8. - 2 Corinthians 6:1-2
"You have received the grace of God; do not let it go for nothing. God's own words are: "In the hour of my favour I gave heed to you, On the day of deliverance I came to your aid." The hour of favour has now come; now, I say, has the day of deliverance dawned." [NEB]
It is one thing for Paul, as he often does, to focus on his own apostolic career to the exclusion of any mention of Jesus' ministry. It is quite another for him to claim, as he does here, that the prophetic words of scripture foretell not the time of Jesus' life as "the hour of favour," not Jesus' acts of sacrifice and resurrection as "the day of deliverance," but Paul's own activities and his preaching of the Christian message!
1. Silences in passage/challenge to a historical Jesus:
The hour of deliverance was foretold in the scriptures to be referring to the time of Jesus death and resurrection, not Paul's own ministry.
2. Relevancy within context:
Paul is writing to Corinthians who are beginning to question Paul's ministry. This reflects shaky faith, which to Paul threatens their own salvation. Paul is defending his ministry, begging the Corinthians to be "reconciled to God". The 2 preceding verses are: "20Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." In Paul's theology, Jesus' act enabled salvation. It is no wonder then that Paul didn't refer to Jesus life prior to the act as the "hour of favour".
Just as a minister might preach that "Now is the day of repentance", Paul is doing the same, and using scripture as support. The Corinthians weren't saved when Jesus was on earth, so it would have made little sense for Paul to have said that their day of salvation arrived at that time. To do so would be in conflict with Paul's concern that they were possible losing their salvation which comes through current faith ("we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God"). I think Doherty's comments don't take the context into consideration properly.
3. Related information in other early writings:
Not necessary
4. Conclusion
The passage is quoted out of context. |
