Integrity

Our earliest papyri preserve the letter whole (e.g. P46, from c.200 CE), but a number of scholars have argued that it is in fact a compound of several letters. Thus it has been suggested that 1 Cor 1–4 is a self-contained letter, closing in 4:14–21 with the typical close-of-letter formulae (see de Boer 1994). It is strange that the named party divisions which Paul repeatedly criticizes in chs. 1–4 are never mentioned in chs. 5–16. It is possible that the Corinthians’ letter to Paul (7:1) and disturbing news about their behaviour (5:1) arrived after the initial drafting of chs. 1–4 but before they were sent to Corinth. However, the opening thanksgiving section (1:4–9) seems to anticipate themes which surface in later chapters (e.g. spiritual gifts in 1:7 and chs. 12–14), and the theme of unity (1:10) pervades the whole letter (see Mitchell 1992). Inconsistencies have been found within later chapters, for instance between an apparently softer stance on sacrificial food in 8:1–13 and 10:22–11:1, and a harder line in 10:1–22. Complex theories have been propounded of two, four, or more original letters which have been stitched together into our 1 Corinthians (see details in ABD i. 1142–3). Such hypotheses are plausible in the case of 2 Corinthians, but Paul’s varying rhetorical purposes can probably explain all the inconsistencies in this letter. Thus we may take 1 Corinthians as a single and unified whole.