James Hardy Ropes

“ To Paul this was abhorrent, and here too he urges a complete break with their past. With regard to the social customs of meals at which meat that had been offered in heathen sacrifices was a part, and of feasts actually at heathen temples, doubtful questions arose. Was it a denial of the faith to eat such food or not? Mixed marriages, too, had their problems; ought the believing wife to separate herself? Ought the believing husband to insist that his heathen wife stay with him against her will? ”

“ But doubtless the more elaborate discourses of Apollos were admired, and Paul’s teaching seemed in contrast bare, plain and crude (cf. 2 Cor. x. 10) . The contrast between the Hellenic and Jewish types of thought may well have played a part also. Paul seems to be replying to such criticisms brought against him when he declares that he deliberately chose to bring to Corinth not the “wisdom of men” but the “power of God” (i. 17, ii. 1-5) , and informs them that he has a store of wisdom for those who are ready for it (ii. 6) . ”

“ The fundamental theme of the epistle is The Unity of Mankind in Christ, and hence the Unity and Divinity of the Church of Christ. God’s purpose from eternity was to unite mankind in Christ, and so to bring human history to its goal, the New Man, the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. ”

“ In consequence of this intimate character the First Epistle to the Corinthians presents a picture, unrivalled in fulness and colour, of the life of a Pauline church, while the Second Epistle, written out of strong feeling, gives a revelation of the innermost feelings and characteristic temperament of Paul himself, such as is not elsewhere to be found. Dealing, as both epistles do, with concrete problems of morals and with such tendencies of thought and life as find their parallel in all times, they are full of instruction to the modern Church ”

“ Among the most important points in which the ideas and implications of Ephesians suggest an authorship and a period other than that of Paul are the following:
(a) The union of Gentiles and Jews in one body is already accomplished. (b) The Christology is more advanced, uses Alexandrian terms, and suggests the ideas of the Gospel of John. (c) The conception of the Church as the body of Christ is new. (d) There is said to be a general softening of Pauline thought in the direction of the Christianity of the 2nd century, while very many characteristic ideas of the earlier epistles are absent. ”

“ It is by no accident that Paul is in the habit of treating the simplest moral issues by reference to the highest principles of his theology. From the situation at Corinth we gain an idea of what was taking place in many cities, but in the seething life of so great a capital with more rapid and varied development.
Of strictly intellectual and theological problems or errors only one is treated systematically, although at many other points in the practical discussions we can detect the theoretical basis cf the errors combated and the theological foundations of Paul’s own judgments. ”

“ We learn that Jewish Christians (xi. 22) had come to Corinth, doubtless from Jerusalem, with letters of recommendation (iii. 1) . They urged their own claims as apostles (though not of the twelve) , and set themselves up as superior to Paul (xi. 5, xii. 11, v. 12, xi. 18) . Paul calls them “false apostles” (xi. 13-15) , and declares that they preach “another Jesus, another Spirit, another Gospel” (xi. 4) . ”

“ It purports to be by Paul, and was held to be his by Marcion and in the Muratorian canon, and by Irenaeus, Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria, all writing at the end of the 2nd century. No doubt of the Pauline authorship was expressed in ancient times; nor is there any lack of early use by writers who make no direct quotation, to raise doubts as to the genuineness of the epistle. The influence of its language is probably to be seen in Ignatius, Polycarp and Hermas, less certainly in the epistle of Barnabas. ”

“ The influences of the heathen world, from which most of the Corinthian Christians had come and to which their friends and neighbours belonged, were always with them, and the problems created by these relations were very numerous. Christianity had brought over and had even intensified the moral code of Judaism, and, especially in the relations of the sexes, this brought a strain upon the naturalistic impulses and lower standards of converts trained in a different system. ”

“ When he ironically calls himself a “fool” (xi. 1, 16, 17, 19, 21, xii. 6-11) , he is doubtless taking up their term of abuse, and in many of the hard passages of this most difficult of all Paul’s epistles we may suspect that half-quoted flings of the enemy glimmer through his retort. From 2 Cor. x. 7, xi. 22 it may be inferred that these Jewish Christians had something to do with the “Christ-party” of which we seem to hear in the first epistle.
To the tact and firmness of Titus must be ascribed much of the successful issue of these dealings with the Corinthians. ”

“ Of early attestation the amount is rather greater for First Corinthians than for other epistles. Not only were both epistles included without question in the Pauline canon of Marcion (circ. A.D. 150) and in the Muratorian list (end of 2nd century) , and known to various Gnostic sects of the 2nd century, but Clement of Rome (circ. A.D. 95) makes a specific reference (xlvii. 1) to the fact that the Corinthians “received the Epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul,” and proceeds with an unmistakable quotation from 1 Cor. i. ”

“ But these cases, when properly understood and calmly viewed, do not carry conviction against the epistle. (4) The relation of Ephesians to Colossians would be a serious difficulty only if Colossians were held to be not by Paul. Those who hold to the genuineness of Colossians find it easier to explain the resemblances as the product of the free working of the same mind, than as due to a deliberate imitator. ”

“ The change in the situation is surely not greater than can be imagined within the lifetime of Paul. That the epistle implies as already existent a developed system of Gnostic thought such as only came into being in the 2nd century is not true, and such a date is excluded by the external evidence. ”

“ Only a comparison in detail will give a true impression of the extraordinary degree of resemblance. Yet the two epistles do not follow the same course of thought, and their contents cannot be successfully exhibited in a common synoptical abstract. ”

“ From them and from a letter (vii. 1) , which was brought perhaps by Stephanas, he was able to gain the intimate knowledge which the epistles everywhere reveal. The letter from Corinth must have contained inquiries as to practical conduct with regard to marriage (vii. 1) , meat offered to idols (viii. 1) , and the “spiritual gifts” (xii. 1) , and may well have related to other matters, such as the collection of money for Jerusalem (xvi. 1) , the visit of Apollos (xvi. 12) , the position of women (xi. 2) . Paul’s reply includes many other topics. ”

“ It went by the hand of Titus, who was promptly sent back to complete the work he had so well begun (viii. 6, 16-24) . In company with him (viii. 18) was sent a brother (unnamed) who had already been appointed as the representative of the churches to accompany Paul in carrying to Jerusalem the great collection of money now nearly completed. The greater part of the epistle consists of the outpouring of Paul’s thankful and loving heart (chaps, i.-vii.) ”

“ If the latter epistle could be finally established as genuine, or its date fixed, it would give important evidence with regard to Ephesians; but in the present state of discussion we must confine ourselves to pointing out the fact. Some of the more striking points of contact are the following: Eph. i. 3, 1 Peter i. 3; Eph. i. 20, 21, 1 Peter iii. 22; Eph. ii. 2, 3, iv. 17, 1 Peter iv. 3; Eph. ii. 21, 22, 1 Peter ii. 5; Eph. v. 22, 1 Peter iii. 1, 2; Eph. v. 25, 1 Peter iii. 7, 8; Eph. vi. 5, 1 Peter ii. 18, 19. A similar relation exists between Romans and 1 Peter. ”