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1 4 1 Corinthians 1 :4-9 The Proemium (Thanksgiving) I thank (my)1 God always on your behalf for the grace of God,2 which has been bestowed upon you in Christ Jesus, 5 I that3 in everything you have been made rich in him,4 in all eloquence and in all knowledge; 6 I for indeed5 the testimony of Christ6 has been confirmed in you,7 7 I so that you are lacking in no gift of grace, while you await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 81 who will also confirm you to the end (that you may be)8 without reproach on the day of our Lord Jesus (Christ),9 9 I God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship10 with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. • 4 The "proemium" is, following the profane epistolary style, an established element at the beginning of Paul's epistles. 11 This thanksgiving already belongs (again as in profane letters) to the "context"; it can even introduce the main theme. 12 Although it is adapted simple communication, but ofsolemnly formulated prayer of a jewish type. The latter is already evidenced in the use of the catchword Evxapture'iv, "to thank."14 The "individual" element lies in the way the tone consciously mounts to the climax at the end, vv Sf. to the receiver and the peculiar content of the letter, it has fairly constant structure. 13 And its style is not that of 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 JJ.OV om. B ~* .For JJ.OV cf. Rom 1:8; Phil1 :3; Phlm 4. ~vxapLUTE'iv is constructed with 7rEp£, 1 Thess 1:2; Philo (person and thing in one) Spec. leg. 1.211; with E7rt and dative (of the thing) Philo. Spec. leg. 1.67;Jos., Ant. 1.193; inscriptions; papyri; Paul, Phil1 :3, 5; Preisigke, Sammelbuch, no. 7172, line 25: EvxapLUTWJI TOL~ BEOL~ E7rL r4' (JUJIUAfUaL avrov~ aE'lrT/f'f'EiAaJITO avrcl', "giving thanks to the gods for their fulfillment of the things which were promised to him"; with u1r£p, 2 Cor 1:11. on gives the explanation, not the reason (against Hering): "for the fact that," see Bauer s.v.; Rom 1:8, cf. Ps.-Callisth., Hist. Alex. Magn. 2.22.11, and see note 13 below. Cf. 2 Cor 9:11. A significant wordplay with 1ros. Cf. 5:7; Bauer, s.v.; Blass-Debrunner §453(2). One should not read BEoiJ, "of God" (as in B*G), see Zuntz, Text, 101f; see on 2:1. That is, "in your midst.'" Brevity of speech, cf. 1 Thess 3: 12; 5:23; Phil 3:21; Winer, Grammatik, 579f; Winer-M.J, 778f. XpLUTOV om. p46 B. Or: "participation in ...." The sole exception-for which there is a reason-is Gal. The connection with the ancient epistolary custom is shown by Wendland, Literaturformen, 213f. Paul Schubert, Form and Function of the Pauline Thanksgivings , BZNW, 20 (Berlin: Topelmann, 1939), shows that the proemium in Paul represents an independent part of the information contained in the letter, particularly marked in 1 Thess, where it merges with the body of the letter. 13 Ibid. Types are: (a) EvxapLurcl', then one or more partiCiples, a final clause or final infinitive; 1 Thess 1:22ff; Phil1 :2ff; Phlm 4ff; (b) (as here) EvxapLUTW ... on and a consecutive clause; 2 Thess 1:3f. Cf. the celebrated letter of Apion (BGU 2:423); Deissmann, Light, 179-183 [145-150]; Hans Lietzmann , Griechische Papyri, KIT, 14 (Bonn: Marcus & Weber, 2 1910, 4f, no. 1): 'A1r£wv 'E7rLJJ.clX'!' TWL 7raTpi Kai I KUPL'!' 7rAELUTa xa£pELv. Ilpo JJ.EV 7raJI rwv EVXOJJ.a£ UE uf'La£vELv Kai OL!l 1ravro~ I l:pwJJ .fVOV EvruxE'iv JJ.Era r~~ aoEAc/>~~ 1JJ.ou Kal r~~ Buyarpo~ auT~~ Kai TOV aoEAcf>ov I !J.OV. EvxapLUTW r4' Kvp£'1' ~Epa7rLOL, on JJ.OV KLvovvEuuavro~ El~ Ba>..auuav I Euwu~ EVB£w~. "Apion to Epimachus his father and lord many greetings. Before all things I pray that thou art in health, and that thou dos• prosper and fare well continually together with my sister and her daughter and my brother. I thank the lord Serapis that, when I was in peril in the sea, he saved me immediately" (Deissmann, Light, 180). 14 Or EVAOf'T/TO~ (thus 2 Cor 1:3; Eph 1:3; 1 Pet 1:3). On the forms of the "eucharistia" or "eulogy" (with an oversharp distinction...

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