Calling the letter-writer an angry partisan with scores to settle in the church, the bishop of Corinth urged the faithful to ignore a letter from self-styled apostle "Paul" (Saul of Tarsus), a former key Church emissary to the prosperous region.
"He is exploiting an already difficult situation to promote his own version of the Gospel, calling us 'unspiritual,'" the bishop explains from his comfortable home, adding, "this name-calling is hardly what we need in this troubling time."
The Corinthian Church has been roiled by the emerging scandal that prominent leaders knew about a man living with his father's wife, a situation that has brought charges of hypocrisy on a congregation already maligned by their neighbors for belonging to a religion with oppressively restrictive views on sex and worship. "He is an extremist obsessed with sexual morality and personal piety," the bishop observes, "who praises celibacy and condemns the reasonable accommodations we have made in Corinth to our surrounding culture."
Paul's letter has exacerbated tensions in a church already divided into factions. Some of his own party have praised his integrity and noted his prominent position in the church means he should at least be taken seriously, pointing out that he gained nothing financially from his service in Corinth.
However, this is not the first controversy to which Paul has been a party. "He has shown disrespect to Cephas himself," reports the bishop of Galatia, adding, "I am just raising objective concerns and not at all angry that he called me stupid." "This is a man whose past is checkered, who stood by at the stoning of Stephen," adds a Thessalonian, "How can we accept what he says now?"
Paul, known for his temper and ambition--calling himself an "apostle," although he was not one of Jesus of Nazareth's original followers--has urged the group to "cast out" those involved in the scandal. But he does not stop there, tying it to his larger crusade against "immorality," greed, eating meat sacrificed to idols, and other supposed sins. "He wants us 'not to even eat with' someone who breaks legalistic rules about sex, money, or drinking," complains the bishop of Corinth. "How is this consistent with Christ's Gospel of Mercy? Pharisee!"
"You have to look at motive, and the flaws of the messenger," concludes the bishop, "and this allows you to disregard the message."
All the enlightened church leaders agree--ignore this letter, belittle its author, and it will simply go away.
