An Interpretation of "γλῶσσα" written in the 1 Corinthians ⑥

CHAPTER 3. Study of 1 Corinthians “γλῶσσα”

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Ⅰ. Corinthian Church Analysis

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In order to understand what “tongue (s)” (γλῶσσα) in 1 Corinthians is, we first need to understand the basic cultural characteristics of Corinth and the social, political, and economic characteristics, and then sincerely translate various versions, including the original Greek manuscripts. You should make a sharp contrast and analyze the verse, and any problems with the translation of the verse should be thoroughly criticized and corrected. What matters is the facts about what happened in the Corinthian Church and how Paul viewed it.

A. Corinthian city of Rome and its cultural characteristics

Greece's Corinth has always been crowded with travelers as a strategic hub for commerce and trade between the north and south and east and west of the Greek Peninsula. It was an international trade center and a city sensitive to business and economic prosperity. Corinth could not have been such an easy mission district to a man like the apostle Paul, who lives a life of self-humble under the cross among those who are so successful. Combined with 2 Corinthians, the epistle of Corinthians is the longest book in the entire New Testament, not just in Paul's letter. With regard to the subject of this paper, “tongue (s)” (γλῶσσα), we must have a good understanding of Corinthian cultural background in order to properly analyze the purpose of Paul's letter writing, especially because the interpretation of the usage in 1 Corinthians is difficult. [26]

Meanwhile, before becoming a member of the church, Corinthian Christians brought many of the characteristics of their culture into the church. This was likely to occur in a mixed culture. Considering Corinth at the time when there was a huge floating population from east to west and from north to south, the influx of churches of this complex culture would have been enormous. This situation allows us to understand many of the problems in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.

Here we must infer the situation surrounding the Corinthian Church in relation to the subject of this paper, “tongue (s)” (γλῶσσα). In various parts of 1 Corinthians, Paul is grateful for the gifts of church members in foreign languages. Paul, who was fluent in multilingualism, would have hoped that Corinthians, especially those who were good at foreign languages, could spread to various parts of the Roman Empire through them in the future to be able to actively evangelize.

The members of the Corinthian churches, according to their Greek background, especially liked the gifts of tongue (s) and prophecy. They seem to have regarded and valued the tongue (s), the utterance of ecstasy among the tongue (s) and the gifts of prophecy, as the most prominent manifestation of the Holy Spirit. However, Paul evaluated the gifts not in terms of their apparent appearance, but in terms of whether they benefit all (12: 7), or whether they are useful in building up the church. Because for Paul, the Holy Spirit expresses himself with love to serve others.^[27]

The socio-economic atmosphere of the Corinthian Church

By the time Paul arrived in Corinth for his missions, many Jews probably lived in Corinth. There are records of eight million Jews scattered around the world in diaspora only in the middle of the Old and New Testaments, beginning from the time they were already taken captive to Babylon. At that time, many Jews lived in famous Greek cities, such as Alexandria, Rome, and Corinth. As we can see in Acts 18, there were also synagogues in Jews.[28]

Corinth was a city of many races and ethnic groups because of its geographical location. In this atmosphere, Corinthians would have been confused with a large number of languages mixed with languages from all regions. Examples of this can be found in modern Singapore and Hong Kong. There are many cases where English, Chinese standard language, Cantonese, etc. are mixed to make it difficult to know which language it is. Also, as all idolatry was practiced under the influence of the religions of other countries, their “unknown sound” must have been prevalent.

In the Corinthian epistle, the apostle Paul said, “For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”),” (1 Corinthians 8:5, NIV). This means that there were many religions in Corinth at that time. In Greek and Roman myths and other myths, there are dozens of pages of tables listing the genealogy of the gods.[29] They would have focused their attention on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially those that are prominent, such as tongue (s), boasting to each other the gifts they received, creating an atmosphere of pride and contempt, envy and conflict. In this situation, it seemed that the worshiper used the tongue (s) and prophecy competitively to create chaos (1 Corinthians 12-14).^[30] Therefore, Paul needed to establish order by criticizing the problems of the Corinthian church.

C. Background of the Apostle Paul's 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians

One of the most important things in examining the background and purpose of 1 Corinthians' writing is the number of letters sent to Corinth. It is also necessary to understand exactly where and under what circumstances Paul wrote the book of 1 Corinthians. Various views on this have been widely presented. Paul seems to have written at least four letters to the church in Corinth. The first letter is the now-disappeared “old letter” mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5: 9, followed by our 1 Corinthians. The third letter was Paul's “sorrowful letter” (2 Corinthians; 7: 8; 12) for the Corinthians by writing “with anguish and mourning and tears” (2 Corinthians 2: 3; 4). The fourth letter is 2 Corinthians we have.^[31]

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