A
angellous_evangellous
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A paragraph from my dissertation. Rough draft. Hot of the press.
Paul refers to his opponents as kings and wealthy (1 Cor. 4:8), perhaps indicating the wealth of the educated. Perhaps a plea for unity is in Paul’s wish that his opponents could actually rule so Paul could rule with them (1 Cor. 4:8b). On the other hand, Paul and his associates are publically humiliated in the extreme, they are fools for the sake of their opponents. The apostles are hungry and thirsty, inadequately clothed, abused and homeless, they work with their hands, they are despised, reviled, persecuted, and slandered. If Paul is contrasting metaphors – the Corinthians are not kings – Paul may be being a bit melodramatic (or more precisely, a drama queen). If it is true that Paul and his friends are enduring so much hardship, the rhetoric is all the more powerful. Paul would be contrasting a metaphor – the authority, power, and wealth of the Corinthians – with the actual suffering of the apostles.
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