1 Corinthians Flashcards
Historical Context of 1 Corinthians
Author: Paul, with authenticity undisputed
Date: 56 or 57; in the revisionist date, 54 or 56
Place of Composition: Ephesus
Audience: Corinthian communities; Corinthian believers, a mixed Church of Jews and predominantly Gentiles converted by Paul
Unity: Affirmed by most scholars today
Integrity: There is some disagreement on 14:34-35, on the silence of women in the Church. Interpolation?
Purpose: to instruct the Corinthians on a wide variety of problems and issues, especially true wisdom, unity in the Church, moral living and eschatology
Historical-Critical Method
Historical-Critical Method:
Reconstruct the world in which this text is written and the world in which this text is received
- Most scholars adopt a Historical-Critical Method when analyzing the Bible
- It has become the key methodology for Biblical studies
- It is suspicious when people who do not follow this suit, in the scholarly community
- Scholars have developed new ways of critically analyzing biblical text, but they are all founded on the
Unity of a Letter
When we talk about the Unity of a Letter we are determining, is this letter a unified coherent single letter or not?
Integrity of a Letter
There were no forms of mass-printing in the ancient Roman era, the letters were copied word for word by scribes
If one scribe wanted to insert his words into the Letter so his opinion would be accepted, he would insert a verse or two of his own words into Paul’s letter
This goes against his “I was all things to all people”
Information about Corinth (geographical location)
- Flourishing crossroads for sea traffic b/w Aegean region and western Mediterranean
- A place where many cultures and religions mingled
- It was a Roman colony where Roman law and customs were important, particularly among the upper classes but many “gods” and many “lords” found a home in Corinth (8:5)
- Worship of these gods was fully integrated into governmental affairs, civic festivals, trade guilds, social clubs, everyday life in general
- Corinth was also a destination for travelling professional orators who charged a fee for their attendance at their entertaining rhetorical displays and advised people on how to advance socially (Rhetoric: the art of convincing an analysis)
- In Paul’s day the great Doric-style temple (to Athena from Apollo) from the sixth century BCE remained a central feature in Corinth, and multiple temples to other deities dotted the city
- Corinth boasted an important sanctuary Asklepios (the god of healing), where people would come to offer sacrifices to the god and to seek medical care
- Marks of the imperial cult were evident
- In any case, in Roman times wanton sexuality would have been common at such a port city
- Prostitution
They are reflected in the early Christian communities at Corinth - Corinth had an amphitheatre, marking it as very important
- Basilica: a public gathering place in Roman times (with markets, shops, etc.)
- Synagogue of the Hebrews
Table Fellowship in Corinthians
- Eucharist/Mass began with a table fellowship event
- This is traceable to the historical Jesus, he loved to have a party in the form of table fellowship after he preached
- It was formalized into a ritual because, before he died, he celebrated a special meal with his disciples and said “this is my body” and “this is my blood”
It was done in the context of a meal/party - The Christians met in houses (house Church)
- The host and hostess would have the Christians over n their house and supply food
Table Fellowship in Corinthians
What prompted Paul to write 1 Corinthians?
- Table Fellowship became cliquey and people became divided by who they hang out with and what they ate
- Paul was upset by this because the Eucharist is supposed to be an equalizer
- The table fellowship is an image of God where everyone is welcome
- But in Corinth, that was not the case
- People would get drunk, eat too much, discriminate other people, judge people based on their status and cleanliness
- Paul addresses this by saying that these meeting must be free of sin
- Catholisc later misinterpret this, assuming they must be pure of sin (go to confession) before Eucharist
The Resurrection according to 1 Corinthians 15
- Paul claims that 500 people saw the risen Christ, and when he was writing to the Corinthians, he claims that they are still alive
- Many stories of the resurrection do not have parallels
- Scholars assume that people either made them up because no one knew anything about it, and other scholars say that it was so mysterious that everyone experienced it in such a different way
“And that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.”
He leaves out Mary Magdalene, and all the women Jesus appeared to
12 apostles? Judas had died already, as 3 of the gospels have said
- But the Gospels were written 40 years after Paul wrote
- Some say that the story Judas appeared later and was invented to shift the blame of Jesus’ death to the Jews (Judas sounds like Jews)
- These 500 witnesses are only mentioned by Paul
- And then he appeared to James (brother of the Lord), - James is arguably the most important apostle (even more than Peter)
- And then to all the apostles, are these the same as the 12?
- The apostles seems to be a wider group of the 12, in Paul’s perspective
- Paul perceives himself as an apostle
- Later on, Paul even calls a woman an apostle
Paul as the “least of the apostles” in 1 Corinthians 15
“Last of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them - though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.”
Paul, here, is referring to the competition contest going on in Corinth
Doesn’t matter who you are, you are all to do the same work.
What is the nature of the Resurrection in 1 Corinthians?
It is an appearance of the risen Christ.
By which he came to believe that the Jesus that was crucified is still alive.
- Death could not stop Jesus
- There is no physicality, no mention of the empty tomb
- Paul views the nature of the resurrection as an appearance of Christ
- NOT as a physical reincarnation
- This is the earliest account of the resurrection, 20 years after it happened
- The physical accounts that are more popular only came later, 20+ years after Paul
What are the four kinds of resurrection narratives? What kind does Paul’s telling fall under in 1 Corinthians
- Brief Statements of Resurrection Faith
- Empty Tomb Narratives
- Resurrection Appearance Stories
- Ascension Narratives
Paul does not write an empty tomb narrative, those came later (and exist in all 4 gospels, e.g. the women finding the empty tomb). His is the earliest systematic account of the Resurrection, it is merely an appearance of Christ. Everything else came later.
Interpolation: 1 Corinthians 34-35
“As in all the churches of the saints, women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says”
- In this passage, Paul silences women in the Church
- On the whole of his letters, Paul is usually positively disposed to women
- Overall, he positively views women
- This may be a marginal gloss later interpolated into the text in order to emphasize something that the original Paul did not even say
- For a long period of time, the Bible was believed to be a divine revelation from God and could not be questioned
- This passage is also really randomly inserted into Paul’s message
Note: If these statements do come from Paul, then they were merely addressing the married women of Corinth
Charism
gift (a charismatic speaker has the gift of speaking)
1 Corinthians Lists of Spiritual Gifts
1 Corinthians (12:8-10): Word of Wisdom, Faith, Healings, Miracles, Prophecy, Discerning of Spirits, Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues
1 Corinthians (12: 28-30): Apostleship, Prophecy, Teaching, Miracles, Healing, Helping, Administrating, Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues
As time goes on, the list of gifts becomes smaller in size, with tongues, prophecy, miracles, healing all disappearing in Christian history
