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  • From: Jerry Sumney <jsumney AT lextheo.edu>
  • To: 'Corpus-paul' <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: Opponents in 1&2 Corinthians
  • Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1999 01:52:10 -0400



>
>Richard Fellows wrote:
> I'm interested in the question of the identity of the Paul's
> opponents in 1
> & 2 Corinthians. In particular, I would like to know whether Paul's
> polemic in the two letters is aimed at the same opponents. Gerd
Luedemann
> argued that they were the same, but what is the state of play on
> this issue?
>
Liz responded:
I have here a book by Dieter Giorgi entitled The Opponents of Paul in
Second
Corinthians. I haven't read it, but he either assumes or argues that the
opponents are different in the two letters. It seems like an interesting
book.

Jerry Sumney replies:
If I may be so bold as to suggest my own writings, I have addressed the
question of the opponents of 2 Cor in _Identifying Paul's Opponents_
(JSNTSup). There I assert that they are pneumatics who claim that the
measure of the Spirit they enjoy makes them apostles and gives them
powerful, successful lives. They argue that Paul is not an apostle in the
sense they are because he lacks just these kinds of things. In a book
which is now at the press, I argue that the opponents of 1 Cor are not
opponents in the same sense those of 2 Cor are. That is, the problem of 1
Cor does not involve `outside agitators' but rather the Corinthians' own
mixing of their previous perspectives with the teaching the now absent Paul
had left with them. The attitudes they developed about spirituality were
VERY compatible with the teaching brought by those "apostles " who are
causing problems in 2 Cor. Perhaps the opponents of 2 Cor intentionally
tailored their message to the Corinthians' expectations????

A word about Georgi and Luedemann. I have responded at length to Georgi's
approach in the already mentioned book. There I argue that he is too quick
to assume when he finds common vocabulary in 2 Corinthians and some
non-Christian sources that they must have the same ideology and theology.
Please see the comments in the book which are less of a caricature of
Georgi and a clearer critique.
IMHO, Luedemann's view is determined by his adherence to the scheme of F.C.
Baur. So like Baur, even though one does not find clear evidence for the
presence of a particular kind of opponent, that opponent must be there
because that is the sort of opponent Paul faced. (Baur says this
explicitly about 1 Cor). Again, IMHO Luedemann's view rests more on his
broader reconstruction of church history in that period than on the text of
1and 2 Cor.

More broadly, I find it interesting that the Baur scheme lives on despite
the fact that few who advocate such schemes still hold to the Hegelian
understanding of history which is the starting point for the Baur scheme.

Jerry

Jerry L. Sumney
Lexington Theological Seminary
631 S. Limestone
Lexington, KY 40508
jsumney AT lextheo.edu
(606) 252-0361






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