Friday, March 24, 2023

W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson: 1 Corinthians 5:9 Refers to a Previous Letter from Paul

Tomorrow (March 25th) I will be recording an episode on the Mormonism with the Murph youtube channel. I will be presenting on the topic, “A Latter-day Saint Critique of Sola Scriptura.” As part of some research into 1 Cor 5:9, I found the following against the “epistolary aorist” understanding of εγραψα:

 

There are two decisive reasons why these words must refer to a previous letter, not to the letter St. Paul is actually writing. (1.) No such direction as ‘Keep no company with fornicators’ occurs in what has gone before. (2.) If St. Paul had meant to say ‘I have just written,’ he could not have added the words ‘in the letter,’ which would have been then worse than superfluous. . . . We are forced, therefore, to conclude that these words refer to a preceding letter, which has not been preserved. (W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson, The Life and Epistles of St. Paul [rev ed.; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1964], 390 n. 1, emphasis in original)