[B-Greek] 1 Cor. 7:1,2

Harold R. Holmyard III hholmyard at ont.com
Fri Oct 29 17:43:07 EDT 2004


Dear Joe,

>It's a good example of the issue regarding quotations in the GNT. 
>Thanks to the additions of Rhetorical scholarship, any good and 
>recent commentary on Corinthians points out that Paul is taking this 
>quote from a previous letter/contact he has received from them. It 
>need not be a "slogan" as the NET note says, but rather could be 
>quoted their correspondence. Notice also the failure of the NIV to 
>put the quote of v. 1 in quotes and properly identify what's going 
>on.
>The quote comes from some in the church who are advocating that even 
>married people should abstain from sexual relations. This ideal has 
>something to do with a realized eschatology ("We're just spiritual 
>beings now, not carnal ones.") that Paul warns against over and over 
>again in 1 Corinthians. Paul is refuting this practice, and making 
>consolations ("Go ahead and have sex, so you don't fall prey to 
>other practices."), as he does over and over again in 1 Corinthians.

HH: That is just a theory about what was going on in 1 Cor 7:1, 
although it is certainly possible. Paul is obviously interacting with 
what they wrote, answering a question or agreeing with a statement. 
The interpretation you give does not deal with the biblical material 
I gave earlier showing that ECW with GUNH means to be married, to 
have a wife.

				Yours,
				Harold Holmyard



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