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Thanksgiving and the Gospel in Paul

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

P. T. O'Brien
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Type
Short Studies
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New Testament Studies , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , October 1974 , pp. 144 - 155
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

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References

3 B.Z.N.W. XX (Berlin, 1939).

4 Form, pp. 1–9.

5 Ibid. pp. 10–39

1 Eph. i. 15 ff.; Phil. i. 3 ff.; Col. i. 3 ff.; Philem. 4 ff. Schubert considered 11 Cor. i. 11 to be an ‘inverted’ instance of this same category.

2 ‘Final’ is not used in the technical sense of ‘telic’ = purpose (clause). Rather it refers to the clause which terminates the thanksgiving paragraphs.

3 While stressing the epistolary nature and function of the opening thanksgivings, Schubert denied their liturgical form. If the latter were present, he considered, we should be able to observe structural traces of ‘liturgical tripartition, “God, the minister and the people”’. Form, p. 139.

4 1 Cor. i. 4 ff.; II Thess. ii. 13 f.

5 Schubert did not examine formally or structurally the thanksgiving periods which began with εὐλογητ⋯ς (‘blessed’, II Cor. i. 3 ff.; Eph. i. 3 ff.), or χάριν ἔχω (‘I thank’, I Tim. i. 12 ff.; II Tim. i. 3 ff.).

6 Rom. i. 8 ff.; I Thess. i. 2 ff.; II Thess. i. 3 ff.

7 Schubert, Form, p. 26.

8 E.g. Sanders, J. T, ‘The Transition from Opening Epistolary Thanksgiving to Body in the Letters of the Pauline Corpus’, J.B.L. LXXXI (1962), 348–62;Google ScholarMullins, T. Y, ‘Petition as a Literary Form’, Nov.T. v (1962), 46–54;CrossRefGoogle ScholarMullins, , ‘Disclosure. A Literary Form in the New Testament’, Mov.T. VII (1964), 44–50;Google ScholarBjerkelund, C.J., Parakalô (Oslo, 1967); andGoogle ScholarWhite, J. L, ‘Introductory Formulae in the Body of the Pauline Letter’, J.B.L. xc (1971), 91–7.Google Scholar

9 Note the criticisms of Robinson, J. M., ‘Die Hodajot-Formel in Gebet und Hymnus des Früh-christentums’, in Apophoreta: Festschrift für Ernst Haenchen, ed. Eltester, W and Kettler, F. H (B.Z.M.W. xxx) (Berlin, 1964), pp. 201 f.;Google ScholarMcFarlane, D. J., The Motif of Thanksgiving in the New Testament (unpublished M.Th. dissertation, St Andrews University, 1966), pp. 20, 49, 70 ff.; andGoogle ScholarRigaux, B, The Letters of St. Paul (E.T. Chicago, 1968), p. 121.Google Scholar

1 Schubert, Form, p. 184. But contra Schubert the apostle's following the Greek epistolary style at this one point can only demonstrate that, as a Jew, he was exposed to Hellenistic influences.

2 Fitzmyer, J. A, ‘New Testament Epistles’, in The Jerome Biblical Commentary, ed. Brown, R. E et al. (London, 1968), pp. 223–6, agrees with Schubert's general conclusions about Paul's following the letter style of the period. He notes that although the prayer ‘resembles the Greco-Roman letter form, the sentiments uttered in it are often phrased in characteristic Jewish “eucharistic” formulas and sometimes recall the Qumran Hôdayôt’ (p. 225);Google ScholarcfDelling, G., Worship in the New Testament (E.T. London, 1962), pp. 51 ff.Google Scholar

3 The variations within the introductory thanksgiving paragraphs, in spite of the many structural similarities, make this clear. Petition and thanksgiving were linked in other backgrounds of thought which influenced the mind of the apostle. A cursory glance at the Psalms will show that these two types of prayer were regularly joined together (cf. also the Tefillah). However, it must be borne in mind that Paul is not actually praying to God, but giving his reports as to how he prayed. These reports are recorded in a manner similar to that of the more intimate letters of the period.

1 If it is agreed that Paul was following a contemporary Greek epistolary convention, it must also be noted that he was no slavish imitator of this form. A comparison shows that the introductory paragraphs written to Christian congregations are highly developed and sophisticated. Note the recent survey on New Testament letters by Doty, W. G, Letters in Primitive Christianity (Philadelphia, 1973).Google Scholar

2 This cannot be examined here in detail, but has been clearly demonstrated in the important monograph of Harder, G, Paulus und das Gebet (Gütersloh, 1936), pp. 1–129.Google Scholar

3 See especially Kuhn, K. G., ‘The Epistle to the Ephesians in the Light of the Qumran Texts’, in Paul and Qumran, ed. Murphy-O'Connor, J. (London, 1968), pp. 115–31; F. Mussner, ‘Contributions Made by Qumran to the Understanding of the Epistle to the Ephesians’Google Scholar, in ibidDeichgräber, R, Gotteshymnus und Christushymnus in der frühen Christenheit (Göttingen, 1967), pp. 72–5.Google Scholar

4 Harder, Paulus, passim, has shown that Paul was especially indebted to the LXX.

5 E.g. ‘God Himself’, ‘my God’, ‘King of glory’ (cf. Eph. i. 17), ‘God of mercies’ (cf. II Cor. i. 3), etc.

6 Note Harder's discussion, Paulus, pp. 78 f.

7 ‘God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’, Col. i. 3; ‘the day of our Lord Jesus Christ’, I Cor. i. 8, cf. v. 7; Phil. i. 6, 10. On this point note especially Kramer's, W study, Christ, Lord, Son of God (E.T. London, 1966), pp. 173 f.Google Scholar

8 This formula may not have been Paul's creation, but seems to have been a sort of compendium of the Christian life current in the early church. Hunter, A. M, Paul and his Predecessors (London, 2 1961), pp. 33 ff., suggests that the formula may have derived from Jesus Himself. In Col. i. 5 f. we find Paul's own exegesis of the triad;Google ScholarcfBruce, F. F., Commentary on the Epistle to the Colossians (London, 1957). P. 180.Google Scholar

1 In 1903 Robinson, J. Armitage, St Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians (London, 1903), pp. 221–8, directed attention to the new and special use of χάρις by Paul. It was often, though not always, employed in connection with the extension of the gospel to Gentiles, either of Paul himself as pro-claimer of the universal gospel (e.g. Rom. i. 5; xv. 15; Gal. i. 15 f.; ii. 7 ff.), or with reference to the Gentiles as recipients of that universal gospel (II Cor. vi. I).Google Scholar

2 This word, which occurs only in Acts and Paul within the New Testament, reflects directly the language of mission. It is a weighty term, normally used of the gospel itself (I Cor. ix. 14; cf. I Cor. ii. I; Acts xiii. 5, xvii. I3) or of some element within it (Christ's death, I Cor. xi. 26; His resurrection, Acts iv. 2; and the forgiveness of sins. Acts xiii. 38). At Rom. i. 8, however, in the causal óτι-clause of Paul's thanksgiving, it is employed with reference to the faith of the Roman Christians.

3 In Paul‘s petitionary prayers at Eph. i. 17; Phil. i. 9; Col. i. 9 f.; and Philem. 6.

4 In many of Paul's prayers the ideas of ‘fulness, riches, and abundance’ appear: Rom. xv. 13; I Cor. i. 4 f.; II Thess. i. II; Phil. i. II, iv. 19.

5 The introductory paragraph of Phil. i. 3–11 is a good example of this threefold division: vv. 3–6 = (a); vv. 7–8 = (e); and vv. 9–II = (b).

1 Rom. i. 9, 16 (v. 15, εὐαγγελ⋯ʓομαι); Phil. i. 5, 7; Col. i. 5; I Thess. i. 5, ii. 2, 4, 8, 9; II Thess. i. 8, ii. 14; cf. Eph. i. 13; II Tim. i. 8 and Gal. i. 6, 7 (v. 8, εὐαγγελ⋯ʓομαι twice; v. 9 once).

2 I Cor. i. 6; II Thess. i. 10.

3 Col. i. 5; I Thess. i. 6, 8; ii. 13 (twice).

4 The expressions in Phil. i. 7 f. show a depth not plumbed elsewhere in Paul's letters.

5 This seems to be the meaning of συγκοινωνοὐς μου τ⋯ς χάριτος.

1 So Haupt, E, Die Cefangenschaftsbriefe (Meyer Kommentar, 8–9) (Göttingen, 7 1902), p. 35;Google ScholarWestcott, B. F, Saint Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians (London, 1906), p. 21; andGoogle ScholarGaugler, E., Der Epheserbrief (Zürich, 1966), p. 56.Google ScholarSchlier, H., Der Brief an die Epheser (Düsseldorf, 6 1968), p. 75, points out that there are two general bases for the thanksgiving – the reception of the gospel, being sealed, etc.; and the faith of the addressees.Google Scholar

2 So, for example, Davies, W. D., The Setting of the Sermon on the Mount (Cambridge, 1964), p. 354.Google Scholar

3 Findlay, G. G., The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians (Cambridge, 1904), p. 19; andGoogle ScholarFrame, J. E., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of St Paul to the Thessalonians (Edinburgh, 1912), p. 75. This suits the context best.Google Scholar

4 Rigaux, B., Saint Paul. Les Épîtres aux Thessaloniciens (Paris, 1956), p. 362.Google Scholar

5 So in agreement with many commentators.

1 The causal understanding of ὅτι is difficult to resist in the present context, although Lightfoot and Milligan consider it to be explicative.

2 Colossians, p. 180.

3 Schubert, Form, pp. 71–82, has argued this at length but, by and large, his treatment has been neglected. Note, however, Martin, R. P., The Epistle of Paul to the Philippians (London, 1959), pp. 59 f.;Google ScholarJewett, R, ‘The Epistolary Thanksgiving and the Integrity of Philippians’, Nov. T. XII (1970), 40–53; andCrossRefGoogle ScholarO'Brien, P. T., Introductory Thanksgivinqs in the Letters of Paul (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Manchester University, 1971), pp. 51–8.Google Scholar

1 There is a significant omission of a prayer of thanksgiving in Gal. i. Instead of the thanksgiving formula Paul begins with the biting words: ‘I am astonished (θαυμάʓω) that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ’ (Gal. i. 6). The reason for this indictment is that the addressees have turned aside ‘to another gospel’ (εις ἕτερον εὐαγγ⋯λιον, V.6), though in fact there is no other gospel (οὐκ ἕστιν άλλο [εùαγγ⋯λιον, v 7). Six times in the space of four brief verses the noun ‘gospel’ and its cognate verb appear. No thanksgiving can be given to God on account of the Galatian Christians. They have departed from the one true gospel and are in grave spiritual danger.

1 As it is frequently employed in the Old Testament, particularly in Isa. xl. – lxvi.

2 This is the significance of το⋯ παρ⋯ντος ε⋯ς úμ⋯ς, as is made clear by Chrysostom.

3 So also the commentaries of Dibelius–Greeven, Moule and Lohse.

4 Power and gospel are not unrelated in the Pauline corpus; see the locus classicus Rom. i. 16 f.; and cf. I Cor. i. 18, ii. 4. Note the Old Testament background where God's word is said to be powerful (Isa. Iv. 10 f.; Jer. xxiii. 29); so Henneken, B., Verkündigung und Prophetie im 1. Thessalonicherbrief (Stuttgart, 1969), pp. 32 f.Google Scholar

5 The antecedent of ὅς is λ⋯;γος, not θε⋯ς.

1 The alternate view is to consider ‘every good work’ modifies both participles, ‘bearing fruit’ and ‘increasing’. The basic idea, then, is that spiritual growth is fostered by the knowledge of God and manifests itself in an abundance of good works.

2 This is also true of all Old Testament examples where this conjunction is found: Gen. i. 22, 28; viii. 17; ix. 1, 7; Jer. iii. 16, xxiii. 3. But in the Old Testament these verbs are applied to persons or animals, never to the word of the Lord.

3 Though Harder, Paulus, pp. 70, 180 f., considers Paul's usage of this verb to be derived from the LXX Psalter.

4 The future tense is not used here optatively to express a strong wish or to indicate that Paul is offering a prayer. It is rather a word of certainty or assurance.