"I don't necessarily want to detract from the discussion of 1 John,
but there is a good example of a crux verse for interpretation in 1
Cor. 5.9 - EGRAPSA hUMIN EN TH EPISTOLH . . . This is usually taken
as a reference to a previous later of Paul, but it is quite possible
that he is referring to the letter he is writing at that moment, i.e.
1 Cor., using *the epistoloary aorist*. I think that this would make
good sense here since he says that the topic of that letter was MH
SUNANAMIGNUSQAI PORNOIS - one of the most important topics in 1 Cor."
Looking at the verses again, it occurs to me that there are three
possibilities:
1. 1 Cor. 5.9 and 5.11 are both 'epistolary', i.e. 'I write in this
letter . . . I now write [emphatising the point, or meaning 'I write
in addition . . .]
2. Neither are epistolary. This is Carlton Winberry's view and the
consensus, 'I wrote . . . but rather I wrote' or something similar
(RSV).
3. 1 Cor. 5.11 is an epistolary aorist but 1 Cor. 5.9 is not. 'I
wrote in my letter . . . but now I write [in this letter]'.
The minimalist in me makes me lean towards option 1 -- I am not too
keen on the multiplication of hypothetical documents and as a
methodological principle like at least to begin by attempting to
makes sense of the data by means of the documents we do have.
Likewise, the apparent content of the letter referred to in 1 Cor.
5.9 looks very much like the content of 1 Corinthians. But I am a
little troubled by the NUN DE in 5.11 for this interpretation which
makes me lean more towards option 3. I wonder what others make of
this?
Regards
Mark
------------------------
Mark Goodacre
Department of Theology
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham B15 2TT
Tel.: +44 (0)121 414 7512 Email: M.S.Goodacre@Bham.ac.uk
Fax.: +44 (0)121 414 6866 Homepage: http://www.bham.ac.uk/theology/goodacre.htm