Today in New Testament we went through an overview of the structure and themes of 1 Corinthians, which we will be studying this semester. Some scholars say there's no structure at all, but our lecturer put forward the idea that the glory of God is the unifying theme of the book.
Furthermore, he said that wisdom, sexuality, worship and resurrection/consummation - the key issues in 1 Corinthians - are not just key for 1 Corinthians, but in other letters of his too. This view is heavily drawing on the work of Rosner and Ciampa in their commentary on 1 Corinthians (I've appended an excerpt below).
I found it quite interesting to ponder - does Paul have a "set play" (to put it crudely). Does he have a way he commonly argues? If one did agree that there is a pattern, one could get frustrated at Paul saying the same thing over and over again. However, I find this idea encouraging. Rather than creating his own message, Paul is preaching the gospel. Therefore, one would expect each message to be getting at the same idea. Wonderfully, Paul addresses each different community with their different people and different struggles. Yet - if these guys are right in their analysis - it all boils down to the same essence. It is all about Christ, and all for the glory of God.
It will take a while to examine whether I think the Pauline letters fit this mold, but I like the idea of it :-)
What a marvel that God has spoken to us! What a delight that He has given us such a clear revelation of Himself in His Son and His word! And what a privilege that he has given us His Spirit, so that we might understand his word about his son and be drawn to Him and fashioned into His likeness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This “shape” to Paul’s teaching is evident across the breadth of his corpus. To put the pattern in point form, with the overall goal of the glory of God, we find:
1. The proclamation of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is a call to enter the new eschatological age established in and by him. It demands that all people submit in unity to Christ, living out the wisdom of the other-person-centered lifestyle of the cross.
2. They must abandon the Gentile vice of sexual immorality (to the glory of God).
3. They must abandon the Gentile vice of idolatry, and give proper worship to the one true God (to the glory of God).
4. The Gentiles’ lives will be characterized by expectant hope for the final consummation of God’s glory (and so their own glorification) in the future bodily resurrection.
Ciampa, R. E., & Rosner, B. S. 2010. The First Letter to the Corinthians. The Pillar New Testament Commentary (26). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.
Furthermore, he said that wisdom, sexuality, worship and resurrection/consummation - the key issues in 1 Corinthians - are not just key for 1 Corinthians, but in other letters of his too. This view is heavily drawing on the work of Rosner and Ciampa in their commentary on 1 Corinthians (I've appended an excerpt below).
I found it quite interesting to ponder - does Paul have a "set play" (to put it crudely). Does he have a way he commonly argues? If one did agree that there is a pattern, one could get frustrated at Paul saying the same thing over and over again. However, I find this idea encouraging. Rather than creating his own message, Paul is preaching the gospel. Therefore, one would expect each message to be getting at the same idea. Wonderfully, Paul addresses each different community with their different people and different struggles. Yet - if these guys are right in their analysis - it all boils down to the same essence. It is all about Christ, and all for the glory of God.
It will take a while to examine whether I think the Pauline letters fit this mold, but I like the idea of it :-)
What a marvel that God has spoken to us! What a delight that He has given us such a clear revelation of Himself in His Son and His word! And what a privilege that he has given us His Spirit, so that we might understand his word about his son and be drawn to Him and fashioned into His likeness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This “shape” to Paul’s teaching is evident across the breadth of his corpus. To put the pattern in point form, with the overall goal of the glory of God, we find:
1. The proclamation of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is a call to enter the new eschatological age established in and by him. It demands that all people submit in unity to Christ, living out the wisdom of the other-person-centered lifestyle of the cross.
2. They must abandon the Gentile vice of sexual immorality (to the glory of God).
3. They must abandon the Gentile vice of idolatry, and give proper worship to the one true God (to the glory of God).
4. The Gentiles’ lives will be characterized by expectant hope for the final consummation of God’s glory (and so their own glorification) in the future bodily resurrection.
Ciampa, R. E., & Rosner, B. S. 2010. The First Letter to the Corinthians. The Pillar New Testament Commentary (26). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.
Who gets to teach 1 Corinthians this year?
ReplyDeleteI've just finished preaching through 1 Thessalonians, and although the order is different from 1 Corinthians, the same content is in there (though different elements are emphasised), along with some extra stuff about persecution and perseverance.
I don't know if Brian and Roy's theory holds across all of Paul's letters, but it definitely makes a great deal of sense of 1 Corinthians.
Peter Bolt and Philip Kern are teaching 1 Cor.
ReplyDeleteI hope things are going well for you and the fam back in Bris.