30We
shall not explore the dating of Philippians from the time of the founding visit in
Corinth, a proposal put forward by Georg Ludwig Oeder, on the basis of the
curious hypothesis that Syzyge (Philippians 4:3) was Paul’s wife, but
that by the time he wrote 1 Corinthians he was widowed (reference in
W. Michaelis, Einleitung in das Neue Testament3 [Bern:
Berchtold Haller Verlag, 1961] 204-5)!
31Knox, Chapters 61-64; cp. Hyldahl, Chronologie
82-7.
32Knox, Chapters 61.
33(a) The Knox chronology does allow sufficient time for
an Ephesian founding visit at this point; and (b) “. . . it is plausible
to surmise that it was on his way back to Ephesus [from the Jerusalem
conference] that his promised visit to the churches of the Lycus valley (Philem.
22), as also his second visit to Galatia, occurred” (Chapters
61).
34See above, notes 9 and 11 (click on note
9 and note 11).
35The only way to avoid the latter problem is to assume
a return visit by Paul to Macedonia before the conference.
36The safe period for navigation was May 27 to September
14; the outside limits were March 10 to November 10 (see L. Casson, Ships
and Seamanship in the Ancient World [Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1971] 270).
As the earlier chart indicates,
such an imprisonment is best located between the writing of
1 Corinthians and Paul’s intermediate visit to Corinth. How then
are the events of this period to be reconstructed? These events seem
to fit without difficulty within a period
of several months between spring and autumn of a single year. It is
understood, of course, that one is obliged to assume an imprisonment
lasting hardly longer than three months.
In keeping with the methodology underlying As Paul tells it . . . , we offer as
an alternative reconstruction an appendix to this article in the form of a long chart,
which shows how events may be understood on the assumption of an extended
imprisonment of some nine months, instead of three.
We proceed here, with the assumption of a three month imprisonment. At the writing of 1 Corinthians, in perhaps mid-April,
Paul is situated in Ephesus, with plans to remain there until
Pentecost. His
travel plans will take him to Macedonia, Corinth, and possibly Jerusalem,
to assist in delivering the collection. Timothy is on his way to Corinth,
and from there will be sent on his way back to Paul with the brothers. By
perhaps mid-May, word reaches Paul of serious problems in Galatia arising
out of the activities of false teachers; Paul writes Galatians.
By Pentecost, Paul, instead of preparing for his journey to
Macedonia, finds himself in prison. The Philippians learn of Paul’s
troubles, and dispatch a gift to him by Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus
delivers the gift to Paul (by early July) and stays to assist Paul in his
imprisonment. To add to the difficulties of the situation, Epaphroditus
becomes critically ill, and he is distressed when he learns that the
Philippians have heard of his illness.37 From Epaphroditus,
Paul has learned of troubles in the Philippian congregation, especially
internal dissension, the danger from false teachers, and lax conduct of
certain Philippians. With the improvement in Epaphroditus’ health, Paul
sends him back to Philippi, with the Philippian letter in hand, a letter
addressing these issues, acknowledging the gift, and announcing plans not
only to send Timothy to Philippi, but also to come himself, upon his
release from prison.
37Alternatively,
Epaphroditus is distressed when he realizes that the Philippians
have heard of his illness.
When toward the end of August Paul is freed, he sends Timothy to
Macedonia, one might suppose, to make preliminary preparations for the
collection; but before Paul can follow, he has to deal with the
deteriorating situation in Corinth. He determines to amend his travel plan
by visiting Corinth on the way to Macedonia; he will try to save the day
in Corinth, proceed to Macedonia to pursue the collection project, and
return to Corinth to complete the collection there and accompany it to
Judea. Thus occurs his brief, painful
visit to Corinth, which ends in his
retreat to Ephesus in disarray (and which results in a further delay of
his visit to Macedonia).
It is now perhaps in mid-September that he composes the Harsh Letter (H/10-13),
to be delivered by Titus, who will report back to Paul on the
Corinthians’ response to this letter when he meets Paul in Troas. With
Titus off to Corinth, Paul proceeds to Troas. Whether before his departure
from Ephesus, or somewhere else in Asia, Paul experiences that “crisis
in Asia” which brings him perilously close to death. Though Paul finds
rich opportunities for his work in Troas, he decides not to wait any
longer for Titus, but, with the imminent close of navigation, sails for
Macedonia, some time in October, to await there the arrival of Titus.
After Titus has been “de-briefed,” and Paul learns with immense
relief of reconciliation with Corinth, Paul (with Timothy) writes Letter R/1–9
to Corinth, the Letter of Reconciliation. In this letter he reports on the
remarkable generosity of Macedonia in support of the collection, and thus encourages Corinth to complete their part of the project. Doubtless the
Philippian people, his long-time partners in apostleship, were now doing more than their part in supporting the collection, along with
Thessalonica.
While one might wish for more explicit information from the letters, the foregoing
scenario does match the Philippian
template in a credible fashion, and does provide a coherent reconstruction
of this productive if troubled period of the apostle’s work. Our particular version of the Ephesian imprisonment hypothesis not only
enhances the reading of the Philippian letter, but serves also as a useful
module in the larger enterprise of reconstructing the framework of
Paul’s life and thought from his letters.
Appendix: A Long Imprisonment in Ephesus?
There are
various reasons for favoring the “shorter imprisonment” scenario set
forth above, not the least being that Paul declares his intention to
complete the collection project with all due haste (Galatians 2:10). But we have to allow for the possibility that Paul (if we may state
the obvious) had no choice of how long he would be in prison—especially
if we are correct in locating the imprisonment not long after he sent
Galatians on its way. Therefore, we are providing an alternative, which
presupposes an imprisonment not of three months but of some nine months,
June to March of the following year. The accompanying long
chart provides a suitable
reconstruction of this alternative.
Note: Why, nine months, and why,
June to March? In part, because it permits the travels by sea implied in
the Philippians template and the Corinthian sequences; and in part,
because, on the hypothesis of an Ephesian imprisonment, we would wonder
why Paul had not left Ephesus soon after Pentecost, in late May or early
June (1 Corinthians 16:8). But one does not need to rule out other possible configurations.
Jerusalem Visit 1
Syria and Cilicia
Galatia (former visit)
|
|
Philippi
|
Founding Visit; “. . . in the beginning of the
gospel” (Phil. 4:15)
» Persecution
» Special financial arrangement with Philippi (Phil. 1:5) |
Thessalonica (1 Thess. 2:2)
Athens
Corinth
» 1 Thessalonians written
» Aid from Macedonia, probably Philippi, (2 Cor. 11:9)
|
|
Jerusalem Visit 2
Antioch
Galatia
(latter visit)
|
Agreement on the collection (Gal. 2:10)
Beginning of collection in Galatia (1 Cor. 16:1) |
Ephesus: founding visit
» Letter P to Corinth, Previous Letter
» Episode of fighting with beasts in Ephesus, 1 Cor.
15:32
» Timothy is sent to Corinth: from ? via?
» Letter L to Corinth = 1 Corinthians
mid-April
» Travel plan: Ephesus/ Macedonia/ Corinth/ Jerusalem, 1 Cor.
16:3-8
» Composition of Galatians
mid-May
|
|
PAUL IMPRISONED IN EPHESUS
early June
(thus, unable to depart after Pentecost for Macedonia, etc., as
planned)
|
The situation in Philippi:
» Dissension
» Problem of false teachers
|
late June
|
The Philippians learn of Paul’s trouble, Phil. 4:14
[Trip #1, Ephesus to Philippi]
|
» Timothy’s presumed return to
Corinth early July
(possibly earlier), bringing news from Corinth
|
|
Epaphroditus:
» Delivers gift to Paul
mid-July
» Informs Paul of dissension, and false teachers in Philippi
|
The Philippians send a gift by Epaphroditus
[Trip #2, Philippi to Ephesus]
|
Illness of Epaphroditus
August
Appearance of Onesimus
|
The Philippians learn of his illness
[Trip #3, Ephesus to Philippi]
|
Epaphroditus is distressed that the Philippians have
heard of his illness, Phil. 2:26
|
[Possible additional trip, Philippi to Ephesus,
from which Epaphroditus learns that the Philippians have heard of his
illness]
|
Paul writes Philippians
September
» Travel plans: Timothy is to be sent to Philippi,
Phil. 2:19, to bring word from Philippi; Paul hopes to travel there
later, Phil. 2:24
|
Epaphroditus is sent back to Philippi
[Trip #4, Ephesus to Philippi]
|
Paul writes
Philemon
October
» Sends Onesimus back (to Colossae?)
» Plans to visit Philemon
|
|
Paul IS RELEASED FROM PRISON
March
» Sends Timothy on to Macedonia (as soon as weather
permits)
» Possible visit to Philemon (in Colossae?)
|
|
Paul makes intermediate visit to Corinth
April
» Returns to Ephesus
Paul writes Letter H/10-13 to Corinth
May
Travel plan: Titus to Corinth to Troas; Paul to Troas
|
|
Crisis in Asia (probably
Ephesus)
May
» Escapes death
(2 Cor. 1:8)
» Departs for Troas, 2 Cor. 2:12, but does not
find Titus there; after a period of some weeks, . . .
|
|
Paul proceeds on to Macedonia/
Philippi
June
» Finds fighting without, fears within, 2 Cor. 7:5
» Meets Titus, with good news of reconciliation from Corinth
» “Voluntary” collection in Macedonia, 2 Cor. 8:1-4
|
|
Writes Letter R/1-9 to Corinth, with
Timothy July
|
|
Paul proceeds to Corinth
August
» He completes work on the collection
» He writes Romans
Travel plans: to Jerusalem, to deliver collection; to
Rome;
to Spain
Jerusalem Visit 3 [projected]
|
|