THE UNITY OF I CORINTHIANS 15

I would seem obvious, but I have found over the years that not all those carefully studying the Bible realize that one of the first things one should do, whenever possible, is to determine the limits of each separate section in a given book. Otherwise, one may either mix together entirely separate subjects the the author is discussing, or even worse, leave hanging certain questions that are answered a little later in the same passage. In one of my previous posts I alluded to a small church I visited years ago in which they considered each individual verse as a stand-alone idea having nothing at all to do with the verses preceding or following it. That latter approach especially is just plain nonsense.

As a typical test case, consider Chapter 15 of Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians. Factors leading to the conclusion that the chapter divisions devised during the Middle Ages were at least in this case well drawn are listed below.

Thematic Unity: The overall theme of resurrection is the most obvious unifying factor in these verses. By contrast, I Corinthians 14 deals with sign gifts such as speaking in tongues, and Chapter 16 wraps up the whole letter with a miscellany of closing subjects. Such a drastic change in subjects, however, is not always present in the Bible. So sometimes one must look for other clues for guidance.

Symbolic Numbers:

The key word “dead” appears exactly seven times in the whole of I Corinthians, all in this particular chapter. One of main symbolic meanings of the number “seven” in both the Old and New Testaments is something which is complete or perfect, subtly indicating in this case that Christ was completely, perfectly and absolutely dead physically when He was laid in the tomb.

Similarly, the verb “raise” in the perfect tense is found within I Corinthians only in Chapter 15, where it also occurs seven times. And the resurrection of Christ marked the “completion” of His earthly ministry.

Inclusions: This word, often appearing in the scholarly literature in its Greek form 'inclusio,' indicates a very common technique utilized by biblical writers to indicate the borders of a given passage. They accomplish this by repeating words or concepts at the conclusion which began the passage in the first place. In the case of I Corinthians 15, one can actually point to three such pairs.

First of all, there is a thematic inclusio in this chapter with v. 2 talking about the importance of the Corinthians standing and holding firm and v. 58 with its exhortation to be steadfast and immovable. Secondly, Fee notes that Paul “with a marvelous stroke of genius” ends this chapter much as he began it: he first wonders if his labor with them has been in vain (vv. 1-2) but concludes that “in the Lord, your labor is not in vain (15:58b).” And lastly, there is the address “brothers” in verses 1 and 58.

Repeated Words or Concepts: Even if these do not not appear specifically (a) at the limits of the passage or (b) a symbolic number of times, they may be a tip-off that one is still within the same general thought of the author. In addition, they may be helpful in identifying sub-sections within a larger passage. Within our subject chapter, we see the following verbal and thematic repetitions (as a complete aside, have you ever noticed that “repetition” itself repeats the letter pair ti?):

    “kingdom” – vv. 24 and 50

    contrasts between the first and last Adam in vv. 20-22 and 45-49

    other uses of “brothers” as an address – vv. 31, 50

    other appearances of “in vain” – vv. 10, 14a, 14b, 17

    references to different writings or popular sayings – vv. 32b, 33, 45, 54-55

“Christ Jesus our Lord” (31) – “our Lord Jesus Christ” (57) Notice how the three elements of these references are given in reversed order at their second appearance. This technique is often used in the Bible to indicate an inclusio for a section or sub-section of text.

    “proclaim(ed)” – vv. 1, 11, 12, 14

    the combination of “sin” and “death” – vv. 3, 16-17, 56. The first and last of these could be included with the other three inclusions given above or just considered as a near inclusio.

    Paul mentions his hard labor for the Lord – vv. 8-11 and 31-32

    Conditional sentences and questions beginning with or containing an “if” clause – vv. 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 29, 32a, 32b

Introduction to a New Subject: Even within I Corinthians 15 there is at least one such indication given. That appears with v. 35 after the discussion of the very existence of the resurrection has been established by Paul. He then transitions into the topic of the nature of the resurrection with two hypothetical questions: “But someone will ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?'”

Symmetrical Structure: Very often the various repeated topics and vocabulary, as well as obvious indications of introductory and concluding words, will all come together in a cohesive manner to show how the authors of biblical works organized their material. Let us see if the bits and pieces of information given above can show us if that ubiquitous phenomenon can be found in this present case.

                                    Figure 1: The Organization of I Corinthians 15

I. Introductory Exhortation (vv. 1-2)

        II. The Reality of the Resurrection (vv. 3-34)

                III. Question Posed and Addressed (vv. 3-7; 12-19)

                        [Autobiographical Note (vv. 8-11)]

                                IV. First and Last Adam (vv. 20-22)

                                        V. Allusion to OT texts (vv. 23-29)

                        [Autobiographical Note (vv. 30-32a)]

                                                VI. Poetic Citations (vv. 32b-33)

                                                        VII. Closing Exhortation (v. 34)

        II'. The Nature of the Resurrection (vv. 35-57)

                III'. Question Posed and Addressed (vv. 35-44)

                                IV'. First and Last Adam (vv. 45-49)

                                        V'. Allusion to an OT Text (vv. 50-54a)

                                                VI'. Poetic Citation (54b-55)

                                                        VII'. Closing Thanks (v. 56)

I'. Concluding Exhortation (v. 58)

As you can see from Figure 1, there is almost complete parallelism between the two major sections of this chapter, with the sole exception of the two autobiographical notices. One could even speculate that Paul perhaps inserted these sometime before distributing the letter widely in order to make this section a little more personal in nature.