Corpus-Paul

[Jeff Peterson <peterson AT mail.ics.edu>]

At 1:31 PM +1000 4/20/99, John Dickson wrote:
>Wondering if others could comment on the suggestion that hOI ADELFOI TOU
>KURIOU in 1 Cor 9:5 does not refer to the siblings of Jesus (as assumed by
>most commentators) but to a recognised group of missionaries. . . .I am
>wondering why it is not so read here in 1 Cor 9. Is the
>modifier TOU KURIOU so decisive?

In light of Gal 1:19, the answer to John's question appears to be Yes. Here
Paul distinguishes Peter, one of his predecessor apostles, from James, hO
ADELFOS TOU KYRIOU. The designation serves not to deny Peter the status of
ADELFOS (a term which Paul of course applies not only to missionaries but
to all those adopted as hUIOU TOU QEOU in Christ; cf. Gal 4:4-6); in Gal
1:19 the term rather distinguishes James from Peter as a relation of the
Lord Jesus KATA SARKA (cf. Rom 1:3). The EI MH is famously ambiguous: did
Paul see no other person considered an apostle, but only James; or did he
see no other apostle besides James? But following Richard Bauckham's
exhaustive discussion of the passage (in _Jude and the Relatives of
Jesus_), it seems 1 Cor 9:5 can be invoked to settle the question in favor
of the latter option, for there the ADELFOI TOU KYRIOU (including but not
limited to James) are cited as unquestionably enjoying apostolic
prerogatives. 1 Cor 15:7 confirms this: Peter is mentioned as pre-eminent
among the Twelve by virtue of his having seen the risen Lord individually,
James is similarly mentioned at the head of the wider group of apostles --
this group embracing, it seems, the twelve, the other brothers of the Lord,
and such others as Andronicus and Junia (Rom 16:7).

1 Cor 15:6 appears to constitute a parenthesis in the enumeration of
apostles granted their commission by appearance of the risen Christ;
certainly it breaks the parallel structure evident between vv. 5-7 (and in
any case ADELFOI is there used  generally as in Pauline addresses to his
congregations, rather than specifically of the ADELFOI TOU KYRIOU). Perhaps
Paul included it in the rehearsal of his catechesis to strengthen the
testimony for Christ's resurrection,  which is of course the hinge on which
the argument for general resurrection is made to turn from v. 12 onward.

Just my take on the usage; how do others read the texts?

Jeff

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Jeffrey Peterson
Institute for Christian Studies
Austin, Texas, USA
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