Corpus-Paul

[Richard Fellows <rfellows AT intergate.bc.ca>]

David.E. Garland wrote:
>That 2 Corinthians is a compilation of letters has almost become
orthodoxy, though I think it wrong.

In 1950 C.H.Buck (HTR XLIII 1-29) listed some verses in 2 Cor 10-13 which
correspond to statements about the severe letter. He writes: 

'On the strength of these correspondences the identification of 10-13 with
the severe letter has gained wide acceptance.  This conclusion, however, is
seriously weakened, if not disposed of entirely, by the recognition of
quite as convincing as set of correspondences with 1 Corinthians'

I think his observation is a good one, but it should lead us to the
opposite conclusion.

Here is a table of the verses he lists.

1 Cor ----- 2 Cor 1,2 ----- 2 Cor 10-13
4:18f ----- 1:23 ---------- 13:2
4:21 ------ 2:3 ----------- 13:10
4:14 ------ 2:9 ----------- 10:6

It is no coincidence that all the verses from 1 Cor that Buck quotes come
from the passage in chapter 4 where the mission of Timothy is mentioned.
It seems reasonable to conclude that Timothy (who was also known as Titus)
carried the 'tearful' letter, which should be identified as 2 Cor 10-13. If
Titus was not the same person as Timothy then we must invent three
different occasions to account for the sets of verses given above, and one
is left with a chronic feeling of deja vu when one reads the Corinthian
letters.  Why make things complicated when a simple solution is on offer?

Would anyone like to argue from the Corinthian letters that Titus and
Timothy were different people?  It would make a useful discussion, and the
issue is pivotal to 2 Corinthians.

Richard Fellows
Vancouver
rfellows AT intergate.bc.ca