Jax wrote: ↑Wed Oct 02, 2019 3:01 pm
John2 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 02, 2019 2:47 pm
I have limited time so perhaps I've missed it, but I have a question.
Does the interpolation idea create more problems than the non-interpolation idea? Why would someone interpolate that passage into a work that otherwise post-dates Paul and refers to the Corinthian church as "ancient"?
That I would love to know!
The proposed interpolation is, in and of itself, a seeming digression from the warning which is in play both before and after the passage:
21.1 Beware, beloved, lest his many blessings come to be a condemnation to all of us, unless, walking worthily of him, we do what is honorable and well pleasing before him with oneness of mind. 2 For he says in a certain place, "The Spirit of the Lord is a candle, searching out the secret places of the heart." 3 Let us see how near he is at hand, and how none of our thoughts and reasonings do escape him. 4 It is right, therefore, that we should not desert from his will. 5 Let us offend against men who are foolish, and senseless, and puffed up in the pride of their own speech, rather than against God. 6 Let us have respect to our Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood was given for us. Let us reverence them that are over us. Let us honor our elders. Let us instruct the young in the discipline of the fear of God. Let us direct our wives to that which is good; 7 let them show forth the lovely habit of chastity, and exhibit the pure disposition of meekness. Let them make manifest by their conversation the government of their tongues; let them show love, not according to partiality, but equally to all that fear the Lord in holiness. 8 Let your children be partakers of the discipline of Christ; let them learn how much humility avails before God; what power a pure love hath with God; how his fear is honorable and great, preserving all who, with a pure mind, walk in holiness before him. 9 For he is a searcher out of thoughts and counsels, his breath is in us, and when he wills he will take it away.
~
22.1b Come, children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 2 What man is he that wishes for life and would fain see good days? 3 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak no guile. 4 Turn away from evil and do good; 5 seek peace and pursue it.
[The rest of the proposed interpolation.]
41.1 Let each of you, brethren, in his own order, give thanks unto God, continuing in a good conscience, not transgressing the fixed rule of his ministry, with all gravity. 2 Not in every place, brethren, are sacrifices offered continually, either in answer to prayer, or concerning sin and neglect, but in Jerusalem only; and even there the offering is not made in every place, but before the temple in the court of the altar, after that which is offered has been diligently examined by the high priest and the appointed ministers.
~
41.3 They, therefore, who do anything contrary to that which is according to his will have for their punishment death. 4 You see, brethren, by as much as we have been thought worthy of greater knowledge, by so much the more are we exposed to danger.
The warning consists of the danger of death (
pink) for those who have experienced the blessings and the knowledge of God (
green) by ignoring God's will (
yellow). The proposed interpolation, while
generically exhorting the reader to fear God or face the consequences, does not
specifically continue the same line of thought; rather, it is a digression marked out by the address to the readers as "children." Furthermore, this is actually the
second digression, the
first being the very brief instructions by way of illustration (respecting the Lord Jesus Christ, honoring elders, and so on). The author has already digressed once to let the reader know what kinds of things he is talking about, and has wrapped up that brief digression in 21.9: do these things
or else. The "therefore" statement in 41.3 spells out altogether clearly what God taking his breath away from a person means, and then reemphasizes how high the stakes are for those "in the know."
You would like to know why an
interpolator would add the intervening material, and so would I. But I would also like to know why an
author would. The digression itself contains digressions within digressions, is not always on point, and quite frankly rambles a bit.
To be perfectly clear, I am not
at all certain about 1 Clement as a whole. Some parts make sense to me, but other parts are puzzles. The epistle does not
feel like a unified whole to me; indeed, it
feels as if there is considerably more texture to it than what Peter identifies, though I have no specific recommendations as yet. I know, however, how subjective that sort of judgment is in isolation.
YMMV.