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  • From: "David C. Hindley" <dhindley AT compuserve.com>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: Silvanus and Timothy in 2 Cor 1:19
  • Date: Sat, 27 Jul 2002 13:56:03 -0400


Richard Fellows ponders:

>>Why does Paul name his colleagues [seemingly selectively] in 2 Cor 1:19?
Why does he select Silvanus and Timothy, and not Apollos, for example? Is it
because P, S, & T were the original missionary team? Perhaps, but why is
that the important criterion? No-where else does Paul name those who
constituted his evangelistic team, so the inclusion of the names in 2 Cor
1:19 requires explanation. Why are Silvanus and Timothy particularly
relevant to the context here?<<

It may be a good idea to look into the possible editorial history behind the
several publications of the book we know as 2 Corinthians. Jack Kilmon has
brought up the possibility, suggested I understand by several critics, that
2 Corinthians is composite and based on fragments of several individual
letters. If it is composed of sources, the possibility exists that the
editor was selective about what was used, and so we must leave open the
possibility that (s)he intentionally altered the sources for whatever
reasons were of importance to him/her. That means an existing list of names
may have been edited to eliminate names of those "out of favor" in his/her
time, or even material lacking a list of coworkers was amended to add names
thought to be likely, as part of the process of "dressing up" the letter to
appeal to its intended audience.

David Trobisch, who I bring up all the time, addresses exactly this kind of
situation in _Paul's Letter Collection_ (Fortress, 1994), Chapter 4 "Paul's
Authorized Recension of the Letter to the Romans, The Two Letters to the
Corinthians, and the Letter to the Galatians," especially pages 57-58 on the
topic of "Names" and page 61-62 on the sub-topic of 2 Corinthians. He
suggests that 2 Cor 8:16-19, where it says "we are sending along with
[Titus] the brother praised by all the churches for his service to the
gospel" and 12:18a which says "I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our
brother with him," which do not mention this brother's name, when compared
to 1 Cor 4:17; 1 Thess 3:2-5; Phil 2:25-30; Eph 6:21-22; and Col 4:7-9,
which do name the brothers who were sent.

He says: "Authors delete names when preparing their letters for a broader
audience for two reasons. Either the names are of no interest to the
addressee of the collection because they do not know the people, or, if they
know the name, the connotation has changed." Trobisch concludes the first
situation was unlikely, and ends by saying "Consequently this would mean
that the brother mentioned here with praise is no longer a friend of Paul's
at the time he edited 2 Corinthians."

I do not know if you have seriously looked into Trobisch's book, but he also
discusses how changes in travel plans between the time when letters were
written and when they are collected for publication can effect whether they
might be modified or eliminated in the published collection.

Trobisch, FWIW, is of the opinion that Paul personally selected and edited
for publication the group of letters that this section of his book deals
with (see above).

Respectfully,

Dave Hindley
Cleveland, Ohio, USA






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