2 Cor 2:14-3:6

Translation

Following the opening thanksgiving, the thought of the passage, which introduces the major subunit 2:14-7:4, develops in a concentric ring pattern:

Thanksgiving for the apostle’s ministry of making known the saving power and presence of the crucified and risen Christ. (2:14)

A: The apostle is to God the pleasing aroma of the messianic sacrifice; he is experienced by ‘those who are perishing’ as ‘the odour of the advance of death (ν ὀσμὴ ἐκ θανάτου εἰς θάνατον)’, but 'by those who are being saved’ as ‘the odour of the advance of life (ὀσμὴ ἐκ ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν)’ (2:15-16a)

B:  Like Moses, but unlike his opponents, Paul is competent (ἱκανός) for his ministry; in Christ he stands and speaks in God’s presence (2:16b-17)

C: Unlike his opponents, Paul’s ministry as the Messiah's envoy needs no other validation than the life of the Spirit-filled community in Corinth.  (3:1-3)

B^/:   Paul’s competence (ἱκανός, ἱκανότςη, ἱκανόω) as a minister of the new covenant is not from himself but from God (3:4-6a)

A^/: He mediates, not the Mosaic Law, but the Spirit, for the Law kills, but the Spirit makes alive (ζῳοποιέω) (3:6bc)

As Van Kooten points out, in the central element, 3:1-3, Paul criticizes 'the sophistic practice of letters of recommendation by which sophists are introduced to new cities and audiences', [1] and 'the sophistic atmosphere of appraisal, repute and self-commendation'. [2] In addition to several OT texts, Paul draws upon two passages from the Letter of Tears.

2:14

τῷ δὲ θεῷ χάρις τῷ πάντοτε θριαμβεύοντι ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ καὶ τὴν ὀσμὴν τῆς γνώσεως αὐτοῦ φανεροῦντι δι' ἡμῶν ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ.

‘Thanks be [3] to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession [4] in Christ, and who everywhere [5] makes known [6] through us the fragrance [7] which is [8] the knowledge [9] of him.’

Paul now comes to the theological heart of his letter, an account of his apostolic ministry, and in particular of his mediation of the presence and saving power of the crucified and risen Christ. He begins with a thanksgiving to God, who always (πάντοτε) and in every place leads him (as his prisoner of war) in triumphal procession (θριαμβεύοντι ἡμᾶς) in Christ. [10] The Roman triumphal procession (pompa triumphalis) was a long victory parade in honour of a victorious general, returning to Rome with his troops. In the procession prisoners of war were paraded, often to their deaths in the arena, and plunder was displayed. [11] By the time of the early Empire the ritual had become associated with the myth of the Triumph of Bacchus, [12] and Bacchus (Dionysus) was associated both by Jews and Greeks with the God of Israel. [13] The victorious general would ride in a quadriga, a two-wheeled chariot drawn by four horses, [14] an image familiar throughout the Empire through Roman coinage, which often portrayed the Emperor riding on a quadriga. [15] Scott argues convincingly that in 2 Cor 2:14 Paul portrays God as riding on a quadriga, evoking Ezekiel’s vision of the Merkabah, God’s throne-chariot, drawn by the four ‘living creatures’ (Ezek 1:4-28). [16] Furthermore, in light of Paul’s allusion to Psa 110:1 in 1 Cor 15:25, Christ the Risen Lord is to be understood as seated beside God on the Merkabah (cf. Rom 8:34; Phil 2:9). [17] Paul did not hesitate to use language and imagery that challenged directly the Imperial Cult.

Paul’s addressees in the Roman colony of Corinth would not have missed the image of the apostle as God’s prisoner, being led to his death.[18] This image will have been rhetorically effective, for there was agreement between his addressees and himself as to the fact that in the recent crisis he had experienced divine judgment and mortal danger; but there was a difference in their interpretations of this fact (1:8-9, 17). The next clause (v. 14b) begins to develop the imagery: ‘through us making known in every place the fragrance which is the knowledge of him’. Since Paul’s function in the procession is to spread sweet fragrance along the route, the accepted sign of the presence of a deity, his role would appear to be that of an incense bearer; [19] but these participants walked immediately in front of the general’s chariot, [20] a position of great honour. [21] This would fit with Paul’s claim to be Christ’s envoy, of course (cf. κατέναντι θεοῦ, v. 17); but incense bearers were certainly not captured enemies being led to their deaths. [22] Typically, they were members of the general’s family. The triumphal procession is a tensive metaphor: it functions like a riddle whose purpose is to leave the mind ‘in sufficient doubt about the precise application to tease it into active thought'. [23]

The image of a procession that spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of a deity might suggest not so much a Roman triumphal procession as a Greco-Roman epiphany procession [24] – in this case, perhaps, a Dionysiac procession. In the Hellenistic period, religious processions became extremely popular[25] and the dominant type in this period was the epiphany procession, a ceremony that featured the epiphany of the deity. [26] In the Greco-Roman world an epiphany procession was often portrayed metaphorically as a triumphal procession, [27] and Duff points out that the verb φανερόω (2:14b) ‘accurately describes the primary function of the epiphany procession … [which] presented to onlookers the manifestation of the deity in one form or another’. [28] Duff rightly maintains that Paul is here taking advantage of the tensive nature of his θριαμβεύω metaphor:

Danker rightly comments,

2:15-16b

ὄτι χριστοῦ εὐωδία ἐσμὲν τῷ θεῷ ἐν τοῖς σῳζομένοις καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις, οἷς μὲν ὀσμὴ ἐκ ^a θανάτου εἰς θάνατον, οἷς δὲ ὀσμὴ ἐκ ^b ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν.

^{a, b} ἐκ is omitted in both clauses by D F G K L Ψ 365^(*).c 1241 1505 2464 Majority Text latt sy; it is read in both clauses by p⁴⁶ א A B C 0243 33 81 104 630 1175 1739 (1881) Clement of Alexandria. [31]

‘For [32] we are to God [33] the pleasing aroma [34] of the messianic sacrifice among those who are being saved [35] and among those who are perishing. [36] To the one we are the stench of the advance of death, [37] but to the other we are the fragrance of the advance of life.‘ [38]

The continuity of the imagery in 2:14-16a is indicated by ὅτι: 'the fragrance of the knowledge of him' is the aroma (εὐωδία) of Christ. More specifically, it is the fragrance of the presence of the crucified and risen Christ, made manifest through his suffering apostle. In the LXX the term εὐωδία is most often (in about 50 of 59 instances) found in the phrase ὀσμὴ εὐωδίας, and in most instances the sense is the sweet savour of the burnt offering. [39] When combined with the dative τῷ θεῷ or τῷ κυρίῳ, whether used individually or in combination, the terms (ὀσμή and εὐωδία) always refer to the aroma of sacrifice, [40] implying its acceptability to God. In Phil 4:18, Paul describes the gift that the church has sent him as ‘a pleasing aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God’ (ὀσμὴ εὐωδίας, θυσίαν δεκτήν, εὐάρεστον τῷ θεῷ). [41] As Christ’s envoy, therefore, Paul presents the bodily presence of the crucified Christ: he is ‘the pleasing aroma of the messianic sacrifice, acceptable to God’ (Χριστοῦ εὐωδία τῷ θεῷ). [42] Here Paul alludes again to his recent sufferings: by maintaining his solidarity with the church, he was able successfully to intercede for them, presenting to God the pleasing aroma of the sacrifice of his son, through which atonement has been made, once for all, for the sins of the Corinthians and for the sins of the whole world.

The aroma of the Christ-sacrifice is also experienced by all those who encounter Paul; wherever he goes (ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, 2:14) the epiphany of the crucified Christ in the person and ministry of the apostle is experienced by believers (‘those who are being saved’, to whom the message of the Cross is 'the power of God', 1 Cor 1:18) as the sweet fragrance of a (risen and) life-giving deity; but by unbelievers (‘those who are perishing’, for whom the message of the Cross is 'foolishness'), the coming of the apostle is experienced as the stench of death.

2:16c-17

καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα τίς ἱκανός; ¹⁷  οὐ γάρ ἐσμεν ὡς οἱ πολλοὶ ^a καπηλεύοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐξ εἰλικρινείας, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐκ θεοῦ κατέναντι ^b θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ λαλοῦμεν.

^a λοιποί is read by p⁴⁶ D F G L 6 326 614^s 630 945 1505 sy; πολλοί is read by א A B C K P Ψ 0243 81 104 365 1175 1241 1739 1881 2464 Majority Text lat co ar Irenaeus Ambrosiaster Didymus the Blind. As Metzger rightly comments, it seems unlikely that Paul would have said οἱ λοιποί ('the rest'). [43]

^b κατενώπιον tou is read by א² D¹ F G K L Ψ 104 1241 Majority Text, κατενώπιον for κατέναντι may well be a conscious alteration, as in early Christian literature κατενώπιον is used exclusively with reference to God. [44] κατέναντι is attested by p⁴⁶ א^* A B C 0243 33 81 630 1175 1739 1881 2464. (D* 1505 read κατενώπιον; P 365 read κατέναντι τοῦ).

‘Who is competent [45] for these things? For we are not like so many, who peddle [46] the word of God; rather, we speak in Christ in the sight of God, [47] as [48] those from [49] God, as those whose hearts are pure.’[50]

At 2:16c Paul interrupts his exposition with a rhetorical question, ‘Who is sufficient for these things?’, or better, ‘Who is equal to such a task?’ (NJB). The question follows naturally enough from 2:16a; ταῦτα (‘these things’) clearly refers to Paul’s extraordinary ministry, a ministry of making manifest in his own person the presence of the crucified Christ. As one reads on, it becomes clear that Paul is not expecting the response, ‘No one!’, as modesty and even common sense might seem to demand, but rather an acknowledgment that he is in fact equal to this task. [51] His language in 2:16c clearly echoes Moses’ response to his own call to ministry, Exod 4:10 LXX: ‘Please Lord, I am not equal to the task (οὐκ εἰμι ἱκανός)!’ Yahweh replies that Moses will be given all he needs to carry out his mission. The language of 2:16b is then picked up in 3:5, ‘our competence (ἱκανότης) is from God’; and in 3:6, again using a cognate of ἱκανός, Paul contrasts his own new covenant ministry with the old covenant [Mosaic] ministry: God has made him competent (ἱκανόω) as a minister of the new covenant.

Rhetorical questions depend for their effect on the ability of the readers to supply the correct answer. [52] Quite suddenly, therefore, Paul not only compares his own ministry with that of Moses, but also expects his readers to be able to supply the thought, ‘Just as God made Moses competent, so also Paul’. [53] This expectation was reasonable because the apostle had already compared himself explicitly with Moses in the Letter of Tears.

Verse 17 is linked to the preceding rhetorical question by the conjunction γάρ, which introduces grounds for the expected answer. But Paul’s purpose is not so much apologetic as polemic: he now subtly attacks his opponents. They are among ‘the many’ who ‘peddle the word of God in the market place’ (καπηλεύω). The verb belongs to the language of anti-sophistic rhetoric; [54] indeed, as Van Kooten points out, 'This contrast between knowledge and sincerity, on the one hand, and mercenary sophism on the other, is drawn from Plato's Protagoras'. [55] Socrates urges Hippocrates,

Paul’s allusion to his opponents’ practice of 'peddling' the word of God brings to mind his own practice of preaching the Gospel free of charge (1 Cor 9:12-15; cf. 2 Cor 11:7-12). In fact, Paul’s refusal of financial support from the church in Corinth caused him considerable hardship (1 Cor 4:11-12; 2 Cor 6:4-5; 11:26-27). [57]  However, as Fee points out, ‘in offering the “free” gospel “free of charge” his own ministry becomes a living paradigm of the gospel itself’. [58]  His competence for his apostolic ministry is seen in the purity of his motivation (cf. 1:12). [59] 

The specific nuance which Paul would attach to οἱ πολλοὶ καπηλεύοντες (‘the many who peddle’) is spelled out in the contrasts he draws between his own ministry and that of his opponents: he speaks ‘as one whose heart is pure’ as one from (sent by) God, who speaks in Christ, in God’s presence. [60] These qualities or qualifications distinguish Paul from his opponents: he begins to insinuate that his opponents, who ‘peddle the word of God’, are insincere, have not been sent by God, do not speak with God’s authority, and are not even ‘in Christ’ [61] – they are, in fact, ἀπολλυμένοι (v. 15), unbelievers, on the road to destruction (cf. 4:2-4; 6:14f). He insinuates, in short, that they are false prophets. Paul’s own ministry, on the other hand, is patterned after that of Moses (2:16b); he is a true prophet/apostle. [62] For echoes of Jer 23:9-40 here, and in 4:2 and 5:12, see OT Paradigms: Jeremiah.

3:1-3

Ἀρχόμεθα πάλιν ἑαυτοὺς συνιστάνειν; ἢ ^a μὴ χρῄζομεν ὥς τινες συστατικῶν ἐπιστολῶν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἢ ἐξ ὑμῶν ^b; ² ἡ ἐπιστολὴ ἡμῶν ὑμεῖς ἐστε, ἐγγεγραμμένη ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν, ^c γινωσκομένη καὶ ἀναγινωσκομένη ὑπὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων, ³ φανερούμενοι ὅτι ἐστὲ ἐπιστολὴ Χριστοῦ διακονηθεῖσα ὑφ' ἡμῶν, ^d ἐγγεγραμμένη οὐ μέλανι ἀλλὰ πνεύματι θεοῦ ζῶντος, οὐκ ἐν πλαξὶν λιθίναις ἀλλ' ἐν πλαξὶν καρδίαις σαρκίναις. ^e

^a A K L P Ψ 33 365 630 1241 2464 Majority Text read εἰ for ἢ, perhaps by itacism.

^b D K L P 104 1241 1505 Majority Text b (sy) add συστατικῶν; F G add συστατικῶν ἐπιστολῶν.

^c א 33 1175 1881 read ὑμῶν for ἡμῶν, probably a dictation error. ἡμῶν is certainly the more difficult reading. [63]

^d καί is added by p⁴⁶ B 0243 630 1175 1739 1881 f vg.

^e F Ψ 629 945 1505 latt (sy^p) Irenaeus (Latin) Eusebius read πλαξὶν καρδίας σαρκίναις; 0243 630 1739 read πλαξὶν σαρκίναις.

‘Surely we are not [64] beginning to commend [65] ourselves again, are we? Or [66] do we, like some people, have need of [67] letters of recommendation, [68] either to you or from you? Surely not! [69] For you yourselves [70] are our letter, a letter inscribed [71] on our hearts, [72] known [73] and read [74] by everyone. For it is becoming known that [75] you are a letter from Christ, drawn up by us, [76] written not with ink [77] but with the Spirit of the living [78] God, engraved not on tablets [79] of stone [80] but in tablets that are fleshly [81] hearts.’ [82]

In an attempt to supplant him, Paul’s opponents have questioned his apostolic credentials, claiming their own superiority. In response, Paul has denounced them as charlatans and has identified himself as a Moses-like figure who walks before God’s throne-chariot, serving as a herald and incense bearer, spreading the aroma of the messianic sacrifice and proclaiming the gospel as a  true apostle (2:14-17). Now Paul does not want to be misunderstood. He had already commended himself to them as a true messenger of God when he founded the church; [83] he is not now seeking to introduce himself, as though he were a stranger. He does not need of letters of recommendation, such as they seem to have presented, for the Corinthians themselves are his letter of recommendation; they commend him wherever he goes. As he develops this imagery, Paul alludes powerfully to the Letter of Tears.

V. 1 The central element of the chiasmus 2:15-3:6, 3:1-3, begins with another rhetorical question: ‘Surely we are not beginning to commend ourselves all over again (πάλιν), are we?’ P. Marshall has demonstrated that self-commendation was a widespread custom in Graeco-Roman society, [84] and it seems likely that in 3:1a πάλιν refers to an act of self-commendation by which Paul committed himself into a relationship of trust with his first converts in Corinth. [85] Thus, ‘Are we beginning all over again to produce our credentials?’ (NEB). A negative response is expected. [86] Clearly that relationship had recently been stretched to the limit; nevertheless, Paul insists that he is not attempting to make a fresh start with the church by commending himself to them again. In 1 Cor 2:1-4 he describes his arrival in Corinth: he did not come to them as a sophist would, with impressive bodily presence and eloquent speech; rather, he established his gospel ‘with the demonstration of the Holy Spirit and of power’. [87]

In a second rhetorical question, which also expects a negative response (μή), Paul asks whether, like his opponents, he needs letters of recommendation, [88] either to them or from them (3:1b). The thought is patently absurd: they know him intimately: he is their spiritual father (1 Cor 3:10; 4:15; 9:1-2).

Vv. 2-3. Paul now develops what Hooker describes as a brilliant metaphor:[89] brilliant, because ‘since they owe their Christian faith to Paul, they cannot deny his apostleship without denying their own Christian standing’. [90] The Corinthians themselves are his letter of recommendation. He begins with the assertion, ἡ ἐπιστολὴ ἡμῶν ὑμεῖς ἐστε - ‘You yourselves are our letter’. In the remainder of v. 2 he elaborates the imagery by expanding the predicate nominative ἐπιστολή (‘letter’): his letter is written on ‘our hearts’, [91] and is ‘known and read by everyone’. It was the custom in the ancient world for the one recommended to carry with him his letter of recommendation; [92] hence in v. 2, the Corinthians are portrayed as a letter written on Paul’s heart (ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν), and carried with him wherever he goes. Evidently Paul is making the Corinthians known everywhere he goes, commending himself proudly as the apostle who founded the church in Corinth (cf. 1 Cor 9:2; 1 Thess 1:8).[93] In the expanded predicate of 3:2, therefore, Paul’s love for and pride in the church in Corinth is in focus. [94] With the words ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν he evokes a passage of the Letter of Tears, which he later quotes (7:3b), and which expressed his solidarity with the rebellious church even in the face of divine judgment. If they were to be punished, he said, he would endure it with them: ‘You are in my heart, to die together and to live together’.

In v. 3 Paul elaborates the letter imagery in a different direction, now expanding the subject nominative of v. 2, identifying the author of his letter as none other than Christ himself: ὑμεῖς (‘you yourselves’), φανερούμενοι ὅτι ἐστε ἐπιστολή Χριστοῦ, 'You are being made known, that you are a letter from Christ'. They are a letter διακονηθεῖσα ὑφ' ἡμῶν, 'drawn up by us'; Paul is Christ's amanuensis. Finally, taking up the key terms of 3:2 in the same order, he adds a participle and a climactic pair of antitheses: they are a letter from Christ ἐγγεγραμμένη οὐ μέλανι ἀλλὰ πνεύματι θεοῦ ζῶντος, οὐκ ἐν πλαξὶν λιθίναις ἀλλ' ἐν πλαξὶν καρδίαις σαρκίναις, 'written not with ink but the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are fleshly hearts'.

Paul’s letter of recommendation is being read by everyone everywhere (v. 2): it is being made known that (φανερούμενοι ὅτι) the Corinthians are an ἐπιστολή Χριστοῦ. The genitive Χριστοῦ must have the sense, ‘from Christ’, for it is to be expected that Christ composed his own envoy’s letter of recommendation.[95] The church in Corinth is the work of Christ, carried out through the mediatory agency of his envoy Paul. The letter, which Paul carries in his heart, has been ‘drawn up by us’ (διακονηθεῖσα ὑφ' ἡμῶν)’: [96] The verb διακονέω often refers to the action of a go-between, ‘an action done in the name of another’. [97] The διακον- word group is used widely to describe acts of mediation between the gods and humanity, and hence of the work of prophets, priests and diviners (cf. 3:7, 8, 9). [98] Paul identifies himself here as Christ’s amanuensis, an image of his work in founding the church (cf. 1 Cor 3:10a). [99]

His letter is not written with ink, unlike (presumably) his opponents’ letters, but 'with the Spirit of the living God’ - the expression may insinuate that his opponents’ letters were in some sense associated with dead idols; cf. 11:14-15; 1 Cor 10:14-22). [100] The metaphor portrays the fulfilment of the promise of Ezek 36:26-27, 'A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances' (NRSV; cf. 11:19-20). Paul’s letter is written, not on stone tablets, but on ‘tablets that are fleshly hearts’; he no longer has in view his own heart, as in v. 2, but the hearts of the Corinthians; [101] through his mediatory agency, they have received the indwelling Holy Spirit. The life of the Spirit of Christ manifest in their ‘fleshly hearts’ (ἐν … καρδίαις σαρκίναις) commends Paul’s ministry to everyone.

The phrase καρδία σαρκίνη (‘fleshly heart’) occurs in the LXX only in the parallel new covenant traditions of Ezek 11:19 and 36:26. Both texts promise the gift of the indwelling Spirit, and in both the LXX reads, Καὶ ἐσπάσω τὴν καρδίαν τὴν λιθίνην ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτῶν καὶ δώσω αὐτοῖς καρδίαν σαρκίνην (‘and I will remove the stone heart from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh’). However, the language of inscribing on hearts may also bring to mind Jer 17:1 (absent from the LXX): ‘Judah's sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point, on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars’ (NIV). Paul is contrasting the Spirit-filled, fleshly hearts of the Corinthians with the stony heart of unregenerate Israel – and by implication, therefore, with the stony, evil hearts of his Jewish opponents (cf. 4:3-4; 6:14-7:1). Furthermore, the antitheses produce an echo of Jer 31(38):31-34, [102] for the contrast, ‘tablets of stone’ vs. ‘tablets that are hearts of flesh’, evokes a contrast of the old and new covenants. According to Jer 31:31-34, under the new covenant the Law is to be written, not on stone tablets, but on human (fleshly) hearts. [103]

Paul may well have perceived Exod 31:18; Ezek 11:19-20; 36:26-27 and Jer 31(38):31-34 to be linked by gezerah shewah. [104] The passages are linked thematically by the contrast of the old and new covenants, a contrast that the apostle develops further in 3:6-18. They are also linked verbally: Exod 31:18 and Ezek 11:19; 36:26 are linked by אבו / λίθινος (‘made of stone’); Ezek 11:19; 36:26 and Jer 31(38):33 by לב / καρδία (‘heart’). [105]

Paul’s apostolic ministry is commended, he therefore implies, by the existence of the Spirit-filled, godly Christian community in Corinth – a point his addressees can hardly deny (cf. 1 Cor 9:2). But the power of Paul’s ‘brilliant metaphor’ does not end here, for the final antithesis recalls a passage from the Letter of Tears: ‘When Moses returned to the camp he broke the stone tablets of the covenant, but if I were to come to Corinth now I would break my own heart.’ Through this evocation, Paul creates a startling ambiguity, reactivating the echo of the Letter of Tears in v. 2, and thereby returning attention to his ‘Affliction in Asia’ and the love of his own ‘fleshly’ heart (cf. 2:4), which is contrasted with the total self-interest of the stony hearts of his opponents. Their relationship with the Corinthians is essentially a financial one (2:17). The apostle, by contrast, is bound to them in love, even at the cost of his life (cf. 6:11-13; 7:2, 3).

3:4-6a

Πεποιθήσιν δὲ τοιαύτην ἔχομεν διὰ τοῦ χριστοῦ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.΅ οὐχ ὅτι ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν ἱκανοί ἐσμεν λογίσασθαί ^a τι ^b ὡς ἐξ ἑαυτῶν, ^c ἀλλ' ἡ ἱκανότης ἡμῶν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὃς καὶ  ἱκάνωσεν ἡμᾶς διακόνους καινῆς διαθήκης, οὐ γράμματος ἀλλὰ πνεύματος·

^a C D F G 629 read λογίσεσθαί.

^b p⁴⁶ B omit τι.

^c B F G read αὑτῶν in place of ἑαυτῶν, a fairly common contraction.

‘This is the self-confidence [106] we have through Christ toward God. Not that in ourselves we are competent [107] to reckon [108] anything as deriving from ourselves; rather, our competence is from God, who has indeed made us competent as mediators [109] of a new covenant,’ [110]

V. 4 Paul has begun to describe a ministry filled with divine power: to those who are perishing, he is the stench of the advance of death, but to those who are being saved he is the fragrance of the advance of life. He speaks the word of God in Christ, with sincerity; his words are from God, and he speaks in God’s presence (2:17). He has such confidence in the outcome of his work in Corinth that he boasts of the church to everyone (3:2). Through his ministry as Christ’s envoy they have received renewed hearts indwelt by the Holy Spirit and capable of fulfilling the Law (3:3). As he has already explained in the Letter of Tears, during the recent crisis he staked everything, even his own life, on their standing as believers, confident that they would respond to that letter with true repentance. 'This confidence before God’, he now says, ‘is ours through Christ’. It was as Christ’s envoy that Paul founded the church in Corinth; the church is ‘a letter from Christ, drawn up by us’ (3:3). In view of the allusions to the Letter of Tears in 3:2-3, there is a clearly audible echo of Paul’s confidence expression in 1:15, that the Corinthians will be his boast, just as he will be theirs, on the eschatological ‘Day of the Lord’.

Paul’s strategy in the crisis depended crucially upon his confidence that his labors in Corinth had been successful, that the church he had planted in Corinth really was a community of true believers, indwelt by the Spirit. In this confidence the apostle composed 1 Corinthians (1 Cor 1:1-9, 30-31; 4:14-16; 6:11; 9:2), [111] and in the ensuing crisis he continued to act upon it.

Vv. 5-6a Once more Paul guards against misunderstanding: ‘Not that in ourselves we are competent to reckon anything as deriving from ourselves, but our competence is from God’ (3:5a). He has just claimed that he speaks the word of God as a true apostle (2:16b-17) and he implies, therefore, that he is competent to make this judgment concerning the Corinthians. But he is not competent (ἱκανός), he says, to reckon this triumph as if it were his own achievement. ‘Rather, our competency (ἱκανότης) is from God, who has indeed made us competent (ἱκανόω) servants (διακόνοι) of a new covenant’ (3:5b-6a). The term διάκονος is often used of servants of the gods, and carries the connotation of being sent on a mission; it is cognate to the verb διακονέω and picks up the thought of 3:3, διακονηθεῖσα ὑφ' ἡμῶν. [112] Paul’s threefold use of ἱκανός and its cognates recalls his allusion to the call of Moses in 2:16b. Just as Moses, though he was in himself inadequate for the task, was made competent by God and sent by him as a servant of the old covenant, so Paul, though in himself inadequate to his task, has been made competent by God and sent by him as a servant of the new covenant.

The expression ‘new covenant’ (καινὴ διαθηκή) occurs just once in the LXX, in Jer 38(31):31, to which Paul has just alluded in v.3; the expression occurs elsewhere in Paul only in the Jesus tradition of 1 Cor 11:25. Jeremiah prophesied that a new covenant, which would be associated with the eschatological return from exile of the remnant of Israel (Jer 31:1-25), would supersede the Sinai covenant; Paul evidently believed that the Second Exodus was brought about by the sacrifice of Christ, the Paschal Lamb (1 Cor 5:7), and that the new covenant was ratified by Christ’s blood (1 Cor 11:25).

3:6bc

οὐ γράμματος ἀλλὰ πνεύματος· τὸ γὰρ γράμμα ἀποκτέννει ^a τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζῳοποιεῖ.

^a p^46* A C D L 81 365 630 1175 1241 1505 1881 2464 Majority Text read αποκτενει, which could be either the future, ἀποκτενῶ, or a variant spelling of the present, ἀποκτένει. ἀποκτέννει / ἀποκτείνει  is attested by p^46c א B F G K P Ψ 0243 6 33 104 326 614^s 945 1739 co.

‘[a covenant] not of the letter, [113] but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive.’

As is clear from 3:3, Paul read Jer 31:31-34 and Ezek 36:25-28 as mutually interpreting texts. Those who enter the new covenant are given a new heart of flesh, indwelt by the Spirit; the Law is written in their hearts; they are enabled to turn from sin and live in obedience. The new covenant is a covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit (v. 6b). As a servant of the new covenant, Paul is tasked with mediating, not the Law (γράμμα; ‘letter’, is clearly a metonymy of the Law, written on stone tablets), but the Spirit (πνεῦμα) who writes the Law on tablets that are fleshly (as opposed to stony) hearts (v. 3).

V. 6c The apostle's confidence (in his competence) is grounded in the fact that (γάρ) ‘the letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive’. ‘The letter’ kills because the old covenant makes no provision for the hardness of the covenant people’s hearts; lacking the empowerment of the indwelling Spirit, they disobey the Law and bring upon themselves condemnation and death. As Paul has pointed out in an earlier letter, due to persistent sin almost the entire Exodus generation failed to reach Canaan; they died in the wilderness (1 Cor 10:1-13). And having taken possession of the Land, the people continued in disobedience, and under the curse sanctions of the old covenant they were finally driven into exile - the Temple was destroyed, the land laid waste. The letter kills. It is against this background that the new covenant promises of Ezek 36:25-28 were given (cf. 36:1-21). The prophet goes on to portray exiled Israel and Judah as skeletons lying in the ground: the eschatological Return is portrayed as an act of (re)creation, in which the dry bones are covered with flesh; and the bodies are then brought to life:

The imagery recalls the creation of Adam: ‘the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, [114] and the man became a living being. (Gen 2:7, NIV). As Ezek 37:11-14 makes clear, however, in the new creation of Ezekiel’s vision the ‘breath’ entering the newly created corpses of the remnant of Israel is a pictorial representation of the new covenant promise of 36:27-28, ‘‘And I will put my Spirit (רוח /πνεῦμα) in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God’ (NIV). For Paul, in response to the Exile and in accordance with OT prophesy, Jesus Christ himself has assumed the role of the seed of Abraham, the true Israel, the Last Adam who inherits the blessing lost by the primeval Adam in the Fall; and believers, having been raised to life and united with him by his Spirit, are co-heirs with Christ, members of the true Adamic humanity. [115]

The preceding narrative of 1:8-2:13 and the echoes of the Letter of Tears in 3:2-3 bring into view the repentance of the church during the recent crisis, and indeed the repentance of the offender himself, as a vivid demonstration that ‘the Spirit makes alive’. Knowing that, through his mediatory agency (διακονία), the Corinthians had received the Spirit (cf. 1:22), and were therefore spiritually alive and among ‘those who are being saved’ (οἱ σῳζομένοι, 2:16a), Paul acted with confidence in the recent crisis: he stood with them before the judgment of God, as Christ’s envoy and their representative. He faced certain death, and yet was wonderfully delivered by ‘God who raises the dead’ (1:8-10), dramatically re-enacting the gospel in the knowledge that, for those who are being saved, the gospel is ‘the power of God’ (1 Cor 1:18). The apostle made himself present to them by means of the Letter of Tears and his own envoy Titus, knowing that, for those who are being saved his presence, an epiphany of the crucified and risen Christ, is ‘the fragrance of the advance of life’ (2:14-16a).