Saturday, November 9, 2024

Earl E. Ellis on 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 being Pre-Pauline

The following may have ramifications for Moroni 10:8-17 and its discussion of the gifts of the Spirit:


 

1Cor 12,4-11 may be a traditional piece that Paul incorporates and then, in 1Cor 12,12-27, applies to the Corinthians. It is a self-contained and carefully framed unity with a number of uncharacteristic expressions. Note the hapaxes, both New Testament (διαίρεσις, 4-6; ένέργημα, 10) and Pauline (διαιρέω, 11). Also unusual are the phrases ή φανέρωσις του πνεύματος (7), cf. 1Cor 2,4; λόγος σοφίας (8), cf. 1Cor 1,17; 2,1; Col 2,23; 3,16; Eph 1,17; λόγος γνώσεως (8), cf. 2Cor 8,7; 11,6; διακρίσεις πνευμάτων (10), cf. 1Cor 14, 28 f .; τό Εν καί τό αύτό πνεϋμα (11), cf. 1Cor 11,5; ίδία έκάστω (11), cf. the usage in Rom 14,5; 1Cor 3,8; 7,2 (7,7); 15,23(38); Gal 6,5. (E. Earle Ellis, "'Spiritual' Gifts in the Pauline Community," in Prophecy and Hermeneutics in Early Christianity: New Testament Essays [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1978; repr., Eugene, Oreg.: Wipf and Stock, 2003], 24 n. 9)

 

 

I Cor 12:4-11

 

The pericope at I Cor 12:4-11, with its unusual triadic or quasi-Trinitarian formulation for the source of the spiritual gifts (4ff.), is a carefully structured unity independent of its context. It has three New Testament (διαίρεσις, ένέργημα) and Pauline (διαιρειν) hapaxes and a number of expressions, mostly for the gifts of the Spirit, that differ from Paul's usage elsewhere in I Corinthians and in his other epistles: ή φανέρωσις τού πνεύματος (7), λόγος σοφίας (8), λόγος γνώσεως (8), διακρίσεις πνευμάτων (10), τό έν καί τό αύτό πνεϋμα (11), Ιδία έκάστω (11). Probably this passage is a preformed non-Pauline tradi- tion that the Apostle uses to underscore both the diversity of the gifts and the sovereignty of the Spirit in their bestowal and distribution. (E. Earle Ellis, The Making of the New Testament Documents [Leiden: Brill, 2002], 90)

 

 

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