BNTC Seminars 2009: Social World of the New Testament

This paper examines the use of co-senders in ancient letters as a possible background for the inclusion of co-senders in the Pauline letters. Of the seven Pauline letters whose authorship is generally undisputed only Romans is from Paul alone. The others are from Paul and another or others. Scholarly discussions of these letters generally ignore the presence of co-senders. When their presence is acknowledged, is it seen as unusual and even as a distinctively Christian feature. An examination of other letters, written in Greek, from this period and found in a variety of milieux — papyri, inscriptions, published letter collections and embedded within other published works — has identified a number of letters which include co-senders. These letters, around eighty in number, have been studied to determine, where possible, the relationship between the co-senders. Analysis suggests that the relationship between the co-senders falls into three broad categories; firstly those who write together on behalf of the city or state, secondly those who write together because they also work together and finally those who are related and write together on family matters. The Pauline letters would seem to fall into the second of these broad categories and share some of the other characteristics of these letters which are mainly official correspondence. While falling within this category, the Pauline letters are distinctive, both in their length and in the frequency with which they use the first person singular in letters that are apparently from more than one sender.

Upon perusing Seneca’s De Beneficiis, one encounters a rather intriguing passage that reflects Pauline thought on gift exchange. In this pericope, Seneca recounts a time when many affluent pupils presented Socrates, their teacher, with copious gifts ‘according to their means.’ Among these, however, was Aeschines, an impoverished student, who, after assessing his storehouse of meager possessions, considered nothing he owned to be 'worthy' (dignus) of his accomplished teacher. He therefore gave the most valuable gift his situation permitted – his very self (me ipsum): a "self-gift" that receives Seneca’s acclaim and commendation, since the ingenuity of this gracious act moved Socrates to reciprocate the favour, giving his very self in return (1.8.1-1.9.1). The dynamics of this reciprocal exchange of “selves” contains many striking affinities with Paul’s multi-layered vision of gift-exchange relationships ‘in Christ.’ For instance, while ministering in Macedonia, Paul not only presents the Thessalonians with the gift of the ‘gospel of God’ but also 'his very self' (έαυτού ψυχή – 1 Thess. 2:8). Similarly, the Macedonians, despite their financial deprivation, willingly contribute gifts for the collection, but not as the apostles expected, 'for they gave themselves [έαυτούς έδωκαν] first to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God' (2 Cor. 8:1-5). Moreover, Paul expresses his desire for the Corinthians to reciprocate their selves (ύμάς – 2 Cor. 12:14), just as he 'gladly spends and expends himself for [their] souls [ψυχών]' (2 Cor. 12:15). And all of this self-giving activity is rooted in and empowered by the grace of God in the self-gift of the Christ-event (2 Cor. 8:9). Instigating a discussion between these two contemporaries will indeed prove advantageous in illuminating Paul’s theology of gift giving via his social world.