Did Paul write any of 1 Corinthians 5?

[Ben C. Smith]

That's a pretty graphic mother metaphor in which the Corinthians are babies being breast fed by the writer. That's a pretty odd thing for Paul or any man to think of writing, isn't it?

Isaiah attributes maternal qualities to God somewhere (working from memory here). Also, Jesus compares himself to a mother hen in Luke 13.34. I am not sure this kind of metaphor necessarily suggests anything about the sex of the speaker.

True. I'd never go so far as be certain about it. Still, the mother hen analogy seems more general than a human breast feeding analogy. I don't know the Isaiah reference. If you remember or anybody else can help I'd be interested.

Look up Isaiah 42.14; 66.13.

[Michael BG]

I do think that chapters 1-4 of 1 Corinthians represent a separate letter which has been made to appear a part of the larger whole. I don't think it was written by Paul. Much of it speaks of Paul in the third person

I can only see ones which are parallels. Are there any non-parallels?

That's a pretty graphic mother metaphor in which the Corinthians are babies being breast fed by the writer. That's a pretty odd thing for Paul or any man to think of writing, isn't it?

There are other places where maternal qualities are attributed to God:

Deuteronomy 32:18
You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you,
and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

Isaiah 49:15
"Can a woman forget her sucking child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you

Psalm 131:2
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a child quieted at its mother's breast;
like a child that is quieted is my soul.