June 10: The Epistles, Part 1 - “There & Then”

We’re taking two weeks on the epistles, so that we can take the time to focus on two key questions for studying Scripture:

• What did it mean to them? – then & there

Exegesis: Careful, systematic study of Scripture to discover the original, intended meaning. It is the attempt to hear the Word as the original recipients were to have heard it, to find out what was the original intent of the words of the Bible.

• What does it mean to us? – here & now

Hermeneutics: Normally covers the whole field of interpretation, including exegesis, but is also used in the narrower sense of seeking the contemporary relevance of ancient texts

Why not start with the “here & now”? Isn’t that why we’re reading the Bible in the first place?

We can’t credibly begin our interpretation of Scripture with the here and now (“what this Scripture means to me”) because the only proper control for interpretation is found in the original intent of the biblical text. Otherwise, texts could be made to mean whatever they mean to any given reader – total subjectivity. And we dishonor God’s intent and message by crafting it to our own purposes.

We discussed some examples of improper interpretations:

• Mormons baptize for the dead on the basis of I Corinthians 15:29
• Snake handlers use of Mark 16:18
• Prosperity evangelists advocate the American dream as a Christian right on the basis of 3 John 2

In each case the error is in their hermeneutics (here and now) precisely because their interpretation is not controlled by good exegesis (there and then).

So we’re going to start our work with texts like the epistles with some appropriate grounding in what type of texts we’re dealing with, and some techniques to get at the “then and there” foundation of our interpretation.

Nature of the Epistles

Certainly not a homogeneous lot – they're diverse in author, audience, and form. What do they have in common? They are all “occasional documents” – each arising out of and intended for a specific occasion. They were called forth or “occasioned” by some special circumstance from either the reader’s side or the author’s side. Almost all of the New Testament letters were occasioned from the readers’ side – Philemon and perhaps James and Romans are exceptions.

What were the “occasions”? Usually they were some kind of behavior that needed correcting, doctrinal error that needed setting straight, or a misunderstanding that needed further light.

Most of our problems in interpreting epistles are rooted in the fact that we have the answers, but we don’t always know the questions or problems that prompted them. In some ways it’s like listening to one end of a telephone conversation.

The occasional nature of the Epistles also means that they are not first of all theological treatises, nor are they summaries of Paul’s or Peter’s theology. Throughout the epistles, there is theology implied, but it is always “task theology” – theology being brought to bear on the task at hand. We go to the Epistles again and again for Christian theology, they’re loaded with it. But we must always keep in mind that they were not primarily written to expound Christian theology. It is always theology applied or directed toward a specific need.

Since we’re using I Corinthians as our platform for discussing this notion of “there and then” in the epistles, we asked “What is I Corinthians about?”

Our class came up with a range of first pass answers to this question: divisions in the church, sexual immorality, spiritual gifts, proper behavior in the church, and others. We agreed the overall focus of I Corinthians is a letter of correction, in which Paul takes on the Corinthian church on issue after issue. These are mostly behavioral issues, but nevertheless betrayals of the gospel of Christ and life in the Spirit.

Then we dove in a bit deeper, and applied some basic elements of good exegesis for the epistles, starting with reading in one sitting and/or reading in paragraphs to get a sense of how the message is structured and the overall flow of the author’s argument. Good exegesis for the epistles includes thinking about:

• The recipients – who are these people, what’s going on with them?
• The author’s attitude towards the recipients, his relationship with them
• The occasion – what prompted the letter?
• The outline – what is the letter’s overall flow, and the natural divisions in the text?

Applying these to I Corinthians, our class discussed:

The recipients - what can we learn about them from the text?

• Mainly Gentiles, some Jews
• Love wisdom and knowledge – a key thrust of Paul’s argument is to contrast God’s wisdom with their emphasis on human wisdom (1:17 – 2:5)
• Proud and arrogant (4:18, 5:2, 6) – even to the point of judging Paul (4:1-5; 9:1-18)
• Yet what do they have? A lot of problems in their fellowship!

What are some of the things we know about ancient Corinth from commentaries, histories, external study?

• New - Rome had destroyed the old Corinth in 146 B.C.E. The city Paul entered was therefore young-- not even a century old. In 44 B.C.E. a decree of Julius Caesar had re-founded Corinth as a Roman colony.
• Large – About 650,000 total (250,000 free & 400,000 slaves)
• Corinth in Paul’s day was a new wealthy, cosmopolitan city on an important trade route in the middle of the Roman Empire
• As there was no hierarchy of old money and influence, those with skills and passions flocked to Corinth and formed a new hierarchy based on power, success, intellect, connections and wealth.
• Diverse racially & ethnically
• Reputation for immorality and licentious living
• Religious - many different faiths and practices. 12 different temples and a Jewish synagogue.

Paul’s attitude towards them – what can we observe from the text? His tone, his message – how does he talk to them? His attitude seems to fluctuate

• Rebuke, anger, even use of irony and sarcasm: 4:7-10; 6:1-8
• Appeal: 4:14-17; 16:10-11
• Exhortation: 6:18-20; 16:12-14

Occasion – what prompted the letter?

• Reported information: “some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.” 1:11, 5:1 also refers to reported information
• Response to a letter from the church – 7:1 “now for the matters you wrote about.” Note that “now about” appears 6 times through the letter - 7:1, 7:25, 8:1, 12:1, 16:1, 16:12

Working outline of the letter – what are the natural divisions, the flow of the argument?

Think of the occasions to help find a starting point. Paul mentions items reported to him in 1:10-12 and 5:1. We may reasonably assume the matters in Chapters 1-6 are all responses to what’s been reported to him:

1. Problem of division in the church 1:10 – 4:21
2. Problem of the immoral brother 5:1-13
3. Problem of lawsuits among believers 6:1-11
4. Problem of sexual immorality 6:12-10

“Now about . . .” becomes another set of clues to help us with chapters 7-16. Only three items are not explicitly laid out by this formula (11:2-16, 11:17-34, and Chapter 15), and we can fit them in pretty easily – Chapter 11 is within a larger overall section on worship and spirituality, and we’ll see that Chapter 15 is a key “bookend” element of Paul’s overall response to the issues at Corinth.

5. behavior within marriage 7:1-24
6. virgins 7:25-40
7. food sacrificed to idols 8:1-11:1
8. head coverings in worship 11:2-16
9. an abuse of the Lord’s supper 11:17-34
10. spiritual gifts 12-14
11. bodily resurrection of believers 15
12. the collection 16:1-11
13. return of Apollos 16:12
14. concluding exhortations and greetings (16:13-24)

So, what’s the big picture Paul is trying to address? – the “task theology” he’s doing in the letter?

Close reading indicates that Paul and the church – or at least some of them – are at odds on many issues. The primary place where they are at odds is over the question of being spiritual –what it means to be a person of the Spirit. This surfaces sharply in chapters 12 – 15, and we see it throughout the letter in such issues as:

• Spiritual arrogance over gifts and practices
• Assumed attainment of some higher spiritual level
• Attainment of some “wisdom” that leads them to consider Paul’s previous instructions beneath them.
• Their view of spirituality very likely lends itself to their low view of bodily activities (meaning they can indulge or be ascetic at will).

What is Paul’s response? His greatest concern is that the gospel itself is at stake, as the Corinthians’ cultural notions of spirituality have them rejecting the centrality of the cross in Christian life. Thus he reminds them that the gospel has a crucified Messiah, risen from the dead, at its very heart, and he bookends the letter with these two basic theological realities

• The cross – I Corinthians 1:17 – 2:5

• The resurrection – I Corinthians 15

Everything in the letter should be read in light of these imperatives, these ‘bookends’ to Paul’s specifics on specific issues. I Corinthians has an important place in the biblical story, reminding us that God calls a people to himself so that they might be conformed to his own likeness, reflected in the (apparent) weakness and folly of the cross.

"And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power."

I Corinthians 2:1-5 TNIV