PAUL AND THE RHETORIC OF REVERSAL: KERYGMATIC ...

concerning himself and Cephas and Apollos, because also then you had split into
factions.
Further, 1 Clement appears to allude to other Pauline letters, or adopt their perspectives or
terminology. The mention of “pillars” (στῦλοι) of the church in 1 Clement 5:2, for
example, may draw on Galatians 2:9. The reference to Paul’s stoning later in the same
chapter may recall 2 Corinthians 11:25.
Andrew F. Gregory and Christopher Mark Tuckett indicate a range of scholarly opinion
on Clement’s familiarity with the Pauline Epistles, and ultimately agree with the modest
conclusions of Carlyle:
Clement can be shown to have used both Romans and 1 Corinthians, and there is
some slight evidence that he may also have used 2 Corinthians, Galatians,
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Timothy and Titus. 20
Clement’s assumption that the Corinthians needed no explanation as to how he had access,
in Rome, to a copy of the (perhaps “first” 21 ) letter sent to their community, as well as
possible access to other Pauline letters, hints that some Pauline letter collection, which
included 1 Corinthians, was known as available by 96 CE.
20 Andrew F. Gregory and Christopher Mark Tuckett, The Reception of the New Testament
in the Apostolic Fathers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 143.
21 It is possible that “first” (πρῶτον) in 1 Clement 47:1-3 refers to the beginning of the
epistle. If so, this is confirmation that the letter to which Clement had access was not at
odds with the ordering of canonical 1 Corinthians, given that he cites chapter 1. However,
it seems just as likely, if not preferable, that “first” identifies the letter to which Clement is
making reference. If indeed this Corinthian letter is thought of by Clement as being
“first”, this is striking, because it is not generally regarded as chronologically the first of
Paul’s letters to Corinth; but it is the first letter to Corinth in every Pauline Corpus. E.
Randolph Richards notes this and points out that if Clement were using a corpus of
Pauline letters, he would assume that 1 Corinthians was “first”, without necessarily having
any awareness of “Corinthians A and C”. E. Randolph Richards, “The Codex and the
Early Collection of Paul’s Letters,” BBR 8 (1998): 151-166; 166. For a development of
this argument see Richards, Paul and First-Century Letter Writing: Secretaries,
Composition and Collection (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP, 2004). Richards’ speculation is
that Clement was using Paul’s personal set of letter copies.
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