Book Review: 2 Corinthians: A Handbook on the Greek Text, by Fredrick J. Long

January 13, 2025 3 Comments

[Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament series, Martin M. Culy, Gen. Ed.; 2015, Baylor University Press, Waco, TX, 299 pages]

Fredrick J. Long’s contribution to the rightfully-lauded BHGNT series offers some unique features, beyond the standard formatting in these volumes.

Long_2Cor

Like the others in this series, Long begins the commentary proper by providing his own English translation of a subsection, which is then followed by the first full verse (or verses) of that subsection in Greek (no transliterations), which is then followed by full parsings for each word (or phrase) in that verse. This methodology continues to the next verse(s), and so forth.

Where Long differentiates his volume is that after the parsings for each individual subsection, he draws out “Emphatic and Prominent Features” from that subsection. Here he is influenced by works of Stephen H. Levinsohn, Steven E. Runge, Stanley E. Porter, and others. His initial inspiration in this regard arrived when Eugene Nida visited his campus while he was a student (p xvii). Nida’s insights encouraged Long to find and attempt to categorize various emphatic constructions. In the Introduction, the author provides some examples of emphasis and prominence, and then reveals his working methodology (pp xxiii–xliii). Long is hopeful that readers will see how the examples supplied throughout 2 Corinthians can assist in understanding “how biblical writers communicated what was most important to them” (p xliii). In other words, the student can take the knowledge gained in Long’s volume here and apply the same principles to other NT writings.

The short subsection 11:1–4 will provide a brief example (see pp 100–101). This subsection uses asyndeton (a, “not”; syn, “with”; detos, “binding” = no conjunction) to mark the new thought. Paul begins with the unusual participle Ὄφελον (“I wish”), which functions as a metacomment (a sort of preface) serving to further differentiate this section of the epistle from what immediately precedes. This participle forms part of periphrastic with ἀνείχεσθέ (2nd person plural middle indicative, “bear”, “put up”, “be patient”, “tolerate”). Paul uses a form of this same verb ἀνέχω at the end of this verse to ‘correct’ his first usage (via ἀλλά + ascensive καί = “but even/indeed”), by using its imperatival form ἀνέχεσθέ: “I wish that you would bear with me…but indeed bear with me!” In addition, ἀνέχω is used yet again in verse 4, thereby forming an inclusio, demarcating this subsection. In its final usage, the verb contrasts contextually with verse 1.

That is, in 11:1 Paul first wishes, then instructs the Corinthians to bear with him; in 11:4 Paul reproves them, since καλῶς ἀνέχεσθε, “you [the Corinthians] beautifully bear with” the false teachers! The overall sense is, ‘Put up with me since you have well been putting up with those false teachers!’ Paul uses these devices to great rhetorical effect. Long details even more ways the Apostle uses emphasis and prominence in this subsection.

The author’s very detailed outline (pp xix–xxiv) makes it easy to see the individual micro-structures within the larger whole. And it reinforces the important role emphasis and prominence play in conveying the Apostle Paul’s intents and purposes throughout this epistle.

Long’s efforts here go a long way to assist the NT student in exegeting this rather difficult epistle. Well done, I say!

(Note: While the cover and spine both read II Corinthians, the title page and the Baylor University Press listing read 2 Corinthians.)

Filed under Bible, Book Review, Book Review - Christian Orthodoxy, Christian Culture, Greek Language studies, Scripture Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Contrasts: One Reads “The Palmist”; the Other “2 Corinthians”

December 1, 2020 42 Comments

The crickets are chirping so loudly I can’t hear myself think. I’m referring to the lack of Big Media coverage of Joe Biden’s gaffe in reading from “the palmist” on Thanksgiving Day. Now, I cannot know what was on the teleprompter he was struggling to read, but when Biden got to the actual quote from Psalm 28:7, surely he should have realized his error and corrected himself.

In any case, Big Media has, as usual it seems, given Biden a pass on this gaffe.

Contrast this to the Big Media lambasting then-candidate Trump received when he quoted 2 Corinthians 3:17. He was even chastised in Christian and “Christian” media for pronouncing it “2 Corinthians” instead of “Second Corinthians”. That’s wrong, right?

Isn’t it?

Go to your Bible—whether a physical book or an online version—and search for 2 Corinthians 3:17. Doesn’t it have a “2” in front of “Corinthians” either at the top of the page (physical book) or in front of/on top of the chapter and verse? Can you find one that actually reads “Second Corinthians” on the page or screen?

In the online criticisms of Trump I find many are printed as “Two Corinthians”. But why not “2 Corinthians”—as in the number 2—which is more likely what Trump was reading from?

Arguably, Trump was even correct from a technical perspective. Though it may be current convention to refer to the verse aloud as “Second Corinthians three seventeen”, this is not even the way the inscription reads in the Greek manuscript tradition.

Go here , select “Jump to Book” (left side of page under 1. Description of Manuscript) and select “2 Cor” from the drop-down menu. Then look at the top of the manuscript page, which reads:

ΠΡΟC ΚΟΡΙΝΘΙΟΥC B

The “B” represents the number 2 in Greek isopsephy (similar to Jewish/Hebrew gematria). Most literally, this translates “To [the] Corinthians, 2”. The first letter to the Corinthians is identical except it has “A” instead of “B” at the end of its inscription. This practice is the same in Paul’s two letters to the Thessalonians and Timothy.

However, Peter’s and John’s epistles have different inscriptions. Instead of a Greek “A” or “B” (or “C”), these spell out either “First” (prōtos), “Second” (deuteros), and, in John’s last brief letter, “Third” (tritos).

Thus, we might more correctly read Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, the Thessalonians, and Timothy with the appropriate number “1” or “2” in front, while prefacing Peter’s or John’s epistles with the corresponding “First”, “Second” or “Third”.

To conclude, an argument can be made that Trump was not incorrect in the way he cited the Scripture reference as “2 Corinthians 3:17”. Comparatively, there is no realm of possibility in which Biden was correct when he stated—twice—“the palmist” in his preface to reading Psalm 28. Why the Big Media disparity in the treatment of these two?

Filed under Bible, Christian Apologetics, Christian Culture, Christian living, Greek Language studies, Pop Culture, Scripture Tagged with , , , ,

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