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Murdoch University Digital Theses Program Paul’s Paradigm for Ministry in 2 Corinthians:
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| Author Information | Thesis Files | ||||||||||||||||
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| Thesis Document Information | |||||||||||||||||
| Thesis Type | PhD Doctorate | ||||||||||||||||
| Title |
Paul’s Paradigm for Ministry in 2 Corinthians:
Christ’s Death and Resurrection |
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| Date | 2006 | ||||||||||||||||
| Abstract |
The Christian congregation in Corinth found Paul’s “weak” presentation of the gospel
and his approach to ministry to be scandalous. Recently arrived “apostles” reinforced and accentuated attitudes the congregation had already imbibed from contemporary Corinthian culture. As a result many in the congregation were less than satisfied with Paul’s manner of speech, his apparent lack of “charismatic” qualities, his refusal to accept money from them, his lack of commendatory letters, and his lifestyle that was characterised by suffering, affliction, opposition and weakness. However, Paul’s criteria for evaluating ministry, and by implication God’s criteria, were significantly different from those of the Corinthian congregation. Key verses such as 2 Cor 1:9; 3:5; 4:7; 6:7; 12:9 and 13:4 indicate that Paul maintained that Christian life and ministry generally, and apostolic ministry in particular, must be carried out through divine power, not human power. His apostolic ministry was valid because it was exercised as God’s representative, in God’s presence (2:17), with God as judge (5:10) and as a result of God’s mercy (4:1), not as a result of his own power, authority, eloquence or charismatic presence. The theological underpinning for Paul’s approach to ministry is found in 13:4 where Christ who “was crucified as a result of weakness, but lives as a result of God’s power” is the model for Paul who “shares in his weakness”, but in ministry to the Corinthians, also “lives as a result of God’s power”. Paul’s model for ministry was one of dependence on God. This is most clearly demonstrated in the “affliction” he experienced in Asia where he despaired of life itself, but in the process learned to rely on “God who raises the dead”. Thus his suffering, weakness and affliction, far from being disqualifiers for ministry, were in fact, demonstrations of his authenticity as a minister whose competency came from God and not from himself (3:6). |
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| Committee Information | |||||||||||||||||
| Supervisor | Dr. Richard Moore | ||||||||||||||||
| jpell@murdoch.edu.au | |||||||||||||||||
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