorized as

“outgroup”. The ingroup usually contrasts themselves with the outgroup because of the pressures

and threats that the outgroup puts on the identity of the ingroup; that is when stereotypes, bias,

and criticism developed (136, Tucker).1 In other words, there is always tension between the

ingroup and outgroup.

Tucker suggests that the Christ-followers in Corinth were under the influence of the

Mediterranean “honor and shame” value which led the ingroup and outgroup to an atmosphere of

competition (160, Tucker). Under this special condition where group identity was more

important than personal identity, Tucket believes it provides a background where social identity

theory can shed a light on. Reading the first Corinthians through this perspective, Tucker made

the thesis that Paul attempted to restructure the identity, ethics, ethos of the group of Christ-

followers in Corinth without seeking to obliterate their understanding of their social identity and

self-categorization, which eventually will support his gentile mission - to relate to the God of

Israel and His people.

Reconstructing social identity

1 Page numbers are not available on Kindle ebook, locations are used for citations for this paper.
Professor James D. Romano
NE517 (Fall 2021)
Gary Chan
October 31, 2021

Tucker argues that Paul was forming new groups where people could “re-orient” the lives

in the new identity of Christ (160, Tucker). The new group were socially integrated with the

Roman empire while maintaining proper boundaries for new identity, ethics, and ethos to be

developed.

First of all, is it appropriate to read Paul’s letter to the Corinthians through the social

identity perspective? Tucker argues that a person’s understanding of God cannot be separated

from his or her identity (287, Tucker). I agree with Tucker that one’s existing identity cannot be

taken away when it comes to encountering God. We can understand this idea from a different

angle through Acts chapters nine. Just like how Paul carried his identity originally as Saul, one of

the Pharisees who knew God but persecuted Christians until he encountered Jesus on the road to

Damascus. Paul would not be the one who wrote the letter to the Corinthians if he did not have

his original social identity as one of the Jews, one of the Christian persecutors, and as one of the

born-again Christians (Acts 9).

It did not take just one moment for Saul to become Paul; it involved a process of

transformation (for Paul, it took a few days of being a blind man). When Paul began to proclaim

Jesus (Acts 9:21), he brought along his own history, experiences, and original but also

transformed social identity. Obviously, Paul’s identity went through a process of transformation

but remained salient in Christ. Paul could not obliterate his history, culture, and social

background which formed his identity but he could allow the grace of God through the Spirit to

continue to transform him. In other words, in order to be part of God’s plan, Paul allowed God to

reconstruct his own social and personal identity through the Spirit.
Professor James D. Romano
NE517 (Fall 2021)
Gary Chan
October 31, 2021

Later in Acts 9, we learn that Paul needed to escape from the Jews, his own people, his

original ingroup (Acts 9:23-25). His original social identity was being threatened and attacked.

Without immediately conforming to the Jews to remain in his original ingroup, Paul

reconstructed his social identity by trying to join the other disciples, the outgroup (Acts 9:26).

Eventually, we see that although with fear, the apostles took Paul to join them and they became

Paul’s new ingroup (Acts 9:27-28).

This experience of Paul from being in one ingroup, reoriented his social identity because

of Jesus, and joining another ingroup was important for Paul’s future mission. It was missionally

important. Tucker concludes in chapter one that the Corinthians’ “existing identities” in the

Roman social context were “missionally significant” (658) because they can bridge two worlds.

However, it also tells us why reconstructing the Christ-followers’ social identity was needed

because, just like Paul, one cannot be in the ingroup and the outgroup at the same time. This

leads us to the following question regarding the post-supersessionist perspective.

Post-supersessionist perspective and Gentile Mission

Tucker also took the post-supersessionist perspective where he believes Paul did not

think that “God’s covenant with the Jewish people has been made obsolete or that the church has

replaced Israel as God’s people” (215, Tucker). Tucker argues that Paul’s primary focus was on

“the formation of gentile identity in Christ, helping them to see how this group relates to the God

of Israel, the people of Israel, and the broader synagogue community of which the movement is

still a part” (211, Tucker). This perspective, without explanation, could be confusing and create

problems for the Christ-followers in Corinth; in fact, this perspective could still create confusions

and problems for most of the Christ-followers in today's modern world.

Professor James D. Romano
NE517 (Fall 2021)
Gary Chan
October 31, 2021

First of all, this perspective clearly creates an ingroup (the Jews) and an outgroup (the

Gentiles) for the Corinthians (and for the Christians nowadays). The question is why would Paul

stil place the Jews in such a privileged position after his encounter with Jesus on the road to

Damascus? After his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, he converted and believed

in Jesus Christ. At that moment, Christianity was the replacement of Judaism. We can see that

from another angle through his preaching to the Galatians through his epistle, Paul wanted to

make sure that the Christ-followers understood what it meant to be a Christian.

This is not to say that Paul is abolishing the Torah or the teaching in the Hebrew Bible.

However, because of his experience and conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul could not

look at the Hebrew Scriptures and everything that he used to understand, including the superior

position of the Jews, in the old way anymore. Paul understood a profound mystery that Jesus was

the new way.

The fact that at one point Jesus came to this world for all people tells us that God is not

static. Although in the history that Israel had such a special and privileged place as God’s people,

with Jesus coming God extended this to all nations. In Galatians chapter three, when Paul talked

about righteousness, we can clearly see Paul’s mind. The used-to-be-ingroup, limiting to the

Abraham’s descendants, was expanded to welcoming those in the outgroup, those who believe.

What Paul was trying to say was that whoever believes, including Gentiles, could receive the

special identity to be the descendant of Abraham. (Galatians 3:7).

From this angle, we might want to be careful on interpreting Paul’s mind in the first

Corinthians from the post-supersessionist perspective because it seems to defeat Paul’s heart on

calling the Corinthians to be one body with many members of Christ. It is not to say that the
Professor James D. Romano
NE517 (Fall 2021)
Gary Chan
October 31, 2021

church completely replaced Israel and God does not see Israel as His people, but the definition of

God’s people, the ingroup, has been redefined.

Conclusion

Our understanding of new social identity and self categorization of God through the

Spirit does not come from a wipe off of our original our social identity and self categorization, it

comes from the embracing of where we were from and who we are through the process of self-

discovery, self-realization, and transformation that we are all made in the image of God (Gen

1:26) and God loved us so much that He gave His son so that whoever believes will have eternal

life (John 3:16). This self-discovery, self-realization, and transformation help us and the Christ-

followers in the Corinth to become part of the ultimate ingroup, the fellowship of Christ. As

Tucker mentions the term, “koinonia - a shared communal life together with its source in the

work of Christ” (735, Tucker), all Gentiles, including us, are invited to join the restructured

ingroup and to become God’s people. Apparently, Paul’s mission for gentiles was a success as

the gospel has been spreaded to all nations in the world.

Professor James D. Romano
NE517 (Fall 2021)
Gary Chan
October 31, 2021

Bibliography
Tucker, J. Brian. Reading 1 Corinthians. Cascade Companions, Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock,
2017.