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First Corinthians 4:6and Hellenistic Pedagogy
RONALD L. TYLER
Pepperdine UniversityMalibu, CA90263
PAUL'S INJUNCTION in 1 Corinthians 4:6 not to go beyond what is written
is striking for its glimpse into Paul's pedagogy. My goal in this article is toaffirm what, I am convinced, is the most plausible interpretation and to give
the available supportive material for it.1
The Greektext reads S , literally "the 'not beyond
what is written.'"2
There is no main verb, and one's way of dealing with this
determines not only the resultant translation but the interpretation. The
sense is extremely difficult to grasp, as prevailing translations reveal.3
That
1
This study was originally presented as a research report at the Annual Meeting of theCatholic Biblical Association of America at the University of Notre Dame in 1990. Just prior
to presenting the paper I discovered that Benjamin Fiore and John Fitzgerald, in their doctoral
dissertations, had reached the conclusion I had reached. I benefited from speaking with each of
them at that meeting. I am glad that their workconfirmed my finding, and that mine supported
theirs. It is striking that we reached our conclusions from different vantage points.2
The neuter singular relative pronoun instead ofthe neuter plural is the only variant.3
Some translators indicate that Paul is referring to Scripture. In the following examples,
I italicize what represents & . The RSVreads, "I have applied all this to
myself and Apollos for your benefit, brethren, that you may learn by us to live according to
scripture, that none ofyou may be puffed up in favor ofone against another." Others stress Paul'sreference to a well-known saying. The NRSV renders v. 6 as "I have applied all this to Apollos
and myself for your benefit brothers and sisters so that you may learn through us the meaning
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98 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICALQUARTERLY I 60, 1998
Paul is quoting something understandable to his hearers is evidenced by his
placing the neuter article before the quotation. Also, the general context
is clear, the vocative "brothers and sisters" () coupled with the
revealing that Paul is coming to a crucial juncture in his argument. Simply
put, he says that it is time they learn what he has been saying; then he cites
the four-word maxim.
In 1 Cor 4:6 Paul begins a new unit in which he applies the theology of
the cross, expounded in 1 Cor 1:18-2:6, by calling upon the Corinthians to
emulate his lifestyle in Christ, fortified by this theology. In 1 Cor 4:6 he
explains that he has used the earlier analogies regarding Apollos and himself
for their benefit, to help them. Two purpose clauses then follow, with the first
containing the problematic words. As the second purpose clause shows, all
that has preceded is meant to urge them not to be puffed up with false pride
and wisdom against one another. This is what is addressed in the paragraph
whose opening verse is 1 Cor 4:6.4
Careful observation of the context is crucial: Paul is trying to set before
his hearers the proper view of God and humankind. Their thinking of God
is not high enough, while their view ofthemselves is too high. This arrogance
has resulted in partisan spirit, as the Corinthians' emphasis on one teacher
over against another reveals. Therefore, when Paul writes in 4:6, "I have
applied all this to myself and Apollos for your benefit," he is referring back
to 3:5, "What then is Apollos? What is Paul?" He is trying to get the Corin
thians to learn to live "not beyond what is written" (4:6).
The intended ethical result of the maxim's application would be a reli
gious reorientation in which the proper view of people would replace the
Corinthians' mistaken one, a result to be achieved by placing God in his
rightful place in the life of the church. Beyond this, the hearers would stop
being puffed up in favor ofone minister against another, the potential divisions
myself on your account, so that you may take our case as an example, and learn to 'keep within
the rules, ' as they say, and may not be inflated with pride as you patronize one and flout the
other." Some, the NASB, for example, believe that Paul is referring to something written, "Now
these things, brethren, I have figurativelyapplied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in
us you might learn not to exceed what is written, in order that no one of you might become
arrogant in behalf of one against the other.*' The JBrepresents those who see this as a maxim
and translates: "Now in everything I have said here, brothers, I have taken Apollos and myself
as an example {remember the maxim: 'Keep to what is written '), it is not for you, so full of your
own importance, to go taking sides for one man against another." Moflatt believes it makes nosense whatever and simply omits it, "Now I have applied what has been said above to myself and
A ll t t h th t t t b ff d ith i l t h i t
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FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:6 99
would stop, and God's wisdom would replace human reason. Interpreters
have often recognized that the Greek love ofreason seems to have influenced
God's wisdom revealed in the gospel, or to have taken its place. Byconsidering
what Paul has just said about himselfand Apollos, the hearers were to cease
thinking so highly of ministers and were not to take pride in one against
another. This is the thrust of chaps. 1-4.
Paul thinks in deeplyHebraic categories; yet he is also a product of his
Greekenvironment, and in order to communicate truths to the Corinthians
he has to use imagerywhich theycan understand. It is logical to assume that
in 4:6 Paul is citing a popular proverb well known in Corinth. While it is
possible that Paul is citing a rabbinic dictum of his own which the Corin
thians had learned from him and would recognize, evidence cannot be ad
duced for this. It is more likelythat S is a maxim which
theywould have known independentlyof Paul.5
The following six observa
tions demonstrate this.
1. It can be cogently argued that Paul is quoting a popular proverb. The
use of the neuter article to introduce a quotation can be amplyillustrated.6
Here, the article is the object of the verb , "learn," and it introduces
our difficult maxim, deliberately elliptical in form, with no verb expressed
after the negating .7This might be taken as a rejection of the notion that
Paul is referring to what he has just written, or to the OT in some sense, butif it be granted that he is quoting a popular proverb which itself refers to the
5
L. L. Welborn ("A Conciliatory Principle in 1 Cor. 4:6," NovT29 [1987]328) affirms that
& is "a proverbial saying which Paul had reason to believe would be known
to the Corinthians, whether from the surrounding culture or from their particular milieu."6
W. Bauer, Griechisch-deutsches Wrterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments
und der frhchristlichen Literatur (6th ed., newly edited by Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland;
Berlin: de Gruyter, 1988) 1119. Examples in the NT include Matt 19:18; Luke 22:3; Gal 5:14;
Rom 13:9. Examples from the early Greek fathers' quotations from NT writings, the works ofJosephus, and classical literature are abundant. Nigel Turner (J. H. Moulton, A Grammar of
New Testament Greek 3: Syntax, by Nigel Turner [Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1963] 182) correctly
states that "as in classical Greek the neuter article may be prefixed to quoted words"; he gives
several examples in the NT, including 1 Cor 4:6, of which he writes, "unless we emend, it is best
taken as a quotation of a slogan." The neuter singular article's introductory function before a
proverb or slogan is also noted by C. Wordsworth, The New Testament of Our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ: St. Paul's Epistles (5th ed.; London: Rivingtons, 1868) 93; B. L. Gildersleeve,
Syntax of Classical Greek from Homer to Demosthenes (2 vols.; New York: American Book
Co., 1900-1911) 1. 265; and Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (4 vols.;
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1946) 3. 205. C. F. D. Moule (An Idiom Book of New TestamentGreek [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959] 110-11) and C. F. G. Heinrici {Der erste
B i f di K i h [KEK 5 8 h d G i V d h k & R h 1896] 147) h
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100 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 60, 1998
OT, too much should not be made ofthis. Notice that the NIV and the NRSV
accept the notion of Paul's quoting a saying well known to his readers.
2. The use of similar constructions in classical literature makes it prob
able that the Corinthians would realize that Paul was quoting a proverb. Theelliptic omission of the verb after is commonly found in the Greekclas
sics.8
There are many ellipses in Paul's letters.9
Unfortunately, there is a
general tendency to smooth them out, as the manuscript tradition testifies.10
3. The citation of a popular proverb, a Pauline slogan, or a Corinthian
slogan is in keeping with Paul's general approach to the Corinthians. Paul's
approach is to use something they knew, something "off the street," as it
were, to underscore his point. An example would be 1 Cor 2:7 where Paul
contrasts a "secret and hidden" wisdom of God with esoteric and exotericdoctrines taught by philosophers.
4. Citation of a popular proverb is consistent with Paul's frequent use of
infant and childhood language in 1 Corinthians. In 1 Cor 3:1-2 Paul responds
to the Corinthians' criticism ofhis failure to give them more advanced teachings
by saying that he could not address them save as "babes in Christ" whom he
had to feed with milk rather than solid food. In 1 Cor 4:14-15 he informs
them that he writes to them as "beloved children," since he is their "father
in Christ" through the gospel. In 1 Cor 13:11 he chides them by saying,
"When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned
like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways."11
It is significant
that in applying a slogan to members of a church so fond of slogans Paul
treats them like children.
5. Paul is using a rhetorical form with which the Corinthians were fami
liar. Welborn observes that "it is striking how many of the metaphors and
images employed by political orators in depicting factious communities are
found in Paul's exhortation" in 1 Corinthians 1-4.12
As examples he indicates
8J. A. Hrtung {Lehre von den Partikeln der griechischen Sprache [2 vols.; Erlangen:
Palm & Enke, 1832] 2. 153) gives many other examples. H. Alford {The Greek Testament 2: The
Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles to the Romans andCorinthians [5th ed.; London: Rivingtons,
1865] 500) seems to be drawing from Hrtung.9
F. Blass and A. Debrunner {A Greek Grammar of the New Testament andOther Early
Christian Literature [Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1961] 253-55) discusses ellipsis, with
numerous examples; see especially 480.5, on ellipses ofverbs, and 481, on freer ellipses which
occur "especially in letters, where the writer can count on the knowledge which the recipient
shares with himself and where he imitates ordinary speech."10 See C. Tischendorf, Novum Testamentum Graece (2 vols.; 8th ed.; Leipzig: Giesecke &
D i 1869 72) 2 475 f f ll li f i
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FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:6 101
Paul's use of Corinthian slogans, his calling the Corinthians "babies" needing
milk, not solid food, his architectural metaphor in 1 Cor 3:9-15, and his refer
ence to himself and Apollos as examples.
6. Commentators' observation that a similar rhetorical form is lackingin later rabbinic literature shows that commentators often repeat one another
without adequate documentation from ancient texts or archaeological data.
To what is Paul referring? What are the Corinthians probably supposed
to recognize? Paul refers to a pedagogical conception which his hearers would
recognize from their early education. They would recall their earliest expe
riences when, as children, they learned to write, and a person who could not
write would know the image from the pedagogy of the time.13 The reference
is to the instruction given to children learning to write letters ofthe alphabet.
A teacher would carefully write the letter, word, or sentence, and the pupilwould then meticulously copy the teacher's model or would trace over the
lines lightly drawn by the teacher. A teacher might direct a pupil's fingers
tracing over the light outline of letters already drawn. Pupils would go through
this rote copying many times before being able to draw the letters for them
selves. Throughout the process the pupil had to be careful not to go above
the line with some letters or to go below the line with others. One was neither
to fall short of the model given nor to go beyond it. Here are three examples
in which such pedagogical practice is described.The first, from one of Seneca's epistles to Lucilius, stems from about the
same time as 1 Corinthians.14
Boys study according to direction. Theirfingersare held and guided by othersso that they may follow the outlines of the letters; next, they are ordered toimitate a copy and base thereon a style of penmanship. Similarly the mind ishelped if it is taught according to direction. (Seneca Ep. 94.51)
15
The second example is from Plato's Protagoras, The context (Prt. 320-28)
is a characteristic speech in which Protagoras illustrates the Platonic doctrine
13Especially valuable from the studies of ancient education are those of W. Jaeger, Pal
deia: The Ideals of Greek Culture (3 vols.; 2d ed.; New York: Oxford University Press, 1945);
S. F. Bonner, Education in Ancient Rome, from the Elder Cato to the hunger Pliny (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1977); H. I. Marrou, A History of Education in Antiquity
(Mentor Books MQ552; New York: New American Library, 1964); W. V. Harris, Ancient Literacy
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989). Since Harris is so conservative in his view
of the extent of literacy in antiquity, the series of responses in Mary Beard et al., Literacy in the
Roman World(Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 3; Ann Arbor, MI: Journal of Roman Archaeology, 1991) serve as a balance.
14
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102 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 60, 1998
that virtue can be taught, both by individuals and by the state. In the course
of his speech he says of the sons of the rich that
when they are released from their schooling, the city next compels them to learn
the laws and to live according to them as after a pattern, that their conduct may
not be swayed by their own light fancies, but just as writing-masters first draw
letters in faint outline with the pen for their less advanced pupils, and then give
them the copy-book and make them write according to the guidance of their
lines, so the city sketches out for them the laws devised by good lawgivers of
yore, and constrains them to govern and be governed according to these. (Plato
Prt. 326D)16
In the third example, Quintilian, prior to 96 CE. , is talking about a child
learning the alphabet.
As soon as the child has begun to know the shapes of the various letters, it will
be no bad thing to have them cut as accurately as possible upon a board, su that
the pen may be guided along the grooves. Thus mistakes such as occur with wax
tablets will be rendered impossible; for the pen will be confined between the
edges of the letters and will be prevented from going astray. Further by increasing
the frequency and speed with which they follow these fixed outlines we shall give
steadiness to the fingers, and there will be no need to guide the child's hand with
our own. The art of writing well and quickly is not unimportant for our purpose,though it is generally disregarded by persons of quality. Writing is of the utmost
importance in the study which we have under consideration and by its means
alone can true and deeply rooted proficiency be obtained. But a sluggish pen
delays our thoughts, while an uninformed and illiterate hand cannot be deci
phered, a circumstance which necessitates another wearisome task, namely, the
dictation of what we have written to a copyist. We shall therefore at all times and
in all places, and above all when we are writing private letters to our friends, find
a gratification in the thought that we have not neglected even this accomplish
ment. (Quintilian Inst. 1.1.27-29)17
Using such imagery, immediately recognizable to the Corinthians, Paul
is telling the Corinthians to follow Apollos and himself as models: "Copy us,
imitate us, being careful, just as you were as children learning to write letters,
not to write above or below the lines."18
While Paul stresses a parity between
16 The translation is taken from Plato: Laches; Protagoras; Meno; Euthydemus, with an
English translation by W. R. M. Lamb (LCL; London: Heinemann; New York: Putnam's, 1924) 145.17 The translation is taken from The Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian, with an English
translation by H. E. Butler (4 vols.; LCL; London: Heinemann; New York: Putnam's, 1921-22) 1.
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FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:6 103
Apollos and himself, he makes it clear that he is their one and only father and
that his work is earlier than that of Apollos ("I planted, Apollos watered")
and thus, is greater in importance.
The Corinthians translate this into life by recalling the religious ABCswhich they learned from Paul and Apollos. Those teachings provide a theo-
centric emphasis which should correct the Corinthians' anthropocentric view
of Christianity. They should cease to be puffed in favor of one missionary
over another, and divisions in the church should not occur.19
This interpretation of 1 Cor 4:6 fits the context and the moment of the
relationship between teacher and student just as it does in the passages quoted
from Seneca, Plato, and Quintilian. The familiar image of not going above
or below the line when writing was available to them. It fits the theological,
ethical, and rhetorical context in which Paul develops his argument within
the total context of childhood language in 1 Corinthians. Finally, this inter
pretation satisfies.
19 Fiore (" 'Covert Allusion,'" 174 n. 24) affirms that "the advantage of seeing the phrase
in 1 Cor 4:6 in terms of a school exercise is that this preserves the rhetorical harmony of the
context and provides a parallel in usage as far as character imitation goes."
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