PAUL AND THE RHETORIC OF REVERSAL: KERYGMATIC ...

In 13:1-13, Paul demonstrates “the most excellent way”. Personal spirituality is to be
expressed in love for others, rather than in a self-seeking pride in spiritual possessions. Love
is ironically spoken about as a “possession” here, and depicted in a way that contrasts sharply
with the claimed possessions of the self-assured in Corinth:
13:2: And if I have [ἔχω] prophecy and I see all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I
have all faith so as to move mountains, but I do not have love [ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω], I
am nothing.
In 14:1-40, Paul urges that the better gifts are those that (verbally) serve others, for their
edification. Self-restraint should be pursued in certain situations, for the sake of this common
edification.
14:3: The one who prophesies speaks to people for their edification [οἰκοδομὴν] and
encouragement and consolation.
14:26, 28, 30, 34: Let everything happen for edification [πάντα πρὸς οἰκοδομὴν
γινέσθω]….
But if there is no interpreter, let them be silent [σιγάτω ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ] in church….
But if a revelation comes to another, who is seated, let the first be silent [σιγάτω]….
Let the women in the churches be silent [ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις σιγάτωσαν]. 78
It would seem that as a whole, chapters 8–14 serve to call the Corinthians to replace bold self-
assertion with sensitive self-restraint for the sake of other believers. This pattern of willing
self-restraint matches Paul’s emphatic depiction of his own experience in the climactic irony
of 4:8-13, which precedes the solemn imperative: “Become imitators of me!” In fact, Paul’s
exhortation in chapters 8–14 turns out to be a summons to a strangely similar way of life.
Having depicted himself as emphatically weak, he calls upon the strong in Corinth to restrain
themselves for the sake of those who are weak in knowledge. Having depicted himself as
78 In his 2009 revision of his 1986 article “Interpolations in 1 Corinthians”, Murphy-O’Connor
lists Senft, Lang, Fee, Klauk, Hays and Walker alongside himself in viewing the verses about
women as an interpolation. I do not enter into the issue here, as it would not affect my
argument.
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