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  • From: Richard Fellows <rfellows AT intergate.bc.ca>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: The Troad: rendezvous or procession?
  • Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 13:41:55 -0700


2 Cor 2:12-13 is usually interpreted to mean that Paul had arranged a
rendezvous with Titus in Troas. Here are four problems with this
interpretation. (See Thrall's commentary for a discussion of them).

1.
The article before 'TRWADA' implies the region, the Troad, rather than the
town, Troas. A region does not represent a suitable rendezvous point.

2.
The expression, 'not finding my brother Titus', implies that Titus was
expected to get there first. This is surprising: if Paul was so keen to
meet Titus and had arranged a rendezvous, why did he not get to Troas ahead
of schedule?

3.
2 Cor 2:14 does not supply a metaphor for a rendezvous, and the connection
between 2:13 and 2:14 is therefore difficult to find.

4.
It is hard to explain why Paul wrote that he had been anxious in Troas. He
has just said that he had been confident about the tearful letter (2:3) so
that does not explain it (see Barrett). And with the usual interpretation
of events, it is difficult to see why he should have been so anxious about
the safety of Titus.

A better interpretation, in my view, is afforded by the theory that Titus
left Ephesus before 1 Cor and travelled via the Troad and Macedonia to
Corinth, arriving after 1 Cor (see my last post). I think this solves the
problems listed above.

Paul had hoped that Titus would return to Ephesus (1 Cor 16:11) but he
failed to arrive. Paul left Ephesus at Pentecost, as planned. He could
not leave earlier, for fear of missing Titus there. When Paul left Ephesus
he knew only that Titus had failed to arrive in Corinth on time (see my
last post). He was therefore anxious about his safety and wondered whether
he had got stuck in the Troad or Macedonia. So when he travelled to the
Troad and did not find him there, he knew that Titus was ahead of him so he
pushed on to Macedonia. Therefore Paul is not talking about meeting Titus
after his visit to Corinth. Rather the journey of Titus ON HIS WAY to
Corinth is in view. Paul is describing how he followed the route that
Titus had taken a few months before.

I think we can now explain the connection between 2:13 and 2:14. Notice
the change to the plural, which makes it plausible that in 2:14 Paul is
referring exclusively to Titus and himself. This is rather likely if Titus
is to be identified as Timothy, the co-sender of the letter. So, since the
'QRIAMBEUONTI' in 2:14 probably carries the image of a procession, the
connecting thought between the two verses is probably the image of Titus
and Paul travelling one after the other from Ephesus to the Troad to
Macedonia. Titus and Paul were in procession around the Aegean.

Richard Fellows
Vancouver
rfellows AT intergate.bc.ca






  • The Troad: rendezvous or procession?, Richard Fellows, 07/01/1999

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