The Jewish Annotated New Testament (267 page)

24
:
Workers
, Paul is a partner, not an overseer or manager. The metaphor of
workers
in faith does not appear in early Judaism.
Joy
, Psalms and Isaiah especially depict knowledge of and closeness to God with “joy” (e.g., Ps 43.3; Isa 35.10; 51.11).

2.1
: The
painful visit
may be mentioned in 13.2, during which some church members offended Paul (see 2.5–11; 7.12). A third visit is anticipated in 12.14,21; 13.1.

3
–4
:
I wrote as I did…. with many tears
(also v. 9), the “letter of tears,” written shortly after the “painful visit”; see 7.8,12. See Introduction. The combination of
tears
and
joy
is reminiscent of Ps 126.12. The letter is either lost or portions of it are preserved in chs 10–13.

4
:
Abundant love
, familiar from the benediction immediately preceding the liturgical recitation of the Shema (“Barukh’atah Adonai, ha-boer be‘amo Yisrael be’ahavah,” “Blessed are You, O Lord, who in your [his] love choose your [his] people Israel”).

2.5
–13: The “letter of tears” well received.
Paul pleads that the offender be forgiven (v. 7) since the congregation has meted out appropriate punishment (v. 6).

6
:
Such a person
remains unknown; see 7.12.

7
:
Forgive and console
, both are Jewish virtues; Judaism demands that people request forgiveness from neighbors they have wronged (e.g.,
b. Yoma
87a) and requires consoling the needy (e.g., Ps 34.18 [Heb v. 19]).

9
:
To test you
, a common idea in Judaism, where masters might test their disciples’ loyalty (
b. Eruv
. 62b).

10
:
I also forgive
, see Mt 6.12; 18.21–35. Jewish sources call people to be like God in forgiving (e.g., Sir 28.2).

11
:
Satan
, see 11.14; 12.7. Second Corinthians also calls this figure “the god of this world” (4.4), “Beliar” (6.15—a variant of Belial), and “serpent” (11.3). In Jewish sources, the term, generally interpreted “accuser,” refers to a heavenly being who challenges God to test humans (as Job) and who tempts individuals to sin; see
b. Yoma
20a (Satan has power to accuse humans before God every day except Yom Kippur).

12
:
Troas
, Roman colony in northwest Turkey, a short sea-voyage to Philippi; see Acts 16.8–11.
Good news
, Gk “euangelion,” usually translated “gospel.”

13
:
Titus
, a co-worker like Timothy and Silvanus, likely the carrier of the “letter of tears” (2.3–4; 7.8).

2.14
–4.6: The ministry of glory.

2.14
–17: God equips competent ministers. 14
:
Thanks be to God
, the expression is absent from Jewish sources, but the commonplace idea is reflected in obligations to recite benedictions thanking God for all that one experiences (see
b. Ber
. 59b).
Triumphal procession
, an image of God the victor leading Paul as captive.
Fragrance
, and
aroma
(v. 15), could allude to the execution of prisoners, thus combining Roman customs with biblical sacrificial language (e.g., Lev 1.9). It could also allude to the sweet scent of divine wisdom (Sir 24.15).

15
–16
:
Saved … perishing
, different effects Paul’s preaching has on hearers. Early Judaism imagines God’s judgment to result in one’s being sealed for eternal life or for Gehenna (e.g.,
t. Sanh
. 13.1–12 and the long excurses in
b. Rosh Ha-Shanah
16b–17a).
Sufficient
, or competent, suggests that only God equips competent ministers; see 3.5–6.

17
: Paul disdainfully calls his opponents
peddlers of God’s word
, probably alluding to their acceptance and Paul’s refusal of financial support; see 11.8–9n. Judaism insists that one should not profit from knowledge of Torah (e.g.,
y. B. Metz
. 2.5 [8b], where Samuel bar Sursetai risks beheading rather than act in a way that suggests he fears anyone but God and so benefits from doing what the law demands).
Sincerity
anticipates charges of falsehood and cunning (see 4.2).

3.1
–12: Ministers of the new covenant. 1
:
Letters of recommendation
, introductions to the writer’s friends and wider circles for missionaries; see Acts 18.27. Paul’s lack of such letters is seen as a weakness; see 5.12.

2
–3
:
Spirit
recalls the Corinthians’ conversion; see Gal 3.2–3.
Tablets of stone … tablets of human hearts
, contrasts the Ten Commandments (Ex 20.1–17; 24.12; 31.18; 34.1) with a “new covenant” through which God says, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jer 31.31–33); Ezek 36.26–27 contrasts “heart of stone” with “heart of flesh” and the spirit of God that will be poured into the people. Talmudic rabbis similarly found a powerful metaphor in the idea of God’s law being in the people’s hearts (e.g., “Study with all your heart and with all your soul to know my ways … Keep my Torah in your heart and have awe of me before your eyes” (
b. Ber
. 17a).

4
:
Confidence
, see v. 12 and 1.12–14n.

5
–6
:
Competence
, see 2.15–16n. In these verses the adjective, noun, and verb forms of Gk “hikanos” (“fitting,” “qualified”) indicate that God equips
us
for serving the
new covenant;
see 3.2–3n.
Spirit
, the Holy Spirit, recalls v. 3 and anticipates vv. 17–18. In Paul’s binary thinking, since
the Spirit gives life
, i.e., raises to resurrected life (Rom 4.17; 8.11; 1 Cor 15.22,36,45; Gal 3.21; cf. Jn 5.21; 6.63; 1 Pet 3.18), its opposite,
the letter
, i.e., the written code, must mean death.

7
–11
: The controlling imagery is Moses’ radiant countenance (Ex 34.29–35). Paul uses a rabbinic argument, from the lesser to the greater (“qal vahomer”):
if the ministry of
(that brought)
death
[the lesser covenant written in stone]
… came in glory
[Moses’ radiant face]
… how much more will the ministry of the Spirit
[greater]
come in glory
. The Talmud (
y. Sanh
. 7.11) lists this interpretative technique as the first of seven exegetical principles set out by Hillel.

7
:
Ministry of death
, the old covenant’s fading glory.

12
:
Boldness
, fearlessness of appearing before God in the end-time (v. 4; 1.12–14n.).

3.13
–18: Moses’ veil.
Paul interprets Moses’
veil
(Ex 34.33–35) as covering the transitory
glory that was being set aside
, lit., “abolished.”

14
–15
: Paul reads the passage regarding Moses’ veil as a series of metaphors, creating a rabbinic-style parable (“mashal”). The
veil
represents lack of enlightenment.
Old covenant
refers to Mosaic (Sinaitic) law. It is debatable whether Paul is only insisting that the law is not obligatory for Gentiles, or whether he denies its applicability to Jews as well.

15
:
Moses
signifies the Torah (see 2 Chr 25.4; Mk 12.26; Acts 15.21).

16
: Ex 34.34 states that Moses would remove the veil. Paul deletes “Moses” and changes “removed” to “is removed,” resulting in
the Lord
removing
the veil
, in contrast to veiled “minds” (14–15).

17
: Paul adds that “the Lord” refers to
the Spirit
, which guarantees freedom.

18
:
Glory of the Lord
parallels
the Lord, the Spirit
(16–17).
Being transformed
, a fundamental change in those who remove their veils.
Image
, see Rom 8.29; 1 Cor 15.49; Col 3.10.
One degree of glory to another
reflects the Greco-Roman belief that an encounter with the divine transforms the beholder into its image. Conversely, Rabbinic interpretation (
b. Ber
. 7a) understands the transformation of Moses’ face to have been a divine reward for Moses’ having turned his face away from the vision of God at the burning bush (Ex 3.6).

4.1
–6: Climax of Paul’s self-defense.
Paul returns to the question of competence raised in 2.16.

1
:
God’s mercy
, see 1.3–7n.

2
–3
: Answers to charges; see 2.17.
Cunning
, lit., “crafty”; see 11.3; 12.16.
Conscience
, see 1.12n.

4
:
This world
, see 1 Cor 3.19; 5.10; 7.31 (twice), Paul’s synonym for “the present age” (Gal 1.4) and “the present time” (Rom 3.26; 8.18; 11.5).
God of this world
, see “rulers of this age” (1 Cor 2.6,8; Eph 2.2) and 2.11n. Early Jewish sources similarly distinguish “this world” from a messianic “world to come” but without the negative attitude that Paul expresses toward current life. See, e.g., Rabbi Jacob’s statement at
m. Avot
4.17: “Better is a single moment spent in penitence and good deeds in this world than the whole of the world to come.”
Light
as a metaphor for God’s teaching is common (e.g., Isa 2.5; Ps 43.3; 118.27; Prov 6.23) and later Jewish sources (see, e.g.,
Eccl. Rab
. 11.6; 12.7).

6
: Paraphrase of Gen 1.3; Isa 9.2; Ps 112.4.

4.7
–5.10: Ministry of hardship.
Affliction and consolation, first raised in 1.3–11, are elaborated: weakness and suffering signal God’s empowering presence;
b. Ber
. 5 following Prov 3.12 depicts suffering and affliction in the absence of sin as evidence of God’s love.