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Comfort, O Comfort, Corinth: Grief and Comfort in 2 Corinthians 7:5–13a*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 October 2011
Extract
Paul's correspondence with the Corinthian congregation chronicles the story of an absent leader trying to encourage an often wayward congregation to hold fast to his message of God's reconciling action in Jesus. As the conclusion to 2 Cor 2:14–7:4,1 a unit in which Paul explores the nature of his apostolic relationship with the Corinthian congregation, 2 Cor 7:5–13a portrays Paul's pastoral relationship with the Corinthians as near its breaking point.2 In this passage, Paul looks back to a time (before his current tentative reconciliation with the Corinthians) when Paul's trusted associate Titus had brought him comforting news of the Corinthians’ repentance and renewed faithfulness to the Pauline apostolate.3 Previous studies of Paul's practice of pastoral care in 2 Corinthians have focused on comparing his approach with those advocated in Greco-Roman philosophy. Other studies of 2 Corinthians have attempted to uncover the background of Paul's theology of reconciliation in Isaiah and other texts from Israel's scriptures and have emphasized his appropriation here of the Isaianic motif of comfort from the so-called “Book of Consolation” (Isaiah 40–55). Through an examination of Paul's language of grief (λυπέω/λύπη) and comfort (παρακαλέω/παράκλησιϛ) in 2 Cor 7:5–13a, however, a more complex picture of the roots of Paul's approach to the care of the Corinthian congregation emerges. As I will show, Paul's language of grief and comfort in 2 Cor 7:5–13a differs from broader Greco-Roman understandings of these concepts, such as those we find in the writings of Epictetus. In this pericope Paul draws on his interpretation of the cycle of grief and comfort in not just Second Isaiah but also Lamentations 1–2 in order to call the Corinthians back to faithfulness to the gospel and to give voice to their own experience of loss and consolation.
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1 Scholarly consensus holds that 2 Corinthians is a composite document. Many scholars suggest 2:14–7:4, as well as 6:14–7:1, are interpolations made at various stages of the book's composition; e.g., Frank W. Hughes, “The Rhetoric of Reconciliation: 2 Corinthians 1:1–2:13 and 7:5–8:24,” in Persuasive Artistry: Studies in New Testament Rhetoric in Honor of George A. Kennedy (ed. Duane F. Watson; JSNTSup 50; Sheffield, U.K.: Sheffield Academic, 1991) 246–61; and Welborn, Laurence L., “Like Broken Pieces of a Ring: 2 Cor 1.1–2.13; 7.5–16 and Ancient Theories of Literary Unity, NTS 42 (1996) 559–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Such claims, however, ignore the purpose of this larger section in the overall work of reconciling Paul's broken relationship with the Corinthians; on this point see Ivar Vegge, 2 Corinthians—A Letter about Reconciliation: A Psychagogical, Epistolographical and Rhetorical Analysis (WUNT 239; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008). As Murphy-O'Connor, writes, “The absence of a satisfactory ending necessarily calls into question the hypothesis that 2:14 begins a letter.” Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, “Paul and Macedonia: The Connection Between 2 Corinthians 2:13 and 2:14, JSNT 25 (1985) 99Google Scholar. Bazzi, Carlo, “La terza visita a Corinto. La Seconda lettera ai Corinzi come narrazione, RivB 57 (2009) 71–92Google Scholar. Bazzi observes that far too often the methodology used to dissect 2 Corinthians predisposes an author's final conclusion about the constituent parts of this letter.
2 There is no clear consensus on the limits of this pericope. For the purposes of this study, I have chosen to limit my discussion to 2 Cor 7:5–13a. In doing so, I regard 2 Cor 7:4 as a transition sentence between the previous section and this pericope. Likewise, 2 Cor 7:13b–16, while related to this pericope, shifts the focus away from Paul's experience of grief and comfort with the Corinthians and toward Titus's relationship to the community.
3 On the literary and social function of envoys in Paul's correspondence with the Corinthian and Thessalonian congregations, see Mitchell, Margaret M., “New Testament Envoys in the Context of Greco-Roman Diplomatic and Epistolary Conventions: The Example of Timothy and Titus, JBL 111 (1992) 641–62Google Scholar.
4 See most notably Welborn, Laurence L., “Paul's Appeal to the Emotions in 2 Corinthians 1.1–2.13; 7.5–16, JSNT 82 (2001) 31–60Google Scholar. Welborn uses Greco-Roman epistolary conventions of pathetic proofs to explore Paul's use of the emotions of pity, anger, and zeal to achieve reconciliation with the Corinthian community. See also Malherbe, Abraham J., Paul and the Thessalonians: The Philosophic Tradition of Pastoral Care Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987Google Scholar); and idem, Paul and the Popular Philosophers (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1989); Holloway, Paul A., “Bona Cogitare: An Epicurean Consolation in Phil 4:8–9,” HTR 91 (1998) 89–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar; V. Nguyen, Henry T., Christian Identity in Corinth: A Comparative Study of 2 Corinthians, Epictetus and Valerius Maximus WUNT 243; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008Google Scholar); and Scott Sullender, R., “Saint Paul's Approach to Grief: Clarifying the Ambiguity, Journal of Religion and Health 20 (1981) 63–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Sullender argues that Paul's notion of grief draws on three sources: the lament tradition (Hebraic), the consolation tradition (Philosophic), and eschatological convictions. In my estimation the interaction between these three “sources” is much more complex than Sullender allows. As I will argue, lament and consolation function concurrently in creative tension in this pericope.
5 Malherbe, Paul and the Thessalonians, 21.
6 Epictetus, , The Discourses as Reported by Arrian, the Manual, and Fragments with an English Translation trans. William A. Oldfather; 2 vols; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1946) 1:xxviiGoogle Scholar.
7 Ibid., 1:xxiii.
8 Unless otherwise noted, I am following Oldfather's translation of Epictetus.
9 Rudolph Bultmann, “λύπη, λυπέω, ἄλυποϛ, περίλυποϛ, συλλυπέoμαι,” in The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (ed. Gerhard Kittel; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1967) 4:313–24, at 319; see Cicero, Tusc., 3.10.22–23.
10 λυπέω predominates in usage by New Testament authors (forty attestations vs. seven attestations for πενθέω) and in Paul's articulation of grief (twenty-one attestations in the uncontested Pauline corpus).
11 Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains (ed. Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A. Nida; 2 vols; 2d ed.; New York: United Bible Societies, 1989) 25.142. The Lexicon describes πενθέω as the experience of “sadness or grief as the result of depressing circumstances.”
12 Ibid., 25.273–75.
13 Louis Martyn, J., “Apocalyptic Antinomies,” in Theological Issues in the Letters of Paul Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1997) 111–24Google Scholar., at 114; see also ibid., “Epistemology at the Turn of the Ages,” 89–110. Martyn argues (on the basis of 2 Corinthians 5:16–17) that the coming of the Messiah marks a point of radical separation in the way of doing things. Now everything is to be done according to the invasive reality of God's New Creation manifest in Jesus the Messiah.
14 Modern pastoral theology understands grief as a process “with identifiable stages during which one gives up that which is lost, withdraws emotional investment in the physical reality of the other, effects gradual reinvestment of one's self in the images of the other which are a part of the self, and renews meaningful activities and relationships without the lost one.” Switzer, David K., “Grief and Loss,” in Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling ed. Hunter, Rodney L.; Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1990) 472Google Scholar.
15 παρακαλέω and παράκλησιϛ occur thirty-two times in the extant Corinthian letters with twenty-three attestations in 2 Corinthians 1–9 and five of those in 2 Corinthians 7 alone. Outside of the Corinthian correspondence, the root appears in the uncontested Pauline corpus a total of sixteen times with the most attestations in 1 Thessalonians. The Johannine literature uses the term παράκλητοϛ to refer to the one whom Jesus is sending after him (e.g., John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7; cf. 1 John 2:1). Comparison of Paul's use of παρακαλέω/παράκλησιϛ and the Johannine use of παράκλητοϛ is warranted but beyond the limits of this inquiry.
16 Sean F. Winter, “The Meaning and Function of Paul's ‘Comfort’ Language in 2 Corinthians” (paper presented at the North American Meeting of the SBL, New Orleans, La., 20 November 2009). Winter has argued this point recently in his paper.
17 Cf. Rom 12:1, 8; 15:5, 30; 16:7; 1 Thess 2:3, 12; 3:2, 4; 4:1, 10, 18; 5:11, 14.
18 For a recent, comprehensive treatment of Paul's letters and the Jerusalem Collection, see Downs, David J., The Offering of the Gentiles: Paul's Collection for Jerusalem in its Chronological, Cultural, and Cultic Contexts WUNT 248; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008Google Scholar).
19 Schmitz, Otto, “parakalevw, paravklhsi~,” in The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament ed. Friedrich, Gerhard; 10 vols.; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1967) 6:776Google Scholar.
20 N. T. Wright comments on the relationship between Paul and Epictetus: “[T]he story he [Paul] told about himself, had a totally different shape from that of the narrative world we can discover behind, say, the Discourses of Epictetus. The analogies between Paul and the Stoics remain essentially superficial. As soon as we reach implicit narrative, and with it the level of worldview, we must see that Paul's story is essentially the Jewish story, albeit… straightened out.” N. T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God (vol. 1 of Christian Origins and the Question of God; Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress, 1992) 405.
21 E.g., Bruce, Frederick F., 1 and 2 Corinthians New Century Bible; London: Oliphants, 1971) 178Google Scholar; Martin, Ralph P., 2 Corinthians Word Biblical Commentary 40; Waco, Tex.: Word, 1986) 224–25Google Scholar.; cf. Otfried Hofius, “ ‘Der Gott allen Trostes’: Παράκλησιϛ und παρακαλεῖν in 2 Kor 1,3–7,” in Paulusstudien (WUNT 51; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1989) 244–54. Hofius, though mentioning Second Isaiah, argues that Pss 71 (70), 86 (85), and 94 (93) are the more likely sources for the language of παράκλησιϛ in 2 Corinthians, particularly in chapter one. He views the language of παράκλησιϛ in these psalms “as a constituent element of the ancient Israelite ‘Toda’ form” (254). For Hofius, Paul, in his introductory thanksgiving in 2 Cor 1:3–7, is making use of this form and this prominent element of the genre. While this may be true in 2 Corinthians 1, it does not diminish Paul's evocation of Lamentations 1–2 and Second Isaiah later in the letter.
22 Beale, Gregory K., “The Old Testament Background of Reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5–7 and its Bearing on the Literary Problem of 2 Corinthians 6.14–7.1, NTS 35 (1989) 550–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
23 Barnett, Paul, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians NICNT; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1997) 46–47Google Scholar., 72, 310–11, 317, 369.
24 Beale, “Old Testament Background,” 556.
25 Barnett, Second Epistle to the Corinthians, 317.
26 Ibid., 230 n. 12 (the only reference to Lamentations in the entire volume).
27 It is a point of Jewish law not to write “YHWH,” the Tetragrammaton or proper name of the God of Israel, with its vowels. I have therefore removed the vowels even in quoting authors who make use of them.
28 Sabbath and Festivals mark the cadence of time and hence spoke of YHWH's ordering of all of creation. For YHWH to abolish Sabbath and Festival and to withdraw his presence meant the very fabric of creation was being ripped apart. See Isa 66:23 wherein the perpetual cadence of New Moon and Sabbath are essential to the fabric of Isaiah's vision of new creation.
29 The various texts that make up the Septuagint (LXX) discuss grief in detail. The LXX prefers λυπέω/λύπη as the primary word used to translate up to thirteen different Hebrew words that evoke different nuances of grief and as the primary word in the original Greek parts of the book for grief. λυπέω/λύπη is equal to no single Hebrew concept of grief. The writers and translators of the LXX use it to translate such verbal roots as 
(hurt, pain, grieve), 
(be in pain), 
(be agitated, quiver, quake), and others. λυπέω/λύπη is used variously to describe situations of personal and communal lament over loss: e.g., Ps 54 (55):2; Jon 4:1; Isa 15:2, 19:17, 32:11; Lamentations 1–2; Tobit 2, 3, 10; lament over loss metaphorically described as going down to Sheol: e.g., Tob 4:3, 9:4; Gen 42:38; pain experienced as a consequence of action: e.g., Gen 3:16–17; Prov 25:20; Sir 36:25; Isa 8:21, 50:11; familial contexts wherein a child causes a parent grief because of his own failure to live up to expectations: e.g., Proverbs 10; Sirach 30:5; and God's anguish: e.g., 1 Esd 1:23, 9:52, 53; Mic 6:3.
30 παρακαλέω/παράκλησιϛ appears throughout the LXX to describe the comfort of kindred for those who have experienced loss: e.g., Gen 24:67, 37:38, 38:12, 50:21; Job 2:11, 7:13, 29:25, 42:11; the comfort of God for Israel: e.g., Pss 23 (22):4, 69 (68):20, 71 (70):21, 86 (85):17; Isa 40:1–2, 11, 41:27, 49:10–13, 51:3, 12, 19; 54:11, 57:18, 61:2, 66:13; compassion: e.g., Deut 32:3; Judg 21:6, 15; Ps 135 (134):14; reassurance: e.g., Judg 5:20; encouragement: e.g., Deut 3:28; Job 4:5; Si. 17:4; and consolation: e.g., Job 21:2; Ps 94 (93):20; Zech 10:2.
31 On the relationship between individual and corporate suffering in biblical literature and in Lamentations in particular, see Alan Mintz, 
urban: Responses to Catastrophe in Hebrew Literature (New York: Columbia University Press, 1984) 23–24.
32 Gottwald, Norman K., Studies in the Book of Lamentations SBT 14; London: SCM, 1954Google Scholar); idem, “Social Class and Ideology in Isaiah 40–55: An Eagletonian Reading,” Semeia 59 (1992) 43–57; Newsom, Carol A., “Response to Norman K. Gottwald, ‘Social Class and Ideology in Isaiah 40–55: An Eagletonian Reading,’ Semeia 59 (1992) 73–78Google Scholar. See also Willey, Patricia Tull, Remember the Former Things: The Recollection of Previous Texts in Second Isaiah SBLDS 161; Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars, 1997) 5–7Google Scholar.; Joseph Blekinsopp, Isaiah 40–55 (AB 19A; New York: Doubleday, 2002) 310; Childs, Brevard S., Isaiah OTL; Louisville, Ky.: WJKP, 2001) 294–98Google Scholar.; and Baltzer, Klaus, Deutero-Isaiah: A Commentary on Isaiah 40–55 Hermeneia; Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress, 2001) 49–51Google Scholar. While Blekinsopp discusses some connection between Second Isaiah and Lamentations, he does not highlight the specific relationship of Isaiah 40 and Lamentations 1–2; Childs and Baltzer likewise do not mention the connection.
33 This pattern of judgment, lament, and comfort is picked up in the synagogue liturgy for Tisha B'Av, the date on which the destruction of Jerusalem is remembered and mourned yearly with the recitation of the book of Lamentations. On the Shabbat prior to Tisha B'Av, the haftarah portion is Isaiah 1 (a text of judgment). On the Shabbat following Tisha B'Av, the haftarah portion is Isaiah 40 (a text of comfort). The earliest evidence we have for this lectionary is in the collection of midrashim on the haftarot readings for holidays and special Shabbats known as Pesikta de-Rav Kahana (dated variously but most likely from the fifth century C.E.).
34 O'Connor, Kathleen M., “‘Speak Tenderly to Jerusalem’: Second Isaiah's Reception and Use of Daughter Zion, PSB 20 (1999) 293Google Scholar. Newsom also argues that the poems of Second Isaiah serve as a dialogical “reversal” of the language of Lamentations (Newsom, “Response to Norman K. Gottwald,” 76).
35 See Levenson, Jon D., Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2006) 142–55Google Scholar.; Madigan, Kevin J. and Levenson, Jon D., Resurrection: The Power of God for Christians and Jews New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 2008) 132–46Google Scholar.
36 J. Wagner, Ross, Heralds of the Good News: Isaiah and Paul “In Concert” in the Letter to the Romans NovTSup 101; Leiden: Brill, 2002) 354Google Scholar. See also Richard B. Hays, “‘Who Has Believed Our Message?’: Paul's Reading of Isaiah,” in idem, The Conversion of the Imagination: Paul as Interpreter of Israel's Scripture Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2005) 25–49.