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Imitating Paul: 1 Cor 4:16

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Boykin Sanders
Boykin Sanders
Affiliation:
Andover-Newton Theological School
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Extract

In 1 Cor 4:8–13 Paul sharply contrasts his life of hardship as an apostle with that of the Corinthians who glory in spiritual riches and power. In this context he admonishes the Corinthians to imitate him (μιμηταί μoυ γίνεσθε) and even sends Timothy to remind them of “my ways in Christ” (ἀναμήσει τὰϛ ‘δoύϛ μoυ τὰϛ ἐν Ξριττῷ 'I7eta;σoῦ, 1 Cor 4:16–17). But Paul offers almost no guidance that would enable us to ascertain specifically what aspects of his life are to be imitated. The lack of specificity on Paul's part has vexed many interpreters of 1 Cor 4:16. In the hope of clarifying what Paul means by the central term, “imitator,” scholars have studied its use elsewhere in the Pauline corpus (1 Cor 11:1; 1 Thess 1:6–7; 2:14; Phil 3:17; cf. also the deutero-Pauline passages, 2 Thess 3:7–9; Eph 4:32–5:1).

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Type
Research Article
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Harvard Theological Review , Volume 74 , Issue 4 , October 1981, pp. 353 - 364
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1981

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References

1 E.g., Boer, Willis Peter de, The Imitation of Paul (Kampen: Kok, 1960) 92–196Google Scholar; Schultz, Anselm, Nachfolgen und Nachahmen (Munich: Kösel, 1962) 270–88Google Scholar; Tinsley, E. J., The Imitation of God in Christ (London: SCM, 1960) 135–65Google Scholar; Larsson, Edvin, Christ als Vorbild (Lund: Gleerup, 1962) 15ff.Google Scholar; D. M. Stanley, “Become Imitators of Me,” Bib 40 (1959) 859–77; Betz, Hans Dieter, Nachfolge und Nachahmung Jesu Christi im Neuen Testament (Tübingen: Mohr, 1967)Google Scholar.

2 Hans Conzelmann (I Corinthians [ET in Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975] 91) observes the change of tone in 4:14: “Paul now speaks in conciliatory fashion.”

3 See Herman W. Beyer, διάκoνoϛ, TDNT 2. 81–93, for the Pauline and pre-Pauline use of this term. Within the context of 1 Cor 3:5, Paul envisions the Lord as a commissioner of various services (cf. 1 Cor 12:4ff.) and understands himself to have been given a special task.

4 Thus Morna D. Hooker (“Beyond the Things Which are Written: An Examination of I Cor 4:6,” NTS 10 [1963/64] 127–32) believes that 4:16 refers to the planting and watering analogies in 3:5ff.

5 With regard to “things” in 4:15, cf. 9:lff. where Paul argues the case of his own human and religious rights, to which “I say these things” refers in vs 9. Verse 15 further emphasizes his point.

6 The father-child metaphor is constantly used by Paul in speaking of his relationship to the churches he established: 1 Thess 2:11, Gal 4:19, 2 Cor 12:14, Philippians 10.

7 Scholars generally agree that 1 Cor 1:10–4:21 is a single unit. See Barrett, C. K., A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians (London: Black, 1968) 114–15Google Scholar; Hans Conzelmann, I Corinthians, 91–93.

8 See Funk, Robert W., “Word and Word in I Corinthians 2:6–16,” in Language, Hermeneutic, and Word of God (New York: Harper & Row, 1966) 277–78Google Scholar; but cf. Betz, Nachfolge, 154–55, which points out that the parakald hymas in 1:10 and 4:16 shows that the intervening material is related.

9 Dieter Georgi, “Corinthians, First,” IDBSup, 180–83; and Die Gegner des Paulus im 2. Korintherbrief. Studien zur religibsen Propoganda in der Spatantike (WMANT 11; NeuKirchen, 1964).

10 Cf. Robinson, W. C. Jr. (“Word and Power (1 Cor 1:17–2:25)” in Soli Deo Gloria [ed. Richards, J. M.; Richmond: Knox, 1968] 68–82)Google Scholar, who shows that Paul, by emphasizing “Christ crucified” (1:23, 2:2), impresses the quality of humility upon a community whose Christian life does not demonstrate it. Robinson notes: “To be sure Paul did preach Christ crucified … the Christ who, though dead, is risen and who, though risen, remains the crucified Christ” (p. 73).

11 In 2 Cor 11:2, where Paul seeks to claim authority, he notes that he had betrothed the community in Christ. 12 If Paul had established his congregation in Corinth by the year 51 C.E., a period of four years may have elapsed until the present correspondence (54 C.E.). During the interim not only had he written a letter (5:7), but the local leaders had thrived (16:15–18). Apollos had been urged to visit Corinth (16:12). See Hurd, John C. Jr., The Origins of I Corinthians (London: SPCK, 1965)Google Scholar; and Bornkamm, Günther, Paul (New York: Harper & Row, 1969) 67–77Google Scholar.

13 Thus Stanley (“Become Imitators of Me” Bib 40 [1959] 871–73) points out a spiritual basis for the relationship. 14 Both Stanley (“Become Imitators,” 871–73) and Betz (Nachfolge, 145–46) orient the phrase “in Christ” with respect to the mystery religions.

15 If that were the case then Paul would have contributed to the problem he was trying to solve, i.e., favoring either Paul or Apollos (4:6).

16 Thus Funk, “Word and Word in I Corinthians 2:6–16,” 278; also Georgi, “Corinthians, First,” 182.

17 Conzelmann, I Corinthians, 89.

18 Walter Schmithals (Gnosticism in Corinth [3d ed.; New York: Abingdon, 1971] 206–7) contends that Paul separates himself from his gnostic opponents in 4:10. Cf. Betz, Nachfolge, 159, for the criticism of the opponents on grounds other than the anti-gnostic slant which Schmithals claims for Paul's opposition.

19 Schmithals, Gnosticism, 206–7.

20 See Betz, Nachfolge, 4–136 for a summary of the scholarship.

21 De Boer, Imitation, 15–16.

22 Ibid.

23 Ibid., 25ff.; cf. W. Michaelis, “μιμηήϛ,” TDNT 4. 659–66.

24 Miehaelis, “νιμηηήϛ,” 668–72 lists Paul's usages and claims that 1 Cor 4:16 and 11:1 (along with 1 Thess 1:6 and Eph 5:1) belong to the category of obedience. Michaelis argues that “ways” in 1 Cor 4:16–17 refers to Paul's teaching about the Christian life. But Stanley (“Become Imitators,” 871) argues that Paul does not insist on obedience to him as an individual person but as a mediator: “Just as I am of Christ.”

25 Stanley, who emphasizes Paul's use of the suffering servant idea, notes also Paul's role as mediator in the imitation of Christ.

26 Betz (Nachfolge, 183–84) argues that Paul's apostolic experiences approximate the obedience on the cross to death so that glorious triumph may come on the Day of the Lord. The weakness of the cross manifests God's power.

27 Thus Conzelmann, I Corinthians, 92: “This summons [4:16] is always bound up with the paradox that he [Paul] is an example inasmuch as he is nothing and he suffers (cf. 1 Thess 1:6; 2:14; Phil 3:17; 1 Cor 10:23–11:1).”

28 In contrast, we today often think of the cross as a bitter and painful symbol, as a result of our cultural perspective on Christ's crucifixion. We generally view a life of meagerness and humiliation as despicable and distasteful. In the ancient world, the way of simplicity and necessities was the path of joy; see the portrayal of, for example, Socrates in Zenophon, Memorabilia, 1.2, and Epictetus, “The True Cynic,” 2.22; cf. Gal 6:11–16.

29 See the discussion in Stendahl, Krister, Paul Among Jews and Gentiles (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976) 40–52Google Scholar.

30 Giittgemanns, Erhardt, Der leidende Apostel und sein Herr (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1966) 195–98Google Scholar.

31 But cf. Koester, Helmut, “The Purpose of the Polemic of a Pauline Fragment,” NTS 8 (1962) 317–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

32 Paul's delineation of God's mighty workings among the Corinthians in 1 Cor 1:26–28 suggests a theme which is especially pronounced in the black religious experience. The black religious community speaks joyously of what God has done among them in such terms as “making a way out of no way,” “providing bread in a starving land,” “causing tulips to grow in garbage cans,” etc. The emphasis is that God, breaking through the powers of oppression, does mighty things in situations the world defines as nothingness.

33 Helmut Koester's review (Gnomon 33 [1961] 590–95) of U. Wilkins, Weisheit und Torheit (Tübingen, 1959) supports this interpretation: “Sophia ist fur Paulus ein Gott vorbehaltener Begriff, der kein anthropologisches Korrelat … zulasst, also auch ein neues Weise-Sein der Glaubenden ausschliesst, so dass sogar die Verkundigung also solche der Weisheit entbehrt und dem Verkiinder ebensowenig Eigenes bleibt wie den am Ende Verurteilten.”

34 See Betz, Nachfolge, 153–69, on the dying and rising god in the mystery religions with respect to 1 Cor 4:17.

35 ἐν πάση ἐκκλσία (4:17), although used several times in the Corinthian correspondence, is unclear. Paul never speaks of “my churches” as he does of “my children.” Yet he refers to churches he did not found, e.g., Gal 1:13; 1 Thess 2:14 and Rom 15:20. By analogy (and from the actual context) he evidently means “in all my churches,” i.e., churches he founded, especially in a polemical situation, e.g., 2 Cor 11:8, 28 and 12:13. The latter texts point to Paul's unique relationship to the churches he “fathered.”

36 Paul expresses this principle also at Phil 2:4 and Rom 15:3.

37 See Karris's, Robert J. discussion (“Rom 14:1–15:13 and the Occasion of Romans,” CBQ 35 [1973] 155–58)Google Scholar of whether a communal problem-the eating of meat-prompted Paul to write Romans. Romans may be simply elaborating the Corinthian theme, and hence not focusing on a communal problem at Rome.

38 Georgi (“Corinthians, First,” 182) notes that Paul promotes the idea of collective identity among the Corinthians.