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PAUL AND THE RHETORIC OF REVERSAL: KERYGMATIC ...

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closing of the letter body. Noting the distribution of occurrences of the Greek words<br />

mentioned above may be illustrative: 72<br />

1 Corinthians 1 19<br />

1 Corinthians 2 18<br />

1 Corinthians 3 13<br />

1 Corinthians 4 6<br />

1 Corinthians 5 0<br />

1 Corinthians 6 3<br />

1 Corinthians 7 4<br />

1 Corinthians 8 0<br />

1 Corinthians 9 1<br />

1 Corinthians 10 0<br />

1 Corinthians 11 2<br />

1 Corinthians 12 1<br />

1 Corinthians 13 7<br />

1 Corinthians 14 3<br />

1 Corinthians 15 40<br />

This fits the way in which I have suggested the “rhetoric of reversal” is utilised in the<br />

letter, with the opening and closing of the letter body especially applying the dual motif of<br />

the condemned boaster and the vindicated sufferer, while chapters 5–14 serve the function<br />

of an extended ethical application.<br />

The Impact of a Rhetoric of Reversal<br />

A number of the instances of liturgy and literature examined in this chapter utilise the<br />

motif of reversal in order to direct human hope to divine ability and timing. Josephus calls<br />

his hearers to wait for God to bring about a change of fortunes, rather than attempt to force<br />

such a change through violent means. The book of Daniel and the Epistle of Enoch<br />

summon their hearers to be patient and righteous in the present as they look ahead to a<br />

divine reversal of fortunes. Mark calls his readers to carry the cross, and only by so doing,<br />

to perceive God-given resurrection. 73<br />

72 Of this selection, the words that are present (or in a related form) in both chapters 1-4<br />

and chapter 15 are: ἀρχή/ἄρχων; ἄνθρωπος; καταργέω; φθείρω; μυστήριον; θάνατος.<br />

73 Craig Hovey reads Mark’s Gospel as calling the Christian church to enter into the crossbearing<br />

identity of its Messiah, and only from this vantage point, to know the meaning of<br />

glory and resurrection: “It means that the church is characterized by the life of the<br />

resurrection only insofar as it undergoes the pain of the cross”. Craig Hovey, To Share in<br />

the Body: A Theology of Martyrdom for Today’s Church (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos,<br />

2008), 27.<br />

61

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