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corpus-paul - [Corpus-Paul] Re: Was Paul sponging off Gaius?

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  • From: "John Dickson" <jdickson AT bigpond.com>
  • To: "Corpus-Paul" <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Corpus-Paul] Re: Was Paul sponging off Gaius?
  • Date: Mon, 5 May 2003 12:56:19 +1000

Dear Richard,
In response to the following:

> 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?

In what way Gaius played XENOS to Paul is not exactly clear, since he is
described as XENOS to the hOLHS THS EKKLHSIAS as well as to Paul himself.
Clearly, the man cannot be offering lodging to the whole church. Thus, two
possibilities arise. First, the word may in this instance connote two
separate senses: a) with respect to Paul, Gaius is 'one who offers lodging';
b) with respect to the church, he is 'who furnishes space for a gathering'.

The second possibility is that Paul simply means that Gaius provides the
space for the whole church to meet and listen to the teaching of Paul. Gaius
would then be functioning as the 'host' of a club meeting in which Paul is
the 'guest-preacher', so to speak.

If the second interpretation is preferred there is obviously no tension with
Paul's no-maintenance policy. If the former is accepted, the tension may
only be apparent, since the term XENOS implies nothing about whether or not
Paul paid Gaius for his food and board. While it is possible that Paul had a
change of mind since writing 2 Cor 11:9-10 (perhaps to offer the Corinthians
something of a 'peace-offering' with respect to the offense caused over his
refusal to accept their support) it is just as likely that Paul did, in
fact, pay Gaius, even for his own food. He had certainly done that years
before in Thessalonica (2 Thess 3:8, assuming this is an accurate
remembrance) and Corinth (1 Cor 9:4). Indeed, if Paul's reference in
Philemon 18-19 to 'charging his account' and 'repaying the debt' - in
relation to Onesimus - is more than rhetoric, it raises the possibility that
Paul did in fact have something of an 'account' even with Philemon (a
co-worker). The request for lodging, then, in Phlm 22 may be more formal
than is often realized.

In short, I'm suggesting that if Gaius 'hosted' Paul in the material sense,
it is entirely possible that Paul paid for this (even if only in a token
manner) out of his own pocket.

Just a thought.



Dr. John P. Dickson
Department of Ancient History
Macquarie University
Sydney, Australia







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