Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Epistles of St. Paul to the Corinthians: A Study Personal and Historical of the Date and Composition of the Epistles
I. SE e'ytli hafiaos. The Opening is abrupt, and as following on Ch. Ix is inexplicable. The initial Se' is in contrast with something that has preceded, and as clearly that something was neither in form nor in substance any thing at all like ix. I 5. Nor can the difficulty be relieved by attaching it to Ch. Vii, and treating Chs. Viii - ix as parenthetical. Those who contend for the unity of the Epistle assume an interval of time' between the two parts, the reception of disturbing and distressing news, and a change of situation, necessitating a complete change of tone. But these expedients fail to meet the case. The psychological inconsequence is far greater than the logical. Read as a continuation, the finish does not merely contradict, but stultify the opening. If S. Paul found himself driven to end thus, he must first have torn up i - vii, not left them a self mockery of hope and expectation. A man may censure, reproach, mistrust, and then gradually relent into forgiveness and hopes of better things, but he does not, without even a note of explanation, allow a letter suffused with the joys Of reconciliation to pass abruptly into a torrent of passionate, stem, and Often sarcastic outbursts of expostulation, reproach, self-vindication, and appeal. Nor on the other hand does he preface censure, and the demand for satisfaction, with assurances of mutual sympathy and understanding that nothing can assail or shake. Still less does he intercalate between the two a hesitating request for a personal favour. But this will become clearer after detailed consideration of Chs. I - ix.
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