Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

corpus-paul - The destination of Paul's intermediate visit to Achaia

corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Corpus-Paul

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: rfellows AT intergate.ca
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: The destination of Paul's intermediate visit to Achaia


Dave Inglis wrote:

<<If I understand you correctly, you are suggesting that the ‘sorrowful
visit’ recorded in 2 Cor actually took place prior to 1 Cor, and for some
reason Paul simply didn’t see any reason to mention it in 1 Cor? This
seems very unlikely.>>

Paul had no need to explicitly mention the intermediate visit in
1 Corinthians because 1 Corinthians was written to Corinth, but the
intermediate visit was only to Athens and its surroundings. But there
is, perhaps, an oblique reference to the intermediate visit in
1 Cor 4:18, for this verse may imply that there had been a specific
occasion when Paul failed to make it to Corinth. If Paul had visited
Athens but failed to proceed to Corinth, that would certainly make his
opponents smug and defiant, and that would explain the text.

I see two audiences in 2 Corinthians. The earlier chapters were
addressed to Corinth, and twice mention Corinth. However, the tone
in chapters 10-13 is very different and this implies a different
audience. Note that Corinth is not mentioned in those chapters - only
Achaia.

2 Cor 11.20 reads, "For you put up with it when someone makes slaves
of you, or preys upon you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs,
or gives you a slap in the face". It is difficult to imagine that
this could have been written to the same church as 1 Corinthians, for
the recipients of 1 Cor 1-4 seem particularly assertive. Margaret
Thrall has pointed to this problem in here recent commentary, but has
not offered a solution.

The opponents in 2 Cor 10-13 look very much like Corinthians because
the themes are the same as those in 1 Corinthians. Yet the opponents
in 2 Cor 10-13 are outsiders. This too suggests that 10-13 is directed
towards a place (or places) outside Corinth to which some of Paul's
Corinthian opponents had traveled.

All this points to the following sequence. Dates are approximate.

51. Evangelistic visit
53. Second visit to Achaia (including Athens but not including Corinth).
53. Probable writing of 1 Thess.
55 Spring. 1 Corinthians.
55 Spring. Some Corinthian opponents (the arrogant of 1 Cor 4) travel to
Athens.
55 Autumn. Paul travels to Macedonia and writes 2 Corinthians as a unity.

Richard Fellows
Winnipeg
Canada





  • The destination of Paul's intermediate visit to Achaia, rfellows, 04/29/2002

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page