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Discussion of the integrity of 2 Cor 8–9 since 1985 has not seen new arguments for either reading these chapters as a unit or seeing two letters in these chapters, and the several decades before that saw no real new arguments either. In this essay, I argue that there are two letters in chapters 8–9, but their boundaries are not the same as the chapter designations. Rather, finding 8:16–9:5 as a separate letter provides a solution that accounts for the arguments understanding the two chapters as parts of a single letter and those that have been used to identify all of chapter 8 and all of chapter 9 as separate letters. In addition, this division of the letter conforms to the conventions of letters of commendation and instruction that appear in both official and nonofficial correspondence.

This book sets out a method for identifying the opponents in view in Paul's letters, and then applies it to the relevant writings of the Pauline corpus. The method limits the use of parallels or prior constructions as a basis for identification, dealing with each letter on an individual basis and taking full acount of the historical and social context. Sumney concludes that the Pauline letters address different kinds of opposition in different places, including two distinct anti-Paul movements. Here is a fundamental study for research into a basic problem of the Pauline correspondence.

In this volume, leading scholars in the study of Romans invite students and nonspecialists to engage this text and thus come to a more complete understanding of both the letter and Paul’s theology. The contributors include interpreters with different understandings of Romans so that readers see a range of interpretations of central issues in the study of the text. Each essay includes a short review of different positions on a topic and an argument for the author’s position, set out in clear, nontechnical terms, making the volume an ideal classroom tool. The contributors are A. Andrew Das, James D. G. Dunn, Victor Paul Furnish, Joel B. Green, A. Katherine Grieb, Caroline Johnson Hodge, L. Ann Jervis, E. Elizabeth Johnson, Sylvia C. Keesmaat, Rodrigo J. Morales, Mark D. Nanos, Jerry L. Sumney, and Francis Watson.

The letter to the Colossians offers great insight into the faith, life, and problems of an early Christian church.Understanding this letter to be one of Paul's prison epistles but aware of the differences between this and his other writings, Jerry Sumney shows how the church struggled with expressing its new faith in the diverse settings.

When the author has Paul say, \"I rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body, which is the church,\" he introduces philological and theological issues that continue to perplex interpreters.1 The philological anomalies include the double-prefixed word ..., which is a hapax legomenon in the NT; in addition, ... appears nowhere else in the NT in connection with Christ, and the noun ... is not used elsewhere in the NT to speak of the suffering of Jesus on the cross or in his ministry, though it often refers to the suffering of Christians. Chrysostom, in no fewer than five places, uses Col 1:24 to exhort his readers to live the Christian life, encouraging them through the example of Paul's sufferings.51 Such ancient interpreters had an understanding of Paul's sufferings that neither diminished the work of Christ nor excessively elevated Paul.52 The understanding of Paul's suffering at which we have arrived would have made possible such easy use of this passage.

The place of 1 Corinthians 9 within Paul's discussion of food sacrificed to idols has long caused interpreters difficulties. Sumney discusses the role of 1 Corinthians 9 in Paul's argument.

The debate about the opponents of Ignatius of Antioch has produced no consensus, in part because of a lack of attention to questions of method. This essay applies to three letters of Ignatius a method for identifying opponents which focuses on individual letters. This method bases its identification of a letter's opponents on explicit statements about them, using other statements within a letter only when they relate to issues raised in these explicit statements. This method further evaluates a text's usefulness for identifying opponents on the basis of the type of context in which it appears. The result of applying this method to Ignatius' letters to the Smyrneans, Philadelphians, and Magnesians is that three different types of situations emerge: In Smyrneans we find docetists who seem to be absent from the bishop's Eucharist. In Philadelphians Ignatius opposes some who understand differently and grant more autority to the Hebrew Scriptures than he does. They also seem to see a different sort of relationship between Christianity and Judaism than Ignatius does, but do not advocate taking up any Jewish practices. In Magnesians Ignatius does not face opponents in the sense that there is a group which actively opposes him or his teaching. There are some, however, who do not submit to the bishop's authority as he thinks they should, but they do not seem to be an organized party. Taking each letter on its own, these letters indicate that Ignatius found different problems, not a single heresy, in the churches of Asia Minor to which he writes.

Sumney reviews The Second Letter to the Corinthians by Mark A. Seifrid.