F. Hermeneutical Issues
ou grammatos alla pneumatos “not of the letter, but of the Spirit” (3:6)
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (3:17).
1. An Apostolic Hermeneutic The apostle Paul lived in the Scriptures as known to him primarily in the Greek translation of the OT (the LXX). In 2 Cor, his quotations from and seemingly limitless allusions to OT texts make this obvious. As a result, Paul possessed a “biblical spirituality” (Young and Ford 1987, 62). His reading and pondering of his Bible shaped his understanding of both himself and the nature of the situation in the church at Corinth. Young and Ford observe that Paul “has ‘lived in the Bible’ to the point where the Bible has formed his whole outlook on how the world is and what his place in it might be” (1987, 63). One can trace the influence of Paul’s Bible throughout the whole of the letter. The whole range of Scriptures we call the OT —the Law, the Prophets and the Writings—impacted his mind and heart. The language of the Psalms was in his blood stream. From the Psalms of lament and other Psalms come his sense of confidence and hope in the midst of affliction. Direct quotations appear in 4:13 (Ps 116:10) and 9:9 (Ps 112:9). Most significant were Paul’s allusions to Ps 116, focused on the quotation of 116:10. He alludes as well to the surrounding Pss, 112-117. These are the Hallel (praise) Psalms, used in synagogue worship on the occasion of the great festivals. The Psalms were, no doubt, his lifelong prayer book and hymnbook. As such, they were instrumental in molding his spirituality (see Young and Ford 1987, 63-69). The prophets represented in 2 Cor by direct quotations are Isaiah (49:8 and 52:11 in 2 Cor 6:2; 6:17a), Jeremiah (9:24 in 2 Cor 10:17), and Ezekiel (37:27 and 20:34 in 2 Cor 6:16-17). Again the allusions are multiple. With and beyond these linguistic links, however, was Paul’s assimilation of and dependence upon the substance of their message and prophetic perspectives. He interpreted his prophetic vocation in the light of the call of Jeremiah and the way he lived out his prophetic office. Furthermore, Jeremiah furnished Paul with his key text on boasting (9:24) as well as the terminology of the new covenant (31:31-34; 2 Cor 3:6; see Ezek 37:26-28). Ezekiel’s stress on the glory of God (1:28; 3:23; 39:21: 43:1-5), the importance of the Spirit (2:2; 37:1-10), and the human need for a new heart and spirit (11:19; 18:31) were all in the background of Paul’s understanding. Other connections abound. Aspects of and allusions to the vision of Isaiah (chs 1-66) all made their impact on Paul’s prophetic perception. From these prophets he learned to see God’s dealing with his people in historical perspective. The prophets were examples of despair and warning as well as of hope and encouragement. Paul sought to carry on their vision of redemptive purposes as the ambassador of a new covenant to the Gentiles (see Young and Ford 1987, 69-78). The Wisdom literature furnished Paul with ample illustration of his boasting theme. Other themes such as singleness of heart, trust in affliction, divine counsel, and the aroma of wisdom are also present in 2 Cor. Allusions from Proverbs appear in chs 8 and 9, and may appear elsewhere. Significant too are Paul’s quotations from Lev 26:12 (2 Cor 6:16), 2 Sam 7:8, 14 (2 Cor 6:18), Exod 16:18 (2 Cor 8:15), and Deut 19:15 (2 Cor 13:1; see the commentary on these passages). Most important, however, for an appreciation of Paul’s biblical hermeneutic is his interpretation of Exod 34:29-35 in 2 Cor 3:7-18 (see Hays 1989, 122-153). Here scriptural exegesis constitutes the method of his argument. He appeals to the Law, the Torah, the basic and most authoritative portion of Scripture for the Jewish community. From the prophets Paul understood the historical failure of the old covenant, a covenant that indeed possessed God’s glory. He saw the consequences of destruction, death and the exile for the people of God. Paul understood the need of the prophetically promised new covenant (Jer and Ezek) and its fulfillment in a new covenant of the Spirit. With a dynamic hermeneutic of the Spirit he interpreted the realization of the covenant as coming to completion in the person and work of Christ. In Paul’s view, “the entire history of God’s dealings with mankind could be summed up by the formula ‘God in Christ’” (Hanson 1974, 241). The word of God overwhelmed the apostle with transforming insight into Christ, “the Lord, who is the Spirit.” Caught up in the raptured creativity of fulfillment, he writes with fresh boldness, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we . . . are being transformed into his likeness with an ever-increasing glory” (3:17-18; see 3:12; 12:2-4). Richard B. Hays comments: “Paul provides us with a model of hermeneutical freedom” (1989, 186). E. Earle Ellis terms Pauline biblical exegesis as “grammatical-historical plus.” By this he means that Paul’s interpretation pursues the grammar and historical meaning according to the accepted methods of his day. But his exegesis “in its essential character, begins where grammatical-historical exegesis ends” (1957, 147). Paul has soaked himself in the whole of Scripture. He submits his mind and heart to the Spirit of God and hears the biblical witness to its ultimate end and meaning in Christ. Paul knows the Scriptures; but he also knows full well the situation in Corinth. In this matrix, listening to the Spirit and to the needs of the church, he understands anew the Scripture in relation to the condition of the recipients of his apostolic labors in Corinth. This is the witness, the understanding of Scripture that he brings to bear on the world of his day. To what extent does Paul point the way for the role of the Church’s sacred text in the lives of God’s people in the world of our day? How is 2 Cor divinely designed to function for us in our personal reading, in the preaching task, and for our understanding of our calling to be witnesses and ministers? Can a “rich, alive, personally revealing God as experienced in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, personally” address “us in whatever circumstance we find ourselves” (Peterson 2006, 28)? Can the Spirit give us a transforming word from the biblical text for our people?
[Begin Sidebar: Further Reading on Pauline Hermeneutics
Ellis, E. Earle. 1957. Paul’s Use of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Hanson, Anthony Tyrrell. 1974. Studies in Paul’s Technique and Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Hays, Richard B. 1989. Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul. New Haven: Yale University Press.
________. 2005. The Conversion of the Imagination: Paul as an Interpreter of Israel’s Scripture. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Young, Frances, and David F. Ford. 1987. Meaning and Truth in 2 Corinthians. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. End Sidebar]
2. A Biblical Hermeneutic Volumes dealing with the question of biblical interpretation could fill a library. We cannot write another book! I will attempt merely to articulate in a few paragraphs what my mind and heart grasps as basic in light of 2 Cor. I write inescapably as a Wesleyan (see Green 2004, 124) mining from Paul “a biblical hermeneutic” for the role of Scripture in the church of our day. We start with a faith declaration: the key to our reading of Scripture is Scripture! Why could not the starting point of our instruction for the proclamation of the message of Scripture be Scripture? Our approach to the biblical text begins with a twofold assumption. The first is the appropriate role of the grammatical or literary-historical method. The second is the nature of Scripture as “God-breathed” (2 Tim 3:16): “when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). The Bible is at one and the same time a “human” book and a “Holy Spirit” book. The Bible is literature, written in an ancient language according to the literary conventions of its day. It was written at specific times in history, at specific geographical locations, in specific ancient languages, and within specific cultures far removed from our postmodern times. In the progress of God’s redemptive action in regards to his people, he has in his providence given to the Church the biblical canon of the Old and New Testaments. God by his Spirit was involved in its writing, its tradition history, its preservation, its collection, and in its canonical formation. Throughout the history of the Church, the Holy Spirit has spoken to the people of God through its sacred texts, interpreting them for Christian faith, life, and ministry. Hays observes, “the Holy Spirit is not a theological abstraction but the manifestation of God’s presence in the community, making everything new” (1996, 45). Thus, the Bible divorced from the Spirit of God and read apart from a heart and mind open to the Holy Spirit is hardly the Christian Scriptures. It is merely a collection of ancient documents of historical interest and literary inspiration: “an anthology of ancient literary art, a record of historical events, or a depository of universal wisdom” (Wall 2004, 109). The Bible is the Word of God for human lives only in dynamic union with the Living Word: “The Lord is the Spirit” (3:17). With these two assumptions, one historical and the other of faith, our hermeneutic centers in the character and function of Holy Scripture as a “witness to faith.” As the Church’s normative rule of faith, this is its divinely intended function. Simply put the scriptural canon consists of prophetic pre-witness—the OT—and apostolic post-witness—the NT—to Jesus Christ the incarnate Son of God. The character of this witness can be fully clarified by literary and historical questioning. The function of this witness can be effectively known only by a hearing of mind and heart in the lives of individuals and in the work of the Church. So our attempt is to sum up a biblical hermeneutical approach to 2 Cor as a “Christological witness.” First, we listen to Scripture as a witness, inspired testimony to what God is up to. As did Paul in writing 2 Cor, we set Scripture in the context of the age-long history of the people of God witnessed to by the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. Paul included in this history of salvation the coming of the Christ; so, we include the NT and the centuries-long history of the Christ’s Church. We need to see the biblical text in the light of what God in Christ has been doing redemptively in the ages-long life of the people of God. Within that perspective the primary question is “Who is Christ?” How does Paul understand Christ? What is the essence of his work? What is Paul’s basic Christology? How did Paul experience Jesus the Christ? Then, as we grasp Paul’s witness in its linguistic, historical, and theological form, we listen for the Spirit’s witness in and for our concrete human situation: “the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you” (John 16:15). Robert W. Wall writes, “the Spirit of God is at work” in the “Scripture’s performance as the Word of God” in “the interplay of biblical text and social context” (2004, 117-118). Within the worshipping community, we encounter in our own particularity of life the crucified and risen Christ in whose face we see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God” (4:6; see 5:14, 15, 21). Our hermeneutic is first to hear and share in a witness! For the Church it starts with what God has done “reconciling . . . in Christ” (5:19). It begins as a “listening” hermeneutic! Second, our hermeneutical approach to 2 Cor is Christological. As best we can, having understood Paul’s Christ in his life, death, and resurrection, we follow Paul in the application of his faith in Christ. In 2 Cor Paul’s Christology informs and shapes everything about his apostolic life and work. His message, his gospel, was simply “the gospel of Christ” (2:12) and profoundly “the gospel of the glory of Christ” (4:4). Paul’s ministry, as “the ministry of reconciliation” (5:18), fully partook of Christ’s ministry: “We always carry around in our body the death (dying) of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (4:10; see vv 11-12; 1:5; 6:3-10; 11:21—12:10; 13:4). As “Christ’s ambassadors,” God was “making his appeal” through the apostles (5:20). The most fundamental form of ministry is “the life of Jesus” as it highlights the effect of the present reality of grace in the personality of the minister (Murphy-O’Connor 1991, 145). Paul viewed the Corinthians as the church through Christological lens; they were promised in marriage to the “one husband,” to “Christ” (11:2). The conduct of their lives was to be determined by “their sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (11:3; 12:20-21; 13:11). The ethics of the Christian community and of individual Christians were to be “Christ-ethics.” The norm for ethics is more than a predetermined set of rules for conduct, “right action must be discerned on the basis of a christological paradigm, with a view to the need of the community” (Hays 1996, 43, see 18, 39-45). To sum up, a contemporary hermeneutical approach to 2 Cor centers on Paul’s Spirit-empowered witness to the person and work of Christ. That is, it focuses primarily on God in Christ reconciling the world to himself. This witness as received is, then, under the same Spirit’s guidance, worked out in every aspect of the life of the Church, its ministry, and in the individual lives of its people in obedience to the revealed and living Christ. In the language of the Fourth Gospel: the Spirit, the Advocate, makes known to us what is Christ’s (John 16:15). The Spirit will guide us “into all truth” and tell “what is yet to come” (John 16:13). He will inspire us to know what Jesus means for us now, where we are in life and community. Thus the Scriptures as the Word of God face us with “the arduous task of interpretation” (Kay 2007, 120). Paul asserts: “the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (3:17). This “freedom,” as 2 Cor shows in nearly every line, involves inherently a Christological-ethical imperative. Paul’s “mode of hermeneutical freedom” is a model of hermeneutical responsibility: “Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you” (13:11). In the “FROM THE TEXT” sections of this commentary I attempt to employ prayerfully the hermeneutic set forth here. As the exegetical disciplines were applied to the text of 2 Cor, the presence and mind of the Living Christ were sincerely sought. My own mind and heart yearned for the witness of the Spirit speaking through the inspired text to Christ, to see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (4:6). The goal was to articulate the witness of the Living Word through the written Word for my own life and for that of the Church I love. I am hopeful that a fresh vision of Christ crucified and risen is faithfully applied to Christian ministry and life. Perhaps a personal example will help at this point. Recently, I was asked to give the scriptural mediation at the memorial service for the wife of a colleague of over four decades (09/03/08). I felt drawn to 2 Cor 4:7—5:10 as I searched for the voice of the Living Lord for my friend and his family. I wanted to proclaim the gospel as we had shared it over the years in this time of great loss. For 48 years we had been united in our love of Scripture and had exchanged our “penetrating” insights. Another text from Paul’s letter to Corinth leaped out at me as well. The apostle’s word to a troubled church was “I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together” (2 Cor 7:3; NRSV). Speaking this text directly to my friend and his two children on behalf of myself and the gathered congregation, I made use of the “FROM THE TEXT” section on 2 Cor 4:7—5:10. The approach to the text for this occasion was as follows: Plainly and directly Paul understands his present life as one characterized equally by both the “dying of Jesus” (NASB) and the “life of Jesus” (4:10). This transforms both his present and his future life. Such is the nature of the Pauline gospel, and by the grace and providence of God, our gospel, our good news, as well. So as we listen with our hearts to this inspired text, keep in mind that “you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.” The apostle would have us today center the understanding of our lives in the death and the resurrection of Jesus. For as we, with Paul-like confidence (4:1, 16; 5:6, 8), attempt to face the “expected” and the “unexpecteds” of our earthy course as Christians, we discover three profound affirmations about our faith. I proceeded to unpack the following affirmations of biblical faith in the face of the loss of a loved one. Scripture tells us that we are able to face the crucibles of life because: (1) We center our faith in the cross and resurrection of Jesus (4:7-15). (2) We live by faith in the unseen (4:16-18). And (3) We possess a confident faith in the future (5:1-10). The concluding word was twofold, first to the family, “This is our privilege, our hope, our fountain of courage! We are grateful!” And then a prayer, “Lord, we hear your word”! Gebraucht das Gebet als einen Bohrer und die Quellen lebendigen Wassers werden aus dem Wort Gottes flieβen! Use prayer as a drill and springs of living water will flow from the word of God!
[Begin Siderbar: Further Reading on a Wesleyan Hermeneutic Bassett, Paul M. 1978. The Fundamentalist Leavening of the Holiness Movement, 1914-1940. The Church of the Nazarene: A Case Study. Wesleyan Theological Journal 13:65-85.
Dunning, H. Ray. 1988. Pages 55-76 in Grace, Faith and Holiness. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City.
Green, Joel B. 2004. Is There a Contemporary Wesleyan Hermeneutic? Pages 123-134 in Reading the Bible in Wesleyan Ways: Some Constructive Proposals. Edited by Barry L. Callen and Richard P. Thompson. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City.
Peterson, Eugene H. 2006. Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Wall, Robert W. 2004a. “Toward a Wesleyan Hermeneutic of Understanding.” Pages 39-55 in Reading the Bible in Wesleyan Ways: Some Constructive Proposals. Edited by Barry L. Callen and Richard P. Thompson. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City.
________. 2004b. “Facilitating Scripture’s Future Role Among Wesleyans.” Pages 107-120 in Reading the Bible in Wesleyan Ways: Some Constructive Proposals. Edited by Barry L. Callen and Richard P. Thompson. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City.
Wiley, H. Orton. 1940. Pages 135-143 and 166-184 in Christian Theology, Vol 1. Kansas City: Nazarene Publishing House.
Wiley, H. Orton, and Paul T. Culbertson. 1945. Pages 40-55 in Introduction to Christian Theology. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press.