Page 105 - Bibliology - Textbook w videos short

By this period, the term translated “tentmaker” was also applied to leatherworking in general. As a
leatherworker, Paul would have been an artisan. Artisans were typically proud of their work, despite the
long hours they had to invest to succeed, and were higher than peasants in status and income; but they
were despised by higher classes, who thought labor with one’s hands degrading (see the conflicts
described in the introduction to 1 Corinthians). Their long hours in their shops afforded them much time
to talk while doing their work, but Paul apparently is able to discontinue the labor (1 Cor. 4:12) when his
companions bring a gift from the Macedonian church (v. 5; 2 Cor. 11:7–8; 12:13; Phil 4:15). Corinth’s
agora (central marketplace) had the longest line of colonnaded shops in the empire.

… tentmakers—manufacturers, probably, of those hair-cloth
tents supplied by the goats of the apostle’s native province, and
hence, as sold in the markets of the Levant, called cilicium. Every
Jewish youth, whatever the pecuniary circumstances of his parents,
was taught some trade (see on Luke 2:42), and Paul made it a point
of conscience to work at that which he had probably been bred to,
partly that he might not be burdensome to the churches, and partly
that his motives as a minister of Christ might not be liable to
misconstruction. To both these he makes frequent reference in his
epistles.

Their mutual trade was tent making. The term used here is skēnopoioi, which some say includes
working in leather. Perhaps leather was used in the tents as was goat’s hair, for which Paul’s home
province of Cilicia was well known.

As is still common in the Middle East, a workman’s shop was downstairs and his living quarters
upstairs.

OK, now answer these questions (you might have to use your study Bible):

When was the book written and to whom was it written?

How are the key individuals referenced in the passage?

What do we know about these individuals?

The author of the passage, if known.

The date it was written.

church *Church. The Greek term used in the New Testament reflects the terms often used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew
word for the “congregation” (qahal) of Israel: “church” (assembly) and “synagogue” (gathering). Although some scholars have
suggested that Jesus could not have spoken about the church during his earthly ministry, the Dead Sea Scrolls used the Hebrew
term for God’s community; hence Jesus could use this word in talking about his future community (Mt 16:18; 18:17). The term was
in common use in Greek culture for “assemblies,” especially citizen assemblies in cities. (The popular modern surmise that the
Greek word for “church,” ekklēsia, means “called-out ones” is thus mistaken; that sense is actually more appropriate for “saints,” i.e.,
“those separated [for God].”)

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