1 Corinthians: A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians

1 Corinthians • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • [18.118.145.114] Project MUSE (2024-04-19 23:06 GMT) 1 1 1 Corinthians 1 :1-3 The Opening Paul. called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus1 by the will of God,2 and the brother Sosthenes, 2/ to the church of God that is in Corinth,3 to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, those called to be saints,4 together with all who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, theirs and ours (or: their [Lord] and ours5 ): 3 I grace be with you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The opening has the twofold form which Paul continually uses. 6 It is derived from the oriental epistolary formula, but has been developed further. 7 Regular parts are: .uperscriptio, adscriptio, salutatio. • 1 After his name Paul regularly states his official position : 8 a:TrOUTOAO<;' "an apostle." For him this title is The order "ChristJesus" with p46 B D G, against ~A and the majority of the MSS; see the exposition. 2 KX7Jrbs, "called," can be taken along with ota OE"A~­ J.Laros 0Eov, "by the will of God" (Kummel); cf. Galt :15. But KA1JTOS a:rrburoXos, "called to be an apostle," is a standard term (Rom 1:1), and OLa OEMJ.Laros 0Eov can replace KA1JTOS (2 Cor 1:1). ota OEX~J.Laros 0Eov will accordingly relate to the concept KX1]TOS a:rrburoXM as a whole. In this very way the fact that AD delete KXTJTOS can be explained as a simplification of the overloaded expression (see Lietzmann). 3 With rfi olluv compare Acts 13:1, ~ ouua EKKATJO"La, "the one there existent"; cf. also Acts 5:17; we have here a term taken from official language, see Edwin Mayser, Grammatik der griechischen Papyri aus der Ptolomiier {.eit, vo!. 2, pt. 1 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1934), 347f. Paul does not make the same technical use of it as we find in Acts. 7 4 Lietzmann takes ~")'taO"J.LEPOLS adjectivally; the saints sanctified and called. But "the sanctified" and "the saints" rather give the impression of being parallel expressions. 5 Schmiedel and Lietzmann favor the second rendering . But the listener would not pick up this connection ; KvpLov ~J.LWP, "our Lord," is too far away. 6 Likewise also the other NT letters, with the exception ofJ as and the two fictitious letters in Acts 15:23; 23:26, the latter addressed by a Roman officer to his superior; the form in 1Cl. and Pol. Phil. is also twofold. For the twofold form cf. Dan 4:1 8 (= 3:31 Aram.): N a{3ovxooovouop o{3autXEvs 1riiut ro'Ls Xao'Ls, cfivXa'Ls Kat ")'Awuuats ro'Ls olKovutv l:v 1rauv rfi "YV' Elp~PTJ vJ.LtP 7rXTJ0vv0ELTJ, "King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you!" 8 (cf. 1 and 2 Pet; 1 Cl.). S . Bar. 78:2: "Thus saith Baruch the son of Neriah to the brethren carried into captivity: 'Mercy [cf. 1 and 2 Tim; 2Jn; Pol. Phil.] and peace'" (Charles, APOT2:521). Literature : Hans Lietzmann, An die Romer, HNT, 8 (Tubingen :J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 4 1933), ad Rom 1:1; Wendland, Literaturformm, 411-417; Roller, Formular, 56-65, 78- 85; Ernst Lohmeyer, "Probleme paulinischer Theologie: I. Briefliche Grussuberschriften," .(NW 26 (1927) : 158-173, now in his Probleme paulinischer Theologie (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer , n.d.), 7-29; the correction of the latter by Gerhard Friedrich, "Lohmeyers These tiber das paulinische Briefprii.skript kritisch beleuchtet," ThL.( 81 (1956): 343- 346; Otto Eissfeldt, The Old Testament: An Introduction, tr. Peter R. Ackroyd (Oxford : Blackwell; New York: Harper & Row, 1965), 22-24 (Einleitung in das Alte Testament [Tubingen: ]. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 31964], 29-31). See the previous note. On the order of sender ahd receiver, see Godfrey R . Driver, Aramaic Documents of the Fifth Century, B.C. (Oxford: Clarendon, 21957), 41 f. Examples of the naming of the receiver first are to be found in oriental and Greek letters: Murabba 'at no. 48 (DJD 2: 167f); P. Oxy. 246, in Deissmann , Light, 172f [139]. On the development of the oriental formula: originally the introductory formula is not a part of the letter at all, but a dictation formula (as indicated by K . Galling), cf. Driver, Aramaic Documents, 13f. (Letter III, 11.1f): "From 'Adam to'Artawant: I send thee much greetings of peace and prosperity." This characteristic of the letter introduction is still maintained down to Ben Kosba: Murabba'at nos. 42- 44,46 (D]D 2:155166 ), of which nos. 43 and 44 are by Ben Kosba: c1?tv . . . ? ... JO. The detail in which he does so is unusual; see Roller, Formular, 57 (and n. 244 on pp. 431-433). The offi19 not yet restricted to the "Twelve" (that is, with the addition of Paul himself; see on 9:5 and 15:7). And it is linked not to the historical Jesus, but to the commission of the risen Lord,9 and indeed to a specific act of calling. This immediacy in the relationship to God is a mark of freedom from any other commissioning body and underlines the authority of the apostolate.10 The process of Christ and God are differentiated as persons. But their working is a perfect unity. the calling (on the Damascus road) is merely indicated by the word KA.'YJTOS, "called." It is never recounted by A fellow writer is mentioned by Paul elsewhere also.12 The introduction ofSosthenes 13 as a "brother" accords with the customary designation used by the Christians for each other, but also hints at the distance between him and the "Apostle." 14 The word order "ChristJesus" is found only in the genitive and after the preposition Ell, "in," but not when the Kyrios title is also used. 15 There Paul. 11 The relation between God and Christ as the authors of the call is explained by Gal 1:1-5, 11-16: it takes place through Christ according to the will of God. It is for this reason that Paul is an apostle "of ChristJesus." The fact that he points back from Christ to God as the original author is typical of his thinking (see on 3:23) . is no difference of meaning between "Jesus Christ" 20 and "ChristJesus." 16 • 2 The adscriptio. As in the superscriptio, so also here we have an abundance of definitions. On the text: in p4 6 B D *G the words rfl ouuv Ell KopLliOqJ are placed after ~'YLaUJ.LEliOLS Ell XpLO'T~ 'I17uov. This is to be recia ! position is meant also in Phil 1:1, where Paul designates himself along with Timothy as 5ovAoL XpLO'TOV '17]uov, "slaves ofChristJesus"; see the commentaries ad loc. 9 Hans von Campenhausen, "Der urchristliche Apostelbegriff ," StudTheol1 (1948): 96- 130; also his &clesiastical Authori!J and Spiritual Power in the Church of the First Three Centuries, tr.John A. Baker (London : Black; Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1969), 30-54 [32- 58]; on the concept in general see Lucien Cerfaux, "Pour l'histoire du titre Apostolos dans le Nouveau Testament," RechSR 48 (1960): 7692 , now in Recueil Lucien Cerfaux. Etudes d'exegese et d'histoire religieuse, Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, 6-7, 18 (Gembloux: Duculot, 1954-62), 3:185- 207. Literature and surveys of research: E. M. Kredel, "Der Apostelbegriff in der neueren Exegese: Historisch- kritische Darstellung ," <:,KTh 78 (1956): 169- 193, 257- 305; Gunter Klein, Die <;wolf Apostel: Ursprung und Gehalt einer Idee, FRLANT, 77 (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1961 ) (against the derivation from the Jewish institution of Iali•Q). The derivation from Gnosticism is impossible, contrary to Schmithals, The Office of Apostle in the Early Church, tr.John E. Steely (New York and Nashville: Abingdon, 1969); see on 15:9. 10 But also its limitations. These arise from the definition of the office in terms of the theology of the cross, a definition unfolded especially in 2 Cor; see Ernst Kasemann, "Die Legitimitat des Apostels," <:,NW 41 (1942): 33- 71, now published separately in the series Libelli (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft , 1956) and in Paulusbild, 475- 521. The idea of office is constructed on the basis of the wordcharacter of the saving event: there is a correspondence between KaraAAa')'~, AO')'os r~s KaraAAa- ')'~S, and 5LaKovLa r~s KaraAAa')'~s, "reconciliation, message of reconciliation, and ministry of reconciliation " (2 Cor 5: 18f). This connection is constitutive of the actualizing of the event of salvation in the church through preaching. 11 Unlike Acts. On the essential significance of Paul's calling for his self- understanding, see Bultmann, "Neueste Paulusforschung," ThRund n.s. 6 (1934): 229- 246; Ulrich Wilckens, "Die Bekehrung des Paulus als religionsgeschichtliches Problem," <:,ThK 56 (1959): 273- 293. 12 2 Cor; Phil; Phlm; 1 Thess (two). The fellow- writer is not a fellow- author; cf. the singular in v 4. 13 Timothy is not present, 4:17; 16:10. It is idle to speculate on the identity of Sosthenes with the Sosthenes of Acts 18:17. The name is widespread. 14 Only in Phil does Paul grant the fellow- writer the same title as himself, but there it is liovAOL, "slaves." 15 An exception is Rom 8:34 (text uncertain), perhaps 2 Cor 4:5 (text uncertain). For the word order see Lietzmann on Rom 1:1 . He rightly observes that this word order still allows a glimpse of the fact that Xpurros, " Christ" ="anointed one," was originally an appellative. 16 Cerfaux, Christ in the Theology of St. Paul, tr. Geoffrey Webb and Adrian Walker (Freiburg and New York: Herder & Herder, 480- 485 [361- 381], seeks to distinguish between: (a) Jesus Christ, meaningJesus whom the Father raised from the dead and for whom he secured recognition as Christ, and (b) Christ Jesus, meaning the preexistent Christ who manifested himself in the man Jesus. The interpretation is impossible for the simple reason that here Paul's use of the Christological titles is completely misunderstood ; for the actual use made of them, see Werner Kramer, Christ, Lord, Son of God, tr. Brian Hardy, SBT, 1, 50 (London: SCM, 1966). [18.118.145.114] Project MUSE (2024-04-19 23:06 GMT) 1 Corinthians 1 :1-3 garded, with Lietzmann, as a long-established error The reference is accordingly to the Christ extra nos. on the part of the Western text, and one that arose in Egypt at an early stage. The transposition is stylistically intolerable. rii OVCTTJ ... cannot be separated from EKKArJUL~ (cf. 1 Thess 2: 14). Certainly the original form also gives the impression of being overloaded (*'YLaCTJ.J.EvoL ~, "sanctified," alongsid~ KA'YJTOL~ a"fLOL~, "called The work of salvation is the presupposition for the converse statement that Christ is in us. The idea of reciprocality (he in me-l in him), in itselffully in accord with mystical thinking, is in Paul's case understood from to be saints"). Should *'YLaCTJJ-EVOL~ EV XpLur4J 'lrJCTOV, "sanctified in Christ jesus," be deleted as a gloss, especially as the form *'YLaCTJJ-EVOL<; is not found elsewhere in Paul? 17 In content, to be sure, the passage is good Pauline theology (cf. 6: 11); it gives expression to the character first to last in terms of his theologia crucis and is governed by the concept offaith (Gal 2:19-21) .19 Our "being"20 in Christ does not abrogate the eschatological proviso, the futurity of the resurrection (Rom 6: 1-11). 21 The phrase can be applied to many situations and modes of conof sanctification as being a matter of grace. Holiness is received, not achieved. duct and used to characterize them as "Christian" or churchly. 22 In this context there are nuances in the use of the various Christological titles, without it being possible to detect any consistent schema. 23 The phrase EV XpLur4J 'I7JCTOV 18 is not to be understood in mystico-spatial terms ("in the pneumatic Christ" or "in the Christ-body"). EV can merge into the instrumental sense (OL