THE ORGANIZATION OF II CORINTHIANS 12-13

As a random test case to determine exactly how many layers of organization could be present in the biblical writings, I re-investigated the literary structure of II Corinthians begun in my post titled “II Corinthians: Introduction to the Literary Structure.” In addition, for those of you who may be rightly dubious regarding the worth of such abstruse studies, I wanted to see if such a detailed analysis would offer any help in interpretation of controversial passages.

 As a brief review, my analysis of the body of the letter began not too auspiciously with a simple three part structure in which the first and last units were parallel to one another, as seen in their common themes and languages:

Figure 1: The Structure of II Corinthians

I. Introduction (1:1-7)

                                                II. Conciliation (1:8-7:16)

III.Collection (8:1-9:15)

II'. Credentials (10:1-13:10)

I'. Conclusion (13:11-14)

And actually, the short introduction could even be combined with II, and the conclusion could be added to the end of II' – as we shall see later That is the first level of organization to the book, according to my analysis. Next, zeroing in on Section II', here is how it can, in turn, be pictured symmetrically:

Figure 2: The Structure of Section II'

A. Paul’s Coming Visit (10:1-18)

                        B. A Fool’s Speech (11:1-12:13)

1. Comparison with false apostles (11:1-21a)

2. Paul’s hardships (11:21b-33)

3. Paul’s vision (12:1-5a)

2'. Paul’s hardships (12:5b-10)

1'. Comparison with false apostles (12:11-13)

        A'. Paul’s coming visit (12:14-13:10)

That was all the further I delved into the organization of II Corinthians at the time. But now I would like to burrow a little deeper into the structure of II'A regarding Paul's proposed third visit to that church. As a whole, it can be pictured as follows:

Figure 3: Organization of II Corinthians 12:14-13:17

    1. the love of Paul (12:14-18)

        2. all is to build up church (12:19)

            3. disorder in the church (12:20-21)

                4. external evidence of sins (13:1)

                    5. warnings (13:2) (when I come)

                4'. internal evidence of your own faith (13:3-9)

                    5'. warnings (13:10a) (when I come)

        2'. building up the church (10b)

            3'. order in the church (11a-b)

1'. the love of God (11c-14)

Ralph Martin says that the “option for self-correction..is an underlying theme of 12:19-13:10,” in other words the center of the above construction from unit 2 to 2'.

In this third level of organization, note that I have added in the Conclusion (13:11-14) to provide an apt parallel to the verses concerning Paul's own love for the church which begins this unit. Thus, the parallelism points out that the Apostle is demonstrating the love of God in his actions toward the Corinthians, even though he has been maligned for doing so. Justification for including these parting words comes from Ralph Martin's observation that there are several thematic and verbal correspondences between these verses and what has proceeded:

                “rejoice” – 13:9,11

                “restoration” – 13:9,11

                encouragement of the church to take care of her own problems – 13:5-10,11-13

References to Paul “coming” to visit the Corinthians appear before I and at the end of III, before IV and after V'. This conveniently divides the passage into three sub-units shown above. And another marker ties together II-III with II'-III', namely, the two major addresses to his audience – “beloved” at 13:19b and “brothers” at the end of III'. Furnish notes that these two designations are comparable to one another.

But there is yet a fourth level of symmetrical organization for at least some of the units shown in Figure 3. Thus:

Figure 4: Organization of Section 1

        a. I will not be a burden (12:14a)

                (1). principle 1

                            children (14c)

                                    parents (14d)

                                    parents (14e)

                            children (14f)

                (2). principle 2

                            spend (15a)

                                    be spent (15b)

                            love (15c)

                                    be loved (15d)

    a'. I did not burden you (16a)

                (1). Did I take advantage of you? (16b-17)

                (2). Did Titus take advantage of you? (18)

Here, sandwiched in between the two occurrences of the verb “burden,” we see the principle of reciprocal relationships that are to be the hallmark of congregational life in Christ. This is identical to the various “one another” admonitions Paul gives elsewhere in his letters (e.g. Romans 12:5,10,16; 13:8,14;14:13,19; II Corinthians 13:12, etc.). The first of these examples (14c-f) takes a symmetrical ABBA form while v. 15 is arranged in an ABAB manner.

The final “burden” statement is given in the past tense. Thus, the two examples in 16b-18 refer to Paul's earlier visit, in effect denying any such charges brought against him.

Figure 5: Organization of Section 3

        a. “I fear that when I come” (12:20a)

                (1). I may not find you as I wish (20b)

                (1'). and you may find me not as you wish (20c)

                        (2). lists of sins (20d)

                                b. “(I fear) there may be” conflicts (20e)

        a'. “(I fear) that when I come” (12:21a)

                (1'). God may humble me before you (21b)

                (1). I may have to mourn over those who have not repented (21c)

                        (2')'. list of sins (21d)

It has been proposed by Barrett and others that there were two groups of sinners in the church, those guilty of the offenses listed in 20d and those who have not repented of sins in 21d. However, the strict parallelism demonstrated above makes this highly unlikely. In agreement with this understanding, Furnish warns: “Although the three vices named in v. 21 all pertain especially to gross sexual misbehavior, one should not make too much of the contrast between these and the 'social vices' listed in v. 20.” Similarly, Martin says, “Paul is not planning to punish two different 'types' of sinners. Rather, he fears that he will simply have to punish the whole church.”

Figure 6: Organization of Section 4'

        a. weak-powerful (13:3-4) 

                b. seek proof you are in the faith (5-8)

        a'. weak-powerful (9a)

                b'. pray to be perfect (9b)

In partial confirmation concerning this outline, Martin says concerning 9b [unit b'] that “Paul adds to what he said in 13:7 [unit b] about his prayers on behalf of the Corinthians.”

Figure 7: Organization of Section 1'

                a. God of love be with you (11c)

                                b. Greet one another (12a)

                                b'. the saints greet you (13)

                a'. The love of God be with you (14)

Here in the concluding words we again see the mutuality of relationships in b and b'. And the same mutuality present in units a and a' goes a long way toward explaining why Paul utilizes the unique phrase “God of love,” which is not only found nowhere else in the New Testament but is also absent in the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament.

You can see in Figure 7 that a literary reason is the most likely the cause of that unusual expression to be coined by Paul since it provides another chiastic (i.e. in reverse order) pairing with unit a'. This is in perfect line with Martin's comment “that Paul's use of 'the God of love' is in anticipation of his benediction, which includes the words 'the love of God.'” This paired phrase provides yet another example of mutual relationships found in II Corinthians 12-13: God loves us and we love God.

Another point can be decided based on literary considerations. Hyldahl, on commenting on 12:14a feels that it means “For the third time, I have decided to come to you.” In this contention, Stanley agrees. Although it is grammatically possible that the phrase “for the third time” modifies “decided” instead of “come,” Furnish feels that is an unlikely translation here. And there is a whole host of commentators who agree with him in this view. Confirming this second interpretation is a look at the series of statements in II Corinthians 12-13 containing the verb “come.”

Figure 8: Occurrences of “come”

        12:14 I am ready to come to you this third time

                12: 20 when I come

                        12:21 when I come again

        13:1a this is the third time I am coming to you

                        13:2 when I come again

                13:10 when I come

The symmetry exhibited here for this word series shows that 12:14 and 13:1 should have the same basic meaning, as Hughes agrees.

There are some additional points of contention involving II Corinthians 13:1that can use the above structural understanding for clarification. For example, Martin somewhat understates the situation when he says that “there is disagreement as to the actual meaning that Paul intends here by its [i.e. 'witnesses'] use.” Both Wan and Tasker feel that “the brother” mentioned in II Corinthians 12:18a may be one of the witnesses Paul is intending to call in his own defense in 13:1 when he comes again. But a look at Figure 3 shows that there is no parallelism between the two sections in which those references occur (sections 1 and 4, respectively).

In addition, the organization of sections 4a-5b in Figure 3 demonstrates that this center portion of the overall passage deals wholly with Paul's dealing with the sins of the Corinthians, not any supposed sins of Paul himself. So Ralph Martin states, “With the conclusion of 12:11-18 we see the ending of Paul's self-defense.” With that overall understanding, Tasker's stance that Paul will be enlisting witnesses to defend himself against his critics is seen to be highly improbable.

However, that still leaves open the nature of the witnesses Paul is planning on using in his judgment against the sinners in the congregation. Suggested are the following possibilities:

    (a) specific people such as Titus and “the brother” – But there is really no further mention of Titus and his unnamed companion in the rest of the passage.

    (b) Paul's previous two visits plus the proposed one – Clines is in favor of this interpretation since “the number of his visits is otherwise unimportant.” An easy rejoinder to his comment is made by consulting Figure 8, which shows clearly that “a third time” performs a clear literary function in the symmetrical arrangement formed by the occurrences of “come” in the passage. Additional evidence against Clines' interpretation is provided by Hughes, who points out that “if correct, it would indicate, as some of its advocates admit, a somewhat whimsical if not fanciful...application of the Old Testament prescription by Paul [of Deuteronomy 19:15].”

    (c) a general reference to previous warnings, whether by letter or in person

A look at Figure 3 finds no support for either (a) or (b). However, immediately following Unit 4 is the accompanying Unit 5 in which Paul alludes to three warnings. Thus, explanation (c) is the most likely one.

Another bone of contention appears in II Corinthians 12:18. On the one hand, commentators such as Tasker, Windisch, and Heine capitalize “Spirit” in 12:18b, but Furnish disagrees and feels that the following question (“Did we not take the same steps?”) “suggests that Paul is here using pneuma in the anthropological sense...rather than the theological one.” His argument, which is not a particularly strong one, is due to the almost poetic couplet below in which “the same spirit” is parallel to “the same steps.”

        Did we not     conduct ourselves with         the same spirit? (12:18b)

        Did we not     take                                      the same steps? (12:18c)

But despite this obvious parallelism, the NEB, RV, Living Bible and NIV see no problem at all in capitalizing “Spirit” in this verse since “walking in the Spirit” and “walking in the same steps” could just as easily refer to the same sort of closeness to being in God's will. This impasse can perhaps be spanned by another look at Figure 3. Note that the only unambiguous reference to the Holy Spirit is in 13:14 (the end of Section 1') while the mention of the spirit/Spirit in 12:18b appears at the conclusion of the parallel Section 1. Thus, indications are that “Spirit” is the correct rendering of the word in 12:18b.