Corpus-Paul

["Vince Endris" <vince_endris AT hotmail.com>]

Corpus-Paul,

I am reading the letters to the Corinthians and am trying to put together 
some kind of order for them.  This is what I have so far.

Paul goes to Corinth and starts a church from 50/51-52 (based on Gallio's 
proconcilship)

He writes a letter about reported PORNOS in the church and separation from 
those inside the church who are immoral (1 Cor. 5:9-13).  While Paul says 
that his letter did not tell them to separate themselves from non-believers 
outside the church (since this would mean going out of the world), the 
Corinthians seem to have understood it to mean that.  This indicates that 2 
Cor. 6:14-7:1, in which Paul does tell them not to associate with any 
unbeliever, is part of that letter.

Upon receiving news from "Chloe's people" and Stephanas, Fortunatus and 
Achaicus in Ephesus, Paul writes another letter, 1 Cor., which addresses a 
number of topics, mainly division in the church and problems in worship 
services.

Though Paul mentioned in 1 Cor. that he wanted to wait until after he 
visited Macedonia to visit Corinth, he had to make a trip there earlier than 
expected.  His travel plans were that he would go to Corinth, solve their 
problems, return to Ephesus, go to Macedonia, and then return to Corinth in 
order to pick up their collection for the Jerusalem church. The trip was due 
to someone in the congregation who was causing trouble - presumably making 
personal attacks on Paul (2 Cor. 2:5), and depending on when 2 Cor. 10-13 
was written may have been due to the arrival of the "super-apostles".

This trip went badly for Paul, though, and when he returned to Ephesus he 
thought about returning to Corinth on his way to Macedonia.  But instead, he 
thought it best to send Titus with a letter ("letter written in tears").

This letter did the trick and when Titus gave Paul the good news in 
Macedonia, he composed 2 Cor. 1-9(at least 1-7).

Though I would like to hear any comments or suggestions any of you might 
want to make about the above, my big problem is where to place 2 Cor. 10-13. 
 I do not think that these chapters were originally a part of 2 Cor.  This 
could not be the tearful letter since Titus seems to already have come and 
gone for Corinth (12:18).  Also it was the tearful letter which brought the 
Corinthians to repentance and 2 Cor. is an answer to that.  So 10-13 had to 
have been written after 2 Cor.  My thoughts so far are that Paul wrote 2 
Cor. 1-9 in response to the Corinthians repentance brought by the tearful 
letter.  Upon his visit, Titus met these "super-apostles" and reported them 
to Paul.  This lead to the writing of 10-13.  In this case, the mention of 
Titus and "the brother sent with him (12:18)" going to Corinth would be the 
visit for the collection (8:17-24).

Vince Endris

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