The Jewish Annotated New Testament (84 page)

15
We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
²
Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor.
³
For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”
⁴
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.
⁵
May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus,
⁶
so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷
Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
⁸
For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,
⁹
and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

“Therefore I will confess
^*
you among the
           Gentiles
^*
,
         and sing praises to your name”;

¹⁰
and again he says,
         “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people”;

¹¹
and again,
    “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
         and let all the peoples praise him”;

¹²
and again Isaiah says,
       “The root of Jesse shall come,
             the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;
       in him the Gentiles shall hope.”

¹³
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁴
I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters,
^*
that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.
¹⁵
Nevertheless on some points I have written to you rather boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God
¹⁶
to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
¹⁷
In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to boast of my work for God.
¹⁸
For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished
^*
through me to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed,
¹⁹
by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God,
^*
so that from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the good news
^*
of Christ.
²⁰
Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news,
^*
not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation,
²¹
but as it is written,

“Those who have never been told of him
         shall see,
      and those who have never heard of him
            shall understand.”

²²
This is the reason that I have so often been hindered from coming to you.
²³
But now, with no further place for me in these regions, I desire, as I have for many years, to come to you
²⁴
when I go to Spain. For I do hope to see you on my journey and to be sent on by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a little while.
²⁵
At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem in a ministry to the saints;
²⁶
for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to share their resources with the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.
²⁷
They were pleased to do this, and indeed they owe it to them; for if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material things.
²⁸
So, when I have completed this, and have delivered to them what has been collected,
^*
I will set out by way of you to Spain;
²⁹
and I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing
^*
of Christ.

³⁰
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,
^*
by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in earnest prayer to God on my behalf,
³¹
that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my ministry
^*
to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,
³²
so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.
³³
The God of peace be with all of you.
^*
Amen.

16
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon
^*
of the church at Cenchreae,
²
so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well.

³
Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with me in Christ Jesus,
⁴
and who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
⁵
Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert
^*
in Asia for Christ.
⁶
Greet Mary, who has worked very hard among you.
⁷
Greet Andronicus and Junia,
^*
my relatives
^*
who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
⁸
Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.
⁹
Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys.
¹⁰
Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus.
¹¹
Greet my relative
^*
Herodion. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus.
¹²
Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord.
¹³
Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; and greet his mother—a mother to me also.
¹⁴
Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters
^*
who are with them.
¹⁵
Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.
¹⁶
Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

¹⁷
I urge you, brothers and sisters,
^*
to keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them.
¹⁸
For such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites,
^*
and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded.
¹⁹
For while your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, I want you to be wise in what is good and guileless in what is evil.
²⁰
The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
^*

²¹
Timothy, my co-worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my relatives.
^*

²²
I Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you in the Lord.
^*

²³
Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you.
^*

²⁵
Now to God
^*
who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages
²⁶
but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—
²⁷
to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom
^*
be the glory forever! Amen.
^*

THE FIRST LETTER OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS

Paul’s poem, “Love is patient; love is kind” (1 Cor 13.4–13), his recitation of one of the earliest proclamations of the gospel message of Jesus’ death on behalf of sinners and his resurrection (15.3–5), and his statement of a basic formula for celebration of the Lord’s Supper (11.23b–25), make 1 Corinthians one of the New Testament’s most important books. This letter, written in the mid-50s, reveals the divisions facing the Pauline churches over such central concepts as the Holy Spirit (ch 2), marital and sexual norms (chs 5–7; 11), relation with the Gentile world (chs 6; 8), worship practices (ch 12), women’s roles (ch 14), and resurrection (ch 15).

Corinth, a prominent trade center boasting two ports, was the heart of Roman imperial culture in Greece. It contained temples to Aphrodite and Asclepius (the god of healing), in which worshipers could also dine after performing sacrifices, and a theater. The city also hosted athletic contests. Philo, the first-century Alexandrian Jewish philosopher, notes that Corinth contains a “Jewish colony” (
Leg. Gai
. 281–82). By the mid-first century the city probably had Jewish assemblies (Acts 18.4), both in private homes and public buildings, yet Paul never uses the word
synagōgeē
in his correspondence. When he uses the Greek
ekklēsia
(“church” = Heb
qahal;
see LXX Deut. 31.30) to describe assemblies of Jesus-followers in Cenchreae and Corinth (1 Cor 1.2; Rom 16.1), he is likely distinguishing them from other assemblies of Jews and Greeks (1 Cor 10.32). The famous fragmentary inscription reading “Synagogue of the Hebrews,” found in Corinth in 1898, dates not from the time of Paul but from the mid-to-late second century.