Did Paul Refuse an Offer of Support from the Corinthians?

Abstract

It is generally agreed that one key factor in the deterioration of Paul’s relationship with the Corinthian assembly was his refusal to accept an offer of material support. In fact, however, there is no solid textual basis for this putative datum. None of the three passages taken as evidence (1 Cor. 9.1-18; 2 Cor. 11.5-15; 12.11-18) makes explicit reference to such an offer. In each case, interpreters have inferred from Paul’s heated rhetorical questions that he is defending his decision to reject Corinthian support. But a closer look at both the syntax and the context of these questions, and at the logic of rhetorical questions more generally, shows this inference to be unlikely. When Paul boasts that he has not burdened the Corinthians, what he means is not that he has refused to accept their support, but that he has refrained from demanding it. Reconstructions of his relationship with the Corinthian assembly must be modified accordingly.