Discussion Forum 4: 1 CorinthiansProvide two examples of Paul’s writing style from 1 Corinthians (try to find ones that others haven’t used): 1) an example of Paul expressing emotion and state which emotion, and 2) an example of Paul using earthy language or a metaphor. For each, provide chapter and verse numbers and type out the full quote using the New Revised Standar Version (NRSV). The purpose of this assignment is to become more familiar with Paul’s writing style (as well as the content of his letters) so that in a few weeks when we cover the Deutero-Paulinist letters, we will be able to analyze whether or not those letters are similar in writing style or dissimilar.pleas use the material provided the pdfs. and links are. attached Examples:1. Emotion: “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each” (1 Cor 3.5). In the first part of the quote Paul expresses the emotion of frustration through the device of rhetorical questions.2. Metaphor: “It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of a share in the crop” (1 Cor 9.10)New Testament Reading: 1 Corinthians1 Corinthians1 Corinthians chapter 1 LinkLinks to an external site.1 Corinthians chapter 2 LinkLinks to an external site.1 Corinthians chapter 3 LinkLinks to an external site.1 Corinthians chapter 4 LinkLinks to an external site.1 Corinthians chapter 5 LinkLinks to an external site.1 Corinthians chapter 6 LinkLinks to an external site.1 Corinthians chapter 7 LinkLinks to an external site.1 Corinthians chapter 8 LinkLinks to an external site.1 Corinthians chapter 9 LinkLinks to an external site.1 Corinthians chapter 10 LinkLinks to an external site.1 Corinthians chapter 11 LinkLinks to an external site.1 Corinthians chapter 12 LinkLinks to an external site.1 Corinthians chapter 13 LinkLinks to an external site.1 Corinthians chapter 14 LinkLinks to an external site.1 Corinthians chapter 15 LinkLinks to an external site.1 Corinthians chapter 16 LinkLinks to an external site.
The letter of
1 Corinthians
written by Paul
to the Church at Corinth, Greece
According to 1 Corinthians 16.8
Paul wrote this letter from Ephesus, Greece
“I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost.”
According to Acts 18
Paul was in Corinth for 1 ½ years.
He established the church in Corinth when Gallio was governor.
The Delphic inscription says Gallio was governor from 51-52 CE*
* It doesn’t actually say 51-52, because calendars were different back then. You have to do the math.
Acts 18
Paul went to Ephesus after Corinth
He traveled to Caesarea, Antioch, Galatia, Phrygia,
then back to Ephesus.
According to Acts 19
Paul was in Ephesus for 2 years and 3 months.
According to 1 Cor 16.8,
Paul says he will leave Ephesus shortly.
Doing the math:
Paul arrived in Corinth in 50
stayed 1 ½
Ephesus 2 ¼
= 3 ¾ so approximately 4 years
Paul wrote 1 Corinthians in 54 CE.
Occasion for the Letter
1. Paul received a verbal report from Chloe’s people (1.11).
These are servants Chloe has sent to Paul
from the Church at Chloe’s House.
2. Paul has also received a letter from the church at Corinth,
“Now concerning the matters about which you wrote ..” (1 Corinthians 7.1).
This letter was brought to him by Stephanus, Fortunatas, and Achaicus (16.17).
So Paul writes 1 Corinthians to address both.
In part 1 (chapters 1- 6) he addresses issues in the verbal report.
In part 2 (chapters 7-16) he addresses issues in the letter they sent,
with overlap of issues in both sections.
There is a letter to the church at Corinth before 1 Corinthians
= 0 Corinthians
because 1 Cor 5.9 states “I wrote to you in my letter …”
This letter has been lost.
Content of 1 Corinthians
Looking first at the thanksgiving 1.4-8
we can see the Themes:
• Grace
• Enriched in speech
• Gnosis
• Spiritual Gifts
• Christ’s model
• Division and fellowship
1 Corinthians 1.10 – 4.7 The Body of the Letter
1.10-12 addresses the first problem in the church at Corinth.
1.10-12
“Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no division(s)
among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.
For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels
among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says,
“I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I
belong to Christ.”
The primary issue that Chloe’s report deals with is
division and quarreling in the Corinthian church.
In a superficial reading of 1 Corinthians 1.10-12,
it would appear that divisions are being drawn in the church
based on loyalty to different leaders:
Paul says, “Each of you says, I belong to Paul
or I belong to Apollos,
or I belong to Cephas (Peter)
or I belong to Christ”
Modern scholarship since John Calvin in the 16th century
has spent a great deal of time trying to reconstruct
(find the ideology of) the four groups based on the four names.
However,
if we read the rest of 1 Corinthians
it becomes clear that there are not 4 groups, but 2:
the Weak and the Strong (names of groups are derived from chapters 4 & 8)
and one unnamed traveling preacher
who is the cause of the division and quarreling in the church.
He is referred to as The Other Builder (3.10).
The view that there is ONE DIVISION and TWO GROUPS
rather than DIVISIONS and FOUR GROUPS
agrees with our earliest manuscript of the New Testament,
called P46 (Papyrus 46) which states:
I appeal to you that there be no division (schisma) between you (1.10)
Later manuscripts say divisions (schismata).
The reason we see 4 groups in a superficial reading is based on
Paul mentioning the 4 names: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, Christ
however,
Paul is using hyperbole (exaggeration) to make his point.
There is only 1 leader who is causing division.
This becomes clear as we read further.
Paul cautions several times against boasting about human leaders
1.11; 1.29, 31; 3.21; 4.6.
One reason that there is boasting is because
some who were baptized by this unnamed preacher (the Other Builder)
can speak in tongues.
Paul has a polemic* where he states he is glad he did not baptize
any of them and a polemic against speaking in tongues (ch. 12).
*Definition of polemic: a contentious argument against another opinion.
So Paul has to battle two problems:
This other unnamed preacher
and what he is doing and teaching in the church.
First, Paul discusses in 1 Corinthians 3.5f
how Leaders should cooperate with each other.
* f means “and following verses.”
Paul offers a positive example of leaders cooperating.
The example is of himself and Apollos
“I planted, Apollos watered, and God gave the growth” (3.6).
Then, Paul offers a negative example of leadership:
Paul says in 3.10-17,
“I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it.
Let each man take care how he builds upon it…
If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him.”
Paul warns that this other preacher is destroying God’s temple.
(God’s temple refers to the individual human soul.)
This is where and why the unnamed preacher is called the Other Builder
by scholars. The name is based on this metaphor of building.
4.6 “I have applied all of this to myself and Apollos so that …
The phrase, I have applied all of this, refers to
Paul talking about two leaders cooperating: himself and Apollos
in contrast to the Other Builder who is teaching things contrary
to what Paul is teaching.
Textual Analysis: There is a textual issue with 4.6
I have applied all this to myself and Apollos for your benefit,
that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written,
that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.
What Textual Analysis reveals
is that the earliest manuscript Papyrus 46 (P46)
does not have this phrase “not to go beyond what is written.”
So you can go beyond what is written.
The phrase “not to go beyond what is written” first shows up in the margin:
One scribe was leaving a note to the next scribe saying:
the knot is beyond what is written.
A knot is like a dot on an i, it is a grammatical mark.
In later manuscripts,
the scribal note gets moved down into the line of text
and “knot” gets changed to “not.”
(All of this is in Greek.)
So what Paul actually said in 4.6 is
“I have applied all of this to myself and Apollos for your benefit,
that you may learn by us: that none of you may be puffed up
in favor of one against another.”
Paul did not say: Do not go beyond what is written.
A scribal error has become theology
for some conservative Christian groups.
For example, some churches say you cannot have musical instruments or stained glass
in church because none are mentioned in worship services in the New Testament.
Back to the main problem Paul addresses:
A traveling unnamed preacher has come in to the Corinthian Church
teaching views different than Paul’s,
causing division in the church.
In 4.7 Paul finally addresses this Other Builder directly.
This can only be seen in the Greek language.
In Greek, it says “se” which means “you” in the singular.
All along Paul has been saying “umas” which means “you all”
But in 4.7 he switches to “you” in the singular.
He is addressing the other builder directly in the letter.
This tells us
that the Other Builder is still at the church in Corinth.
Therefore, the other builder cannot be Apollos
because Apollos is not at Corinth (according to 16.12).
The other builder is not Cephas/Peter because Paul would not accuse
him of destroying God’s temple.
The Other Builder is not Christ.
Therefore, none of the 3 names Paul mentions in Chapter 1
are the Other Builder. He is left unnamed.
In 4.7 Paul says, “For who sees anything different in you?
What do you have that you did not receive?
If you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?
From this we can see that the Other Builder is arrogant.
We also know that the Other Builder speaks eloquently
because Paul has a polemic against
speaking “eloquent words of wisdom” (1.17).
The Other Builder’s charismatic speaking has mesmerized some Corinthians.
These “eloquent words of wisdom” are advanced teachings
(and not quite right).
This puts Paul on the defensive (again, as in 1 Thessalonians).
Paul must defend himself for NOT teaching advanced wisdom
as he explains in 3.1-2.
3.1-2
“For I could not address you as pneumatikois (spiritual people)
but as sarkinois (people of the flesh),
as nepiois (infants – similar to the word nappies which means diapers) in Christ.
I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it;
and even yet you are not ready.”
This implies the Other Builder was giving them advanced teachings.
It is also an example of Paul using very earthy language.
What the Other Builder is teaching the church
is different than what Paul is teaching.
It’s causing division
and causing Chloe to send her people to Paul.
What the Other Builder is teaching:
Teaching #1 is found in 4.8.
Paul gives this teaching in a sarcastic mocking fashion:
“Already you are filled!
Already you have become rich!
Without us you have become kings!”
The Other Builder is teaching
that they are filled with the Spirit
and they have spiritual riches.
Paul agrees. Yes, they are filled.
And mocks them further,
“And would that you did reign,
so that we might share the rule with you!”
He is sarcastically saying –
Yes, it’s nice to have rich friends with power.
The Other Builder is teaching
that they have all the spiritual gifts (see chapter 12 for a list)
and that they are experiencing
all the blessings of the kingdom now!
Paul’s answer is YES,
BUT these blessings were bought with a price, Christ’s death.
And are still being paid for by those who follow in Christ’s
model and put their life on the line like Paul and his companions.
Paul says in 4.9
“God has exhibited us apostles as last of all,
like men sentenced to death.
We are fools for Christ,
but you are wise (mocking),
we are weak,
but you are strong (mocking)”
(This is an example of more sarcasm.)
For Paul, Christianity is not merely exuberant praise celebration,
one must also
do as Christ did, follow Christ, imitate Christ.
He ends this section by saying,
Be imitators of me
This is why I sent Timothy, to remind you of my teachings.
Teaching #2 of the Other Builder
6.12 and 10.23
“All things are lawful”
How can a Christian preacher say
All things are lawful?
Because Christ emphasized that true religion is about compassion
and a relationship with God, not rules.
So the Other Builder is saying
do whatever you want,
you are already saved,
it is not about the law.
Paul agrees
Yes, all things are lawful
BUT …
6.12 Not all things are helpful
and you could become enslaved or entrapped by the extra things you engage in.
According to Paul
a Christian should not just rest in your knowledge of salvation,
you are supposed to grow in your spirituality.
Don’t remain spiritual infants (3.1), but grow.
I planted, Apollos watered, and God gave the growth (3.6).
Paul and his companions are out doing the hard stuff,
risking it all to spread the gospel (about Christ’s model and teachings).
Teaching #3 of the Other Builder
1 Corinthians 3.16 and 6.18
“Food is meant for the stomach
and the stomach for food
and God will destroy
both one and the other.”
This means: Eat whatever you want (no dietary restrictions).
In general, do whatever you want with your body
because the body is not what is important
it is the soul that is important.
Paul’s answer:
Yes, the flesh is not important, the soul is
BUT …
1 Corinthians 6.15
“Your bodies are members of Christ.”
One way to look at it:
• We are Christ’s hands.
• What have you been doing with your hands?
• What could you be doing with your hands?
Teaching #4 of the Other Builder
“Every sin which a person commits is outside of the body” 6.18.
Paul’s answer, Yes but
The body is a temple 6.19
Body and soul are connected 6.17-18.
What you do with your body affects your soul.
Teaching #5
of the Other Builder
“All of us possess knowledge” 8.1.
The knowledge he is referring to is of God and the heavenly realm.
The word for knowledge here in Greek is gnosis.
Paul’s answer to this teaching of the other builder is
Yes, one should know God, but
one should also LOVE God.
Christianity is about an intimate relationship with God
like Jesus had.
Teaching #6 of the Other Builder
“An idol has no real existence and there is no God but one.”
1 Corinthians 8.4
This has to do with meat sacrificed at the Greek temples.
It was a popular place to eat and meet with friends.
Becoming a Christian meant giving it up.
The Other Builder reasons, if the other gods do not really exist,
what would be the harm.
You can keep going to the Greek temples for the banquets.
Paul’s answer is yes, an idol has no real existence, but
the problem is, said Paul, that some people have a weak conscience.
(He refers to them as “weak” in 8.9.)
They could easily slip back into worshipping the Greek gods.
The Other Builder and the “strong” people
do not have any problem eating the meat sacrificed to idols
because to them idols have no real existence.
Paul says yes an idol has no real existence in comparison to God, but
we should help out our weak brothers and sisters
by just not eating idol meat at all.
Then you are not leading them into temptation.
Set a good example for others to follow 8.7-9
Chapter 8
is where Paul talks about the Weak and the Strong.
The Strong agree with the Other Builder and his teachings.
The Weak are the ones that Chloe is concerned about.
(This is based on Paul’s sarcastic remarks in chapter 4 and further developments in chapter 8.)
So, this is the Division (in the singular) in the Church.
On one side is the Weak who Chloe is concerned about,
plus Chloe and those who don’t believe in the Other Builder’s teachings;
on the other side is the Strong led by the Other Builder.
The Other Builder is Gnostic
1. He brings advanced spiritual teachings
2. Teaches about the knowledge (gnosis) of God
3. and the fullness of the spirit (pleroma) Recall the Apocryphon of John
4. Teaches that they do not need to follow the law (don’t be a slave to religion)
Paul is also Gnostic, but he is a moderate Gnostic.
Paul uses the word gnosis more than any other New Testament writer,
21 times vs. 8 times by all other writers of the New Testament combined.
An example of Paul’s Gnosticism 1 Cor 3.1; 2.14
3.1 “I could not address you as spiritual people (pneumatikois),
but rather as people of the flesh (sarkinois), as infants in Christ”
This terminology can only be seen in the Greek language, not English.
The Gnostics have categories of people:
1. Pneumatikois = spirit oriented people
2. Psychikois = soul oriented people
3. Sarkinois = flesh oriented people
Other Gnostic statements by Paul:
The pneumatikos judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one
… and has the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2.15).
Paul speaks of having the gnosis of God and admonishes the Corinthians
for not having it (1 Cor 15.34).
He says we should have the spirit of God,
we should be pneumatikois (1 Cor 2.12).
1 Corinthians Part 2, chapters 7-16
In chapters 7 – 16 Paul addresses what was in the Letter
that he received from the Corinthians (Stephanus, Fortunatas, Achaicus).
Beginning with 7.1 “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote …”
The first matter (about which they wrote) is in 7.15.
He repeats what someone in the church was teaching:
“It is well for a man not to touch a woman”
Someone in the church said you need to be celibate.
This is not the Other Builder who is teaching this
because he had said that all things are lawful,
it is another itinerant preacher who has come into the church at Corinth.
Paul’s answer: Yes, but
Yes, celibacy is good for some,
but for those who cannot be celibate
each person should have his or her own spouse.
Matters about which they wrote #2
“Now concerning virgins” (unmarried young people)
Paul says
Remain as you are (remain a virgin, don’t get married) …
because the appointed time has grown short (the End is near).
One’s interests are divided when married (time spent on spouse),
however, if you want to marry, then marry.
Matters about which they wrote #3:
“Now concerning food sacrificed to idols …” (8.1)
Same answer as before: It is okay, but don’t do it.
Set a good example to those with a weak conscience.
The 4th issue they wrote to Paul about
12.1 “Now concerning spiritual gifts …”
12.3 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are
varieties of services but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but
it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the
manifestations of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the
Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge
according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another
gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to
another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various
kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are
activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just
as the Spirit chooses.
In 12.3f and 12.27 Paul lists spiritual gifts:
1. apostles
2. prophets
3. teachers
4. deeds of power (miracles)
5. gifts of healing
6. forms of assistance
7. forms of leadership
8. speaking in tongues
Some people in the church are boasting
that they can speak in tongues.
(Speaking in tongues can be the language of angels
or just a foreign language. Both definitions are in the bible.)
Paul says it is better to have the gift of prophecy (14.1f).
The Spirit decides who gets what gift
– not everyone needs to speak in tongues.
Everyone who has the Holy Spirit does not necessarily speak in tongues,
they may have been given a different gift by the Holy Spirit,
such as the gift of miraculous healing.
The Spirit gives gifts that will build up the church.
Paul states that what builds up the church most
is LOVE for one another.
Chapter 13 is all about LOVE
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a
noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and
understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to
remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my
possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have
love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind, love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or
rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does
not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes
all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
Matters about which they wrote #5
“Now concerning the collection for the saints (in Jerusalem)”
Paul’s answer: Set aside a little each week.
He and someone from the church will take it to Jerusalem.
The 6th matter that they wrote to Paul about:
“Now concerning Apollos”
The Corinthians asked Paul if he could send Apollos back to them.
Apparently, Apollos is in Ephesus with Paul.
Paul says, Apollos is not willing to come right now.
Matters about which they wrote #7
Chapter 15 is about resurrection
“How can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?
Your faith would be in vain.”
Paul gives the order of events for resurrection (End Times)
1. Christ’s resurrection
2. the first Christians who have died
3. When Christ returns, Christians who are alive
4. Christ destroys his enemies
5. Christ destroys last enemy – death
6. Christ hands over the kingdom to God
(Note the distinction here again for Paul between Christ and God)
7. Then God is all in all
Recall that in John’s Christology, Christ had already destroyed death. John writes about 45 years after Paul.
Paul addresses the question, How are the dead raised?
He says, Not with a physical body, but a spiritual body (15.42).
Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (15.50).
“In a twinkling of an eye” (15.52)
“Listen I tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the
trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will
be changed. For this imperishable body must put on imperishability, and
this mortal body must put on immortality.”
It is at this moment for Paul that “death has been swallowed up.”
When will the End come?
“It is we (Paul and the Corinthians) upon whom
the end of the ages has come…” (10.11).
Other passages where Paul expects the End soon:
1 Thes 5; 1 Cor 7.29
A word about 1 Cor 14.34-5 which says
“Women be silent in the churches”
This is NOT in P46 our earliest manuscript of the New Testament.
Paul did not (and would not) say it. It was added by someone else.
Compare to Galatians 3.28 where Paul says “There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all
one in Christ.” Paul is not prejudiced.
It was added later by someone else.
Summary
Paul, who is at Ephesus, has received both a verbal report and a letter about
problems the Corinthians are experiencing in their church. He addresses the verbal
report in the first half of his letter. The main problem is that there is a division in the
church. They are quarrelling. The source of the conflict is that an itinerant preacher
(who scholars call the Other Builder) has come in teaching beliefs contrary to what
Paul has taught. In fact, this rival teacher is still at the Corinthian church when Paul
writes to them. There are 6 teachings of this Other Builder that Paul addresses and
counteracts forming a good portion of his letter. In the second part of the letter, Paul
addresses the questions brought up in the letter that the Corinthians sent to him.
These issues concern celibacy, to marry or not marry, food sacrificed to non-Jewish
deities, spiritual gifts, the collection for those in Jerusalem, Apollos, and the
resurrection – end times. Hallmarks of Paul’s writing style are evident throughout
this letter. These include the presence of strong emotion, sarcasm, and earthy
language/metaphors – milk, planting, babies, noisy gong, body parts (1 Cor 12), etc.,
Lecture by Prof. J. Corey, Ph.D., Victor Valley College