Thursday, May 31, 2018

THE PREACHER'S ETHOS

Perched precariously on our shaky pedestals, we preachers can feel vulnerable to the changing tides of popularity. The lure of pragmatism - using rhetorical methods to generate crowds - is powerful especially when critics blame our lack of success on methodological failure. Paul dealt with the rhetorical sophists of his day in 2 Corinthians. His letter is an example of "forensic rhetoric" (Witherington, Conflict & Community, p.333ff). Forensic rhetoric was the use of rhetoric to defend the communicator. Paul develops his proposition (propositio in forensic rhetoric) in 2 Corinthians 2:17. "For we are not like many, peddling the Word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God." Here is the proposition Paul is defending in his letter (Witherington, p.371).

There were three categories of classical rhetoric, logos, ethos, and pathos. Ethos referred to the character of the preacher. Paul defends his character as a preacher in 2 Corinthians 6. The structure of 2 Corinthians 6:1-4 helps us understand his defense. The main verb is "we urge" or "we appeal" (παρακαλοῦμεν, v.1). It is followed by two parallel participles explaining the preaching appeal: "giving" (διδόντες, v.3) no cause for offense and "commending" (συνίσταντες, v.4) ourselves as "servants of God." Both are present tense participles indicating continuous action.

Paul asks a question immediately following his proposition 2 Corinthians 2:17. "Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?" (3:1) The verb "to commend" (συνίστημι) comes from two words meaning "to put or place" (ἵστημι) and "with someone" (σύν). The classical sense of the verb grew out of the meaning to "stand together" leading to the idea of commendation (TDNT, 7:896-898). Paul says that we who are appealing are commending ourselves to you. The nominative case connects the participle to the subject of the main verb.

How does Paul commend himself to the Corinthians? He defends his ethos, his character. In classical rhetoric, the most powerfully persuasive arguments came from personal integrity - ethos! So we, like Paul, commend ourselves as "servants of God." The word "servants" (διάκονοι) is a nominative plural to agree with the subject "we." Paul is saying, "as servants of God, we commend ourselves" (Robertson, Grammar, p.454). It is who we are not what we do. We are not recommending ourselves to be servants as if interviewing for the role. We preachers are already servants which is the basis for our recommendation of ourselves to others. Our primary ethical qualification for ministry is servanthood.

Paul has been deeply hurt and discouraged by the criticisms of the Corinthians. He is seeking reconciliation with them. They have criticized him for his failure to be successful as a Greek rhetor (speaker), and he is defending his character as an apostle from those who claim he is a failure.  We, too, face our critics whenever we are not as successful as other preachers by the standards of pragmatism. How do we defend ourselves from those attacks? We defend ourselves by arguing that we are not peddlers of the Word of God selling our wares to consumers. We are servants of God. Our ethos is our defense. Servanthood is the way we recommend ourselves. It is the foundation of our commendation. Servanthood is our ethos - our character - in ministry.

Thursday, May 17, 2018

DO NO HARM

How often do we "bag it" and move on in our relationships with other Christians? Disagreements, irritations, and hurt feelings develop. We distance ourselves from one another, dismissing the relationships as peripheral to ministry. Not Paul! He writes, "working together we also urge you ... giving no cause for offense at all that the ministry might not be blemished" (2 Cor. 6:1&3). The first rule of ministry, like medicine, is to do no harm.

Paul spoke his letters like a pastor preaching to his people. One feature of oral communication is anacoluthon, a dramatic break in the sentence structure so that the final thought does not follow grammatically from the previous thought (Robertson, Grammar, p.435). Anacoluthon shows the depth of emotion that Paul feels as he breaks into his own sentence with a new thought in verse three. The phrase "giving" (διδόντες) no offense skips over verse 2 and qualifies or explains "we urge you" (παρακαλοῦμεν) in verse 1 (Meyer, 2 Corinthians, p. 546). What follows (vs. 4-10) is a long list of emotional experiences that Paul uses to appeal to the affections of the Corinthians before he concludes his appeal with his "heart opened wide" to them (vs. 11).

Paul starts his anacoluthon with an emphatic double negative (μηδεμίαν ἐν μηδενὶ) meaning "no offense at all" (R&R Linguistic Key, p.471). The participle "giving" (διδόντες) is in the present tense indicating ongoing, continuous action. Giving no offense at all is not a one-time act but a habit of life. In ministry, we are constantly seeking to give no offense to others - to do no harm in the church. The word "offense" (προσκοπήν) is only used here in the New Testament and means "an occasion for making a misstep" (BAGD, p.716). It is related to the more common word (πρόσκομμα) meaning an obstacle or hindrance, referring to the stumbling itself.

Paul wants to give no reason for anyone to stumble so that "the ministry might not be discredited" (μωμηθῇ). The verb means to find fault with or to blame. The noun form (μῶμος) means a defect or a blemish and Peter uses it as a description of false teachers in 2 Peter 2:13 (BAGD, p.531). The noun is frequently used in the book of Leviticus to describe defects or blemishes in the sacrifices or the priests (Hatch & Redpath, Concordance to the Septuagint, 2:93). No priest, for example, could come near to the altar to offer a sacrifice if he had a blemish (Lev. 21:21). Our ministries today are not discredited by physical blemishes but by spiritual blemishes. If we cause offense to others, we blemish our ministries. At the very least, we should do no harm to the church always seeking her interest instead of our self-interests in all our decisions.

Paul is beginning his final emotional appeal to the Corinthians to be reconciled to him (Witherington, Conflict & Community, p.398). He is writing to believers who have become estranged from him. He pleads with them to open their hearts - their affections - to him as he has to them (6:11-13). Paul is wearing his heart on his sleeve as he extends his hand to them in reconciliation. He does not want to be the cause of anything that blemishes his relationship with them in the ministry of Jesus Christ.

Relationships matter in ministry!