The person who identified himself at
the beginning of the first letter to the Corinthians as Paul, called an apostle
of Christ Jesus by the will of God, was obviously a “man of letters”. In this
first letter to the Corinthians, he makes reference to a previous letter in
which he had exhorted the Corinthians not to associate with immortal persons
(5,9). . . . All indicates that Paul was self-consciously engaged in writing a
letter he composed 1 Corinthians 5,9 mentions a letter which Paul had
previously written. Parallel with that reference is 5,11, “now I am writing to
you not (νυν δε εγραψα
υμιν μη) to associate
with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immortal or
greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with
such a one”. The εγραψα of 5,11 is clearly an epistolary
aorist. Paul’s νυν identifies the εγραψα as a reference to his present activity. His
written remarks recapitulate what he has written in the people. Paul’s
recapitulation emphasized the fact that he had found it necessary to address
once again (the thrust of the νυν) a matter on
which he had already spoken to the Corinthians (5,9). The purpose of at least
the portion of Paul’s letter (5,1-13) is similar to that of his previous
correspondence. (R. F. Collins, “Reflections on 1 Corinthians as a Hellenistic
Letter,” in The Corinthian Correspondence, ed. R. Bieringer [Bibliotheca
Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 125; Leuven: Leuven University Press,
1996], 39, 46)
