Ciampa Roy E. - The First Letter to the Corinthians

T HE P ILLAR N EW T ESTAMENT C OMMENTARY

General Editor

D. A. CARSON

The First Letter to the
CORINTHIANS

Roy E. Ciampa

and

Brian S. Rosner

W ILLIAM B. E ERDMANS P UBLISHING C OMPANY
G RAND R APIDS , M ICHIGAN / C AMBRIDGE , U.K.

2010 Roy E. Ciampa and Brian S. Rosner
All rights reserved

Published 2010 by
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 /
P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.
www.eerdmans.com

and in the United Kingdom by
APOLLOS
Norton Street, Nottingham,
England NG7 3HR

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ciampa, Roy E., 1958
The first letter to the Corinthians / Roy E. Ciampa and Brian S. Rosner.

p. cm. (The Pillar New Testament commentary)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8028-3732-5 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. Bible. N.T. Corinthians Commentaries.
I. Rosner, Brian S. II. Title.

BS2675.53.C53 2010
227.207 dc22

2010034444

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Apollos ISBN 978-1-84474-484-8

Scriptures taken from the HOLY BIBLE: TODAYS NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION TNIV. Copyright 2001, 2005 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of The Zondervan Corporation and Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Contents

Editors Preface

Commentaries have specific aims, and this series is no exception. Designed for serious pastors and teachers of the Bible, the Pillar commentaries seek above all to make clear the text of Scripture as we have it. The scholars writing these volumes interact with the most important informed contemporary debate, but avoid getting mired in undue technical detail. Their ideal is a blend of rigorous exegesis and exposition, with an eye alert both to biblical theology and the contemporary relevance of the Bible, without confusing the commentary and the sermon.

The rationale for this approach is that the vision of objective scholarship (a vain chimera) may actually be profane. God stands over against us; we do not stand in judgment of him. When God speaks to us through his Word, those who profess to know him must respond in an appropriate way, and that is certainly different from a stance in which the scholar projects an image of autonomous distance. Yet this is no surreptitious appeal for uncontrolled subjectivity. The writers of this series aim for an evenhanded openness to the text that is the best kind of objectivity of all.

If the text is Gods Word, it is appropriate that we respond with reverence, a certain fear, a holy joy, a questing obedience. These values should be reflected in the way Christians write. With these values in place, the Pillar commentaries will be warmly welcomed not only by pastors, teachers, and students, but by general readers as well.

* * *

First Corinthians touches on an astonishingly wide swath of important and sensitive topics. Few if any New Testament documents directly address so many issues, theological and pastoral, that have urgent resonances in twenty-first-century church life. The claims of unity and truth, the challenges of a party spirit, speaking in tongues, the doctrine of the resurrection, church discipline, sexual matters, marriage and divorce, strong and weak consciences, the Lords Supper, the relationships between men and women, the nature of love, the call to preach the gospel powerfully without manipulation, the nature of Christian leadership lived under the cross they are all here. Roy Ciampa and Brian Rosner have been thinking their way through these chapters for many years. Their work is careful, sometimes innovative, always eager to listen carefully to the text, and written with the clarity that readers long for. They pay enough attention to the historical context to root this letter in first-century Corinth, yet they are careful not to domesticate the text by appealing to arbitrarily chosen parallels. At the same time they include brief but penetrating theological reflection that reminds readers that Scripture still speaks with authority today. Those with the responsibility to preach and teach 1 Corinthians will be grateful for this commentary for a long time, while more advanced students of the New Testament will learn some new things and be challenged to think through this epistle with fresh eyes. It is a pleasure to commend this work.

D. A. C ARSON

Authors Preface

Co-authorship, if not common, is not unheard of in commentary writing. We cant speak for anyone else who has done it, but in our case it has been a great blessing from start to finish. With a friendship that goes back seventeen years, to the University of Aberdeen, we shared a simultaneous study leave in 2004 to begin writing in earnest. It took several years to complete, with a couple of dry runs along the way (see bibliography for two other coauthored works). We can only hope readers feel as enriched by their study of 1 Corinthians by reading the commentary as we feel having written it.

Ironically, multiple authorship has resulted in a more unified view of the letter. Often regarded as Pauls makeshift response to random problems in the Corinthian church, we believe that a more coherent reading of the letter emerges by taking full account of its Old Testament and Jewish roots, along with paying careful attention to the Corinthian historical context.

The task was not undertaken in shared isolation. We are, to use a Pauline phrase, overflowing with thanksgiving for those who have lent a hand. The following deserve our thanks: student research assistants Lionel Windsor, Anthony Douglas, Nijay Gupta, Mark Jennings, Randy Lee, Matthew Ogden, Haley Goranson; Cameron Moran, who compiled the indexes; PNTC General Editor Don Carson; Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and Moore Theological College; our respective churches, Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts, and Macquarie Anglican Churches in Sydney; various Eerdmans staff, especially Milt Essenburg; our beloved children, Tim and Christina; Elizabeth, and her husband Phil, Emily, William and Toby. We dedicate this book with heartfelt thanks to our much-loved wives, Marcelle and Natalie.

Our prayer is that Gods name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets, and that in every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to him.

R OY E. C IAMPA and B RIAN S. R OSNER

Chief Abbreviations