Corpus-Paul

[Carlton Winbery <winberyc AT speedgate.net>]

Jeffrey Gibson wrote;

>   In 1 Cor 7:26  Paul speaks about the fact that there are certain things
>that the Corinthians should not do DIA THN ENESTWSAN ANAGKHN.  I'd be
>grateful if List Members would comment on just what this ENESTWSAN
>ANAGKHN  is. I'm aware of the line of scholarship, reflected in such
>translations of the expression as is found in the NRSV ( "in view of the
>impending crisis") which takes ENESTWSAN ANAGKHN to be the "end of the
>world" and uses 1 Cor 7:29, 31 as evidence in support of this view. But
>MUST this be the what  Paul has in mind? Has anyone taken a position that
>the ENESTWSAN ANAGKHN which Paul speaks of  is something far more mundane
>and local? And if so, what is it?

The word ANAGKHN is used often enough in Hellenistic Greek to mean a
catastrophic event or time (Luke 21:23). Paul uses it in both senses of
trouble and also compulsion or necessity. The perfect participle of
ENISTHMI functions as the word to denote the present tense in Greek. Here
it means "nearby" or "at hand." Since we know that Paul expected the
PAROUSIA in his own life time (1 Thessa. 4:15), it seems to me likely that
this is another time that he is using eschatology to focus attention upon
what ought to be done in the present (like he does in Phil. 3:20).

Though there are some mysterious things about some things in Corinth (third
heaven and baptism for the dead), I know of nothing that would indicate
Paul expected a time of trouble that would be localized to Corinth. He
certainly got a lot of lip from some of the Corinthians.

Some might want to argue that a "compelling job" is before us, i.e., the
necessity of evangilizing the Roman world. It just seems to me at the
moment that Paul is using the ultimate goal to address a present situation.




Dr. Carlton L. Winbery
Foggleman Professor of Religion
Louisiana College
winbery AT andria.lacollege.edu
winbery AT speedgate.net
Ph. 1 318 448 6103 hm
Ph. 1 318 487 7241 off