Corpus-Paul

["Jack Kilmon" <jkilmon AT historian.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Vince Endris" <vince_endris AT hotmail.com>
To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
Sent: Saturday, August 10, 2002 10:19 AM
Subject: [corpus-paul] Corinthian Correspondence


> 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).

That the 2 Corinthian Epistles are a conflation of at least 4 letters has
been suggested and treated by several scholars.  Check out:

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/2corinthians.html

Jack