Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von The Third Epistle to the Corinthians
Für wen es gedacht ist
For readers curious about how early Christians argued over the body and resurrection, and for anyone who wants to see how a Pauline voice was kept alive after Paul.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
The Third Epistle to the Corinthians is a short letter in the name of the apostle Paul. It is a reply to the church at Corinth, written, as the text says, while Paul sits in prison. It forms part of a longer work called the Acts of Paul, which was written in Greek in the later second century. Scholars generally think someone other than Paul wrote it.
The letter answers a crisis. Two teachers, Simon and Cleobius, are spreading ideas that alarm the Corinthian elders. In his reply, Paul defends the goodness of creation, the birth of Christ in a real body, and the rising of the dead in the flesh. In a few pages you will hear how the exchange is built, what arguments Paul is given, and why some communities once valued it. First, the setting.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A letter inside the Acts of PaulFree
- 2Corinth is troubled by two teachers
- 3Paul answers from prison
- 4Resurrection in the flesh, and why the letter stands outside
Punkt 1 von 4
A letter inside the Acts of Paul
The Acts of Paul is a narrative of the apostle's travels, preaching and trials. It was written in Greek, probably in Asia Minor, in the later second century. The early writer Tertullian says its author was a presbyter who admitted he wrote it out of love for Paul, and who was removed from his office for it. The work includes the well-known story of Paul and Thecla.
The Third Epistle to the Corinthians sits near the end of that book. It was once passed along on its own, which is why it survives apart from the larger work. It exists in Greek and Latin, and also in Syriac, Armenian and Coptic. An early Greek copy is found on a papyrus now called Papyrus Bodmer X.
The text has two pieces. First comes a short letter from the Corinthian church, written by a presbyter named Stephen and others. Second comes Paul's answer. Together they form a pair, and the pairing is the point. The elders ask a question, and the apostle gives the reply that the author wants readers to hear.
That’s 1 of 4 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Questions about The Third Epistle to the Corinthians
What is the Third Epistle to the Corinthians about?
It is a short exchange between the Corinthian church and Paul. The church reports teachers who deny that God made the world, that Christ came in the flesh, and that the dead will rise. Paul replies and defends all three.
Did Paul really write 3 Corinthians?
Most scholars say no. It belongs to the Acts of Paul, written in the later second century by someone else. Its style and the debates it answers differ from those in the letters that scholars accept as Paul's own.
Who were Simon and Cleobius in 3 Corinthians?
They are the two teachers who trouble the Corinthian church in the text. Their teaching is described only in the letter from the elders. Scholars often link their ideas to the early groups later called Gnostic.
Why is 3 Corinthians not in the Bible?
Most churches did not accept it. It belongs to the Acts of Paul, a work doubted by early church leaders, and its language differs from Paul's genuine letters. Some Armenian manuscripts, though, copied it after the Corinthian letters.
Where was 3 Corinthians used by early churches?
It was read in the Syriac church, where Ephrem commented on it, and it was copied in Armenian manuscripts of the New Testament. It survives in Greek, Latin, Syriac, Armenian and Coptic.