Dark Friendships

[robrecht]

The topic of the verses prior to verse 12 is Paul and Timothy's ministry among the Corinthians.
From verse 12 to the end of the chapter - the topic is not Paul and Timothy's ministry among the Corinthians, it is about the members of the Corinthian church collectively as the temple of God.
No part of 2 Corinthians 6:12 -18 addresses, and no part is related to, Paul and Timothy's ministry among the Corinthians in any way.

But 2 Cor 6,12ff is still addressing the Corinthians directly just as with the preceding veress and the topic of Paul's ministry and his relationship to the Corinthians is sill being addressed in Chapter 7, so why not look for clues as to what Paul means by 'being yoked to' and being 'faithful/unfaithful' in the immediately preceding and following context? Otherwise, you can just supply your own meaning without any connection to Paul's intended meaning as derived from the immediate context of his letter.

[robrecht]

In my understanding of the passage in context, Paul is essentially saying yoke yourselves to me and my ministry, in which Timothy is included, because I and our ministry is faithful and trustworthy and will not allow you to be led astray by some of your current leaders and members who are offering less faithful leadership and example with respect to various matters pertaining to idolatry, eg, eating food offered to idols (even in temples), temple prostitution, moral issues in general and specific cases, disorganized glossalalia, which also might relate to pagan temple worship, bringing cases agaisnt each other in secular court, etc. This gives us a very concrete and contextual understanding of what would otherwise be relatively ambiguous and isolated from the context. Some of the meanings derived from or applied to the text in isolation from the context are not necessarily incorrect, but I think they are better understood in context.

[Scrawly]

Hi Rob,

If you would be so kind, may I please get your thoughts on John 15:19:

"If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

You can tie this into the topic of the thread of course,

Thanks.

[robrecht]

Hi Rob,

If you would be so kind, may I please get your thoughts on John 15:19:

"If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

You can tie this into the topic of the thread of course,

Thanks.

I see where you're going, and, as I alluded to above, I do not disagree, but John 15 does not really help us understand the likely intended meaning of this passage in its context of the Corinthian correspondence. In Jesus' farewell discourse in the gospel of John, he is helping his disciples to understand his and their ultimate fate as his disciples. Should one allow secular friendships to take us from our calling, be it to martyrdom or something else? Of course not. But, is Paul speaking about secular friendships here? Or might we be able to understand what St Paul is saying in the immediate context with reference to his ministerial relationship with the Corinthian community?