42. See Theissen 1982:69–119; Meeks 1982:56–60, 215–17. Contrast Meggitt 1998:50–59 (cf. 2001:85–94), who argues the church was in abject poverty. Friesen 2005:351–70 (cf. 2004:323–61) has the Corinthian congregation at “level six,” at or around bare subsistence level and one step away from the lowest poverty. See responses in Theissen 2001:65–84; Theissen 2003:371–91; Thiselton 2000:23–29; Martin 2001:51–64; Barclay 2004:363–66; Mihaila 2009:94–109. Recently, Sanders 2014:103–125, moderately suggests a “middling” population of 20 percent, half of which live several times above subsistence and the other half at or near subsistence. Horrell 2004:367, is similar.
43. On the inscription, see Kent 1966:99–100. Friesen 2010:231–256, argues that οἰκονόμος involves a slave’s role and neither refers to the Latin quaestor nor the aedile. (Differently, Goodrich argues for the quaestor position: “the civic treasury magistrate”: 2012:199; cf. 62–65). It is not clear that this inscription was made at the time of the biblical Erastus, and the full inscription may have possessed a different name prior to its fragmentation: [Ep]erastus. See also Meggitt 1996:218–23.
44. Theissen 1982:72.
45. Meat from the popinae, which the poor may afford, is not the same meat (see Theissen 2003:82–85).
46. There is no evidence for itinerate opponents infiltrating the congregation at this time (see Oropeza 2012a:66–71).
47. Language adopted from Crocker 2004:118–19.
48. On ancient persona, see Aristotle Rhet. 1.5.5; Nguyen 2008a:146–47.
49. See Roman influence on Corinth and further sophist flaws in Winter 2001, esp. xi, 1–28; Winter 2002. I consider the term elitist not in a restricted sense of royalty, senatorial offices, and the super wealthy, but inclusive of the lower upper class: see Dutch 2005:45–46.
50. For compilation views, see recently, Welborn 2013:205–42; Jacon 2006; and discussions in Schnelle 1998:62–65, 73–74; Schnabel 2006:39–42.
51. Mitchell 1991. On rhetorical species and arrangements, see Kennedy 1984:15–25.
Introduction (1:1–9)
Paul’s letters generally follow the opening conventions of ancient epistles, and this letter is no exception. Its prescript identifies the sender and recipients, and gives a greeting to those recipients (1:1–3). His thanksgiving in 1:4 begins the letter’s proem, a rhetorical convention that includes introductory matters attempting to gain the auditors’ goodwill, attention, and receptivity (1:1–9).52 With this letter strategy intact, they might be receptive to the apostle’s corollary teachings and exhortations.
Letter Prescript (1:1–3)
Paul introduces himself as one who is called to be an apostle. He is sent out as a travelling envoy and witness of the risen savior to proclaim this good news about him to Gentile nations. His calling to this vocation is dependable because it was not given through self-appointment but through the will of God (Gal 1:15—2:10; Acts 22:3–21). Paul stresses his apostleship in order to buttress his authority before the recipients.53 He must gain their respect if he is to succeed in challenging them to abandon wrong behaviors and ideologies. At the same time his calling also displays power in weakness related to the cross (1 Cor 1:21; 4:9–13).54 His authority is thus rooted in Christ-like service, suffering, and humility rather than in arrogance or attempts to rule over the congregation. Sosthenes is the co-sender and probable coauthor.55 He may be the same synagogue leader who originally opposed Paul during his first visit to Corinth (Acts 18:17). But if so, it is strange that Acts fails to mention this synagogue leader’s conversion. Sosthenes is not necessarily a unique name for that time, and so we cannot be sure this is the same person from Acts.56 What we do know is that he is a fellow believer in Christ—he is called a brother and is one of Paul’s coworkers.
Paul identifies the Corinthian recipients as the church (ἐκκλησία), a term normally referring to political assemblies but here addressing the gathering of those who belong to God and Christ. Christ’s earliest followers probably thought themselves to be the prophetic fulfillment of the last days community mentioned in Joel 2:16 (LXX).57 They were experiencing the salvation and spiritual life anticipated in this prophetic discourse. Paul stresses this community’s holiness as sanctified and called to be saints. Again, it seems that Joel 2:16 helped formulate early Christian self-references as saints, literally “holy ones.” This verse shows that the end-time ἐκκλησία is to be holy. The apostles promoted the notion that Christ-followers are an end-time, holy assembly belonging to God.58 To be sanctified or made holy has a cultic sense of being dedicated to the service of God and set apart from secular and profane things (Lev 19:1–8).59 For Paul, ethical piety is also bound up with holiness (6:9–11; 2 Cor 7:1; 1 Thess 4:1–3). Relevant for the Corinthians is the implication that as saints their lifestyle should be consistent with their holy calling. They are an end-time assembly whom God has set apart to belong to God’s people.
As with all churches in Christ this one consists of those who receive God’s Spirit and call on the name of the Lord to be saved (Joel 2:28–32[3:1–5 LXX]; cf. Rom 10:9–13; Acts 2:17–22).60 The apostles interpreted Joel’s Lord to be Jesus Christ, and to call on his name imagines foremost an invocation at baptism in which the convert calls on Jesus for salvation, or confesses him as Lord, or both (Acts 9:14; 22:16). This identifies the person as belonging to and following Christ; it is what Acts seems to equate with being baptized in the name of Jesus (2:38; 10:48). To rely on this name, as Anthony Thiselton affirms, is “to commit oneself in trust to the one whose nature and character have been disclosed as worthy of this trust.”61 Christ’s lordship, incidentally, may be compared with Caesar’s. Those who confess Jesus as Lord become an alternative society in the world in contrast to the imperial society that dominates it.62 This confession happens in every place, which may be alluding to a prophetic realization that the Lord God’s name is worshipped by the Gentiles “in every place” (Mal 1:11).63 The Corinthians are prompted to recognize a pan-Mediterranean horizon of Christ followers extending beyond their local church to churches in every nation.64 Their recognition of this may help deflate arrogance and self-centered ideas that they are not accountable to anyone (see 14:36).