NT2213 The Pauline Tradition: 1 & 2 Corinthians
 Mary E. Hinkle
Associate Professor of New Testament
Luther Seminary
Fall 2004

Week 10 | Nov 8-14

newBlogging May Be Optional for You

Because you will be writing posts and replies to each other in activities for each of the next 4 weeks, blogging for the rest of the semester is optional. If you have kept up with the blog so far, you have "fulfilled all righteousness." Any further postings you make will be because you want to write about something. If you have not written at least 16 weblog entries, you still need to work during the next four weeks of class to fulfill that number.

To Do List for Week 10

  1. Read this web page and 2 Cor 3:1-6:13.
  2. In your role as a partner in the firm, "Conflict Consultants R Us," compose Memo #2 and reply to the second memos of your group members.
  3. Complete "Studying Key Words," exegetical workshop #3. It's in the Coursework section of MyLutherNet.
  4. Blog on a topic that occurred to you as you completed the work above. Remember to interact with course materials, including the Bible, as you blog. Suggestions for topics include:
    • You worked last week on the exegetical workshop, "Following Paul's Argument." Review any features of 2 Cor 3:1-6:13 that make is easy or hard for you to follow.
    • Is it possible for the Corinthians to be reconciled to God and still estranged from Paul? How are the "vertical" and "horizontal" aspects of the Christian message of reconcilation related?
    • Paul refers to himself and Timothy as having been given "a ministry of reconcilation" (2 Cor 5:18). Tell us about any experience you have in the kind of ministry he is describing.
  5. Reminder: The second part of the Module One exam, on famous passages in Paul's letters, is due by Friday, Nov. 12. This is computer-generated and graded. Find details in the Coursework section of MyLutherNet.

Hard Knocks & Reconciliation

An "I have a dream" Speech

Years ago at a continuing education event for clergy, I heard Rabbi Edwin Friedmann, the author of Generation to Generation (a book applying family systems theory to congregations), say that when he works with a rabbi or a pastor who is going through conflict in a synagogue or parish, he always counsels that person to give an "I have a dream" speech. At the very time when the leader is most likely to want to hide, or to waffle and so be a "moving target" for those who would take shots, at such times as that, Rabbi Friedmann said, "Tell people your dream. Make a speech or give a sermon that says clearly where you hope the congregation is headed."

Such a move is counter-intuitive. It goes against our fight or flight instincts, yet the results are generally that the free-floating anxiety of the congregation subsides. People realize that they have a leader, that the leader will talk to them honestly, and that the leader does in fact have a dream for the future and the courage to share it openly and encourage their participation in it. 

In 2 Corinthians, Paul gives an "I have a dream" speech. Paul's dream has to do with

  1. Paul's role as a minister of reconciliation,
  2. his plea to the Corinthians to "be reconciled to God," and
  3. his plea that they will also be reconciled to him (cf. "Open wide your hearts" [6:15]). 

Reconciliation is vertical (between humans and God) and also horizontal (between humans, like Paul and the Corinthians). As you read the chapters in this week's assignment, see if you can catch a glimpse of Paul's dream for the Corinthians and himself.

Big Issues this Week

Already and Not Yet

The big issue this week is the nature of the new creation as both already and not yet present. I do not mean that the new creation is 10% already present and 90% not yet present, or something like that, as if the old and new creation were mixed together the way we mixed water and vinegar together in high school chemistry and then calculated the percentage of our solution. Instead, I mean that the new creation is present, and—at the same time—we await it. This is a mystery, but it is one Paul wants to live out in his relationship with the Corinthians.

Clay Jars

Throughout the semester, we have talked about what Richard Hays has called, "The transformation of power and status through the cross." At the heart of Paul's gospel is the news that God has chosen what is foolish in the world, and that God's grace is revealed under the form of the opposite, that is, in hardship, trial and in the cross of Christ. In 2 Cor 4, Paul juxtaposes the words, treasure and clay jars. It is another way of saying what we have heard throughout these letters: God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom.