The GOCN is having a forum on “The Corinthian Correspondence and Missional Praxis” at the Annual Meeting of the Society  of Biblical Literature in November of 2013, in Baltimore. The following is a description of the paper I’ll be presenting.

“Corinthian Transformation for Mission: Re-Interpreting 2 Corinthians 4” 

New Testament scholars writing on 2 Corinthians 4 have observed that the chapter includes some of Paul’s deepest reflections on his apostolic life and vocation. The same scholars discussing the same chapter, however, have been reluctant to speak substantially about the missional life and vocation of the church. At the foundation of this essay is the claim that, contrary to many readings of 2 Corinthians, Paul deals not only with his own vocation, or that of himself and his apostolic partners. This study marshals evidence that Paul seeks to inculcate essentially the same missional vocation in the Corinthians themselves. In fact, Paul interprets his own calling through the vocation of all who are in Christ. On this foundation, the presentation will interpret Paul’s statements about his “we” as indicative of what is true of the church’s transformation for mission.

The presentation will begin with a condensed argument that Paul is not writing solely about his own vocation or that of his apostolic team. We will observe the following evidence: The Corinthians will naturally read 2 Corinthians 4 in light of what precedes. Through his prior correspondence with them, Paul has trained the Corinthians to treat his extended self-descriptions as exemplary of their vocation (1 Cor 4:16; 11:1). Moreover, in 2 Cor 1:3-7, where Paul affirms that not only he but also the Corinthians share in Christ’s sufferings, the letter’s introduction guides how the congregation should read what he is about to say. Moreover, in 3:18, “we all” are being transformed. In 4:11, “we who are alive” (hoi zōntes) – all who are alive in Christ – are being handed over, “so that the life of Jesus may be manifest”. Paul also affirms that Christ died for all, and all have died, that “those who are alive (hoi zōntes) might no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised “(5:14-15).

The main substance of the presentation will be to sketch Paul’s vision for believers’ transformation for mission, as described in 2 Corinthians 4, though with insights from the wider context of 2 Corinthians 1-7. God’s light shines into the hearts of believers (4:6), granting a vision of Christ which leads them to be transformed from one degree of glory to another (3:18). The fruit of this transformation is that believers become illuminators as people experience through them “the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (4:6). Believers preach Christ Jesus as Lord (4:5), but their whole embodied existence (sōma and sarx in 4:10-11) also expresses the life of Jesus. Believers are clay jars containing the treasure of the gospel for others (4:7). Believers suffer in their bodies, but doing so is a means toward a greater end: they are transformed to become revelators of Christ and his life (4:10-11). In the midst of hardship, believers experience renewal of the inner person as they gaze on what is eternal and unseen, walking courageously by faith (4:16-18; 5:7-8). Christ’s death and love propel them to live not for themselves, but for Christ (5:14-15). Moreover, God has placed the message of reconciliation “in us” (5:19) – in the body of believers. Finally, read in light of what precedes, when Paul says that Christ was made sin “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”, this describes God’s project of transforming the church to be the image of what God desires for all humanity.

It is not sufficient to say with most scholars that the purpose of Paul’s self-references is to explain his apostolic office and defend himself. Instead, the paper argues that Paul is deliberately and tactically using his self-references to exemplify a broader missional vocation for believers: one arising from a transformative union with Christ. What preoccupies Paul is not so much his own apostolic standing as his relationship with the Corinthians, and their union with Christ and with the gospel. Through this union, the Christian life becomes a picture of Christ for others. Believers live to illuminate, to help people see the face of Jesus, for this leads to thanksgiving and glory for God (4:15).