"slogans" in 1 Corinthians

This is important to casual readers of the epistles. Paul knew the Corinthian church very well. Perhaps better than any other. He stayed there for 18 months I think it says in Acts. And he revisited Corinth on other occasions.

He mentions other correspondence that he has had with them. He mentions specific members and leaders and specific things they have told him. He knows all of the major leaders and many of the regular members.

So when we read things in this letter we have to beware that there are understood facts left unsaid that might change entirely the way we understand some of the letter. Remember we are reading one side of a dialogue. The original readers know a lot of things we do not.

We come to the idea of slogans that Paul repeats. Just because he repeats them does not mean that he agrees with them. Greek has no direct quotation marks so modern translators have to try to figure out where they come, if any. Sometimes a Greek word normally translated "that" can denote the start of a direct quotation. But "that", as in English can also show an indirect quotation, such as "He said that ..." In a direct quotation the person changes from third person to first person such as "He said 'I went to church.'" Greek does the same so there are cases we can be sure of a direct quotation. However there are a lot of gray areas.

But if Paul is quoting a saying so that he might refute it it is often hard to see where the quote begins. One example we are pretty sure about is "all things are profitable". That is because he repeats it. Is this an idea that Paul agrees with? Or is this an idea that Paul has heard said among the Corinthians that he wishes to dispute? That he wishes to try to argue them to a better understanding?

Anyway most commentators would agree that this phrase is not original to Paul. He has heard it said among the Corinthians. He wishes to quote it in order to clear up misconceptions. At the least this slogan is being distorted to mean things that are totally wrong. Paul knows this church. He has seen them in action. He has heard the gossip.

So if we quote "all things are profitable" out of context approvingly we are certainly misquoting Paul. He did not mean this to be a commendable approach at all. We are quoting a Corinthian slogan that Paul strongly disagreed with.