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  • From: Richard Fellows <rfellows AT shaw.ca>
  • To: Corpus-Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Corpus-Paul] Was Paul sponging off Gaius?
  • Date: Sun, 04 May 2003 18:54:44 -0700

2 Cor 11:7-12; 12:14 tell us that Paul was determined that when he arrived
he would not rely on material support offered by his converts. However, in
Romans 16:23 he is staying with Gaius. How do we resolve this contradiction?
This problem is noted by Thrall (II Corinthians Vol II, p707-8). Here is the
solution I propose:

As Thrall also points out (p700), the conventions allowed that someone in
Paul's position would be afforded short-term hospitality and be given
assistance for an onward journey. Paul seems to have accepted support of
this type. It was probably the longer term hospitality that he refused.
Therefore there may be no contradiction if Paul's stay at the home of Gaius
was for a short period of less than a week. This is important because it
influences our assessment of where Romans was written. Paul probably stayed
in Corinth for several weeks so it is unlikely that Romans was written from
there. Cenchreae is a stronger possibility. There are other indications that
Romans was not written from Corinth. Firstly, Erastus (Rom 16:23) travelled
with Timothy (Acts 19:22), but is not mentioned in 1 Cor 4:17 or 16:10, so
he was not from Corinth. Secondly, 1 Cor 1:14 makes better sense if both
Crispus-Sosthenes and Gaius has left Corinth by the time of writing.

Any thoughts?

Richard Fellows.







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