III. Literary Unity of 1 and 2 Corinthians

By ancient standards both 1 and 2 Corinthians are unusually long letters. The diversity of subjects treated and the abrupt transitions from one subject to another have lead some scholars to propose that both are composite editorial compilations of several Pauline letters. Although most scholars today consider 1 Corinthians to be a unified composition, perhaps the majority of serious scholars today doubt the literary integrity of 2 Corinthians. In this commentary both letters are treated as unified compositions.