2 Corinthians – The Importance of the Story

I’m reading Frank J. Matera’s fine commentary on 2 Corinthians, and today was reading about Paul’s recitation of his history with the Corinthians as the basis for what  he was about to teach them.  I warn you that this post is only partially about 2 Corinthians.  It is more broadly about the importance of seeing the stories involved in each passage of scripture.

The word “story” gets used a great deal when talking about Biblical interpretation these days.  I want to be careful in explaining how I am using it here.  I am not suggesting that we each have a story (though we do) and that any story is equally valid.  Rather, I’m suggesting that the story of God’s revelation is important in understanding scripture overall, and that the particular stories of prophets, apostles, and audiences are critically important in understanding and applying passages effectively.

More than one story can intersect as well.  In both letters to the Corinthians we can look at a story of God revealing himself to the believers in Corinth, using the apostle Paul and others in doing so.  There is the story of Paul living out his life as an apostle of Jesus Christ.  There is a story of preservation in that this content is made available to us.  Finally, there is a story of God bringing his word to me and to you in our particular circumstances.

This doesn’t mean that just any story will do and that we must give equal credence to all stories.  In fact, paying close attention to the stories will bring us to a more focused view of the meaning of various passages.

No commentator that I know of ignores the story of Paul’s interactions with the Corinthians.  I have previously enjoyed Gordon Fee’s commentary on 1 Corinthians, which I regard as the best single-volume, pastor accessible commentary I have ever read.  Fee is very concerned with Paul’s story as indeed he must be.  Similarly Matera is very conscious of that continued story in the commentary I’m currently reading.  I bring these two together, because both relate the story in such a way as to preserve the unity and the coherence of both letters.

In 2 Corinthians, the story helps us see some important elements of being a servant who proclaims God’s word.  Paul can sound quite boastful as he defends his own ministry and integrity.  He is quite conscious of the problem as he writes, but nonetheless he knows that his integrity, his calling, and his reliability are inextricably linked to the proclamation of his gospel.

This second letter, or more likely fourth letter assuming we’re missing two, teaches that the gospel manifests itself not merely in a set of beliefs, but also in a life.  It is especially important for those chosen to proclaim the gospel to display the gospel in their lives.

I think 2 Corinthians is particularly susceptible to being mined for theological quotes, because the letter as a whole is difficult, yet it so obviously contains many theological gems.  But we may miss the emphasis of those gems by pulling them out of their setting.

Let me illustrate this from 1 Corinthians, which I think is also very subject to quote mining.  Chapter 12 is frequently used in charismatic circles as a chapter about gifts.  The emphasis is on determining just what each gift means and what the person having that gift will be able to do.  But Paul is not primarily attempting to catalog gifts.  His concern is with the source of these gifts and how they are to be used.  He’s telling the church in Corinth that the gifts that they have are to be used in unity under the authority of the one Spirit.

Chapter 13 is a beautiful chapter, but frequently those talking about gifts and worship skip straight over it to get to chapter 14 where we’re talking about nuts and bolts again–fun stuff!  But Paul didn’t just let his mind wander into some special spiritual realm in order to write chapter 13.  Read it carefully with chapters 12  and 14, and you’ll see how Paul’s definition of love is also a way to describe how one uses God’s gifts under God’s Spirit.  It connects closely with what precedes and follows it.

Note here that in narrowing he focus from a general treatise on gifts to a discussion of the source and purpose of those gifts, we also broaden the discussion to cover Christian behavior in general.  Chapter 12 provides a pattern for using any and all of our gifts, talents, and resources, and then chapter 13 names that “love” and expands on just what it means.

Chapter 14, in turn, is frequently mined for quotes to apply to almost any worship setting, but the fact is that most of our churches do not have a worship service like the one in Corinth that they need to bring into line with God’s Spirit.  Be honest now!  How many churches can say that at their worship services, “each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation” (1 Corinthians 14:26 ESV)?

Yet I’ve heard verse 40 (“decently and in order”) used to argue that one can’t make any change in the bulletin at all, or that nobody other than the pastor and designated readers should speak.

Getting into the pastoral situation in which Paul finds himself would help us apply this properly.  Perhaps we should move our focus from verse 40, as important as that is, and look more at verse 26.  When we actually have two or more people wanting to speak at once, then we could try working on some of the other verses.  Right now, most of the churches I visit are singularly short on “lessons” and “revelations” not to mention the rest.

To return to 2 Corinthians, I am getting the feeling that God is challenging me through Paul’s experience to make myself a better example of the gospel that I claim to teach.

But watch out even there, because 2 Corinthians also tells us about God using the weak.  How to I make myself a better example?  I let God use my weaknesses.  The gospel, after all, is about grace, not about my strength or brilliance.