Page - 88 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

88 ChristianeZimmermann NewTestament textswe can infer that heprobably immersed or submerged converts like Cris- pus into living water (Acts 8, 38). How and if the transfer of the spirit was performed is not clear fromPaul’s texts, but in his letters he presupposes the sending of the spirit, whichmost probably happened during or after baptism.25 Paul’s own texts let us further assume that he baptised ‘in Christ’ (eis Christon), this is, ‘in the name of Christ’,26 assigning the converts to Jesusas theirnewLord.Theconvertsmostprobably thenconfessed Jesusas ‘Lord Jesus’ (kyrios Iesous).27 ThePauline letters show,moreover, that theconverts finally thoughtof themselvesas ‘children of God’, who addressed God as ‘Father’, probably in Aramaic abba, which was the original addressofGodby Jesus.28Throughbaptism,Christ believers entered intoacommunity that considered themselves the family ofGod. FromPaul’s letters (andActs)weknow12mem- bersof thecommunityofChristbelievers inCorinthbyname,29but the truenumberofmembers was most probably around 50 and perhaps as many as 100.30 Only some of them, however, werebaptisedbyPaul. After his first stay, Paul wrote at least three letters31 to his community in Corinth, which struggledwithobviousproblemsof anewreligious community thathad to find its place in the contextof thesynagogue,aswellas in thebroadercontextof theGraeco-Romanandothercults of the time.Therewereboth inter-religiousproblems–forexample,Christbelieverseatingmeat coming from pagan cult sacrifices32 – and intra-religious problems, such as those caused by otherChristianpreachers.Onepointof frictionamongChristbelievers seems tohavebeenbap- tism. In 1 Cor 1, 10–17, Paulmentions quarrels among theChrist believers of Corinthwhoappar- entlyhadbegun foundinggroups. Paul urges theCorinthians to stop thesequarrels: I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that youbeunited in the samemindand the same judgment. For it has been reported tomebyChloe’s people that there is quarrelling among you,mybrothers.What Imean is that each one of you says, ‘I follow Paul’, or ‘I follow Apollos’, or ‘I follow Cephas’, or ‘I follow Christ’. Is Christ divided?Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except CrispusandGaius, so thatnoonemaysay thatyouwerebaptized inmyname.–Ididbaptizealso thehousehold ofStephanas.Beyond that, Idonotknowwhether Ibaptizedanyoneelse.–ForChristdidnot sendmetobaptize but topreach thegospel,andnotwithwordsof eloquentwisdom, lest thecrossofChristbeemptiedof itspower. Paul criticises the formation of groups in Corinth, as they threatened the unity of the young community. These groups connected themselveswith leading figures, possibly associatedwith acertain standardof ‘eloquentwisdom’ (see 1Cor 1, 18ff.).33 It seems that certainChrist believ- ers inCorinth tried to convince their Christianbrothers and sisters to followoneof the leading figuresmentioned.34 Apollos, a latermissionary in the Christian community of Corinth,might 25 Gal 4, 6. 26 Cf.Acts 22, 16;Hartman2011;Hellholm2011. 27 Rom10, 9. 28 Gal 4, 6; Rom8, 15. Zimmermann2007, 76–79. 29 Koch 2014, 265. 30 Lindemann 2000, 13. The total number of inhabitants of Corinth at Paul´s time might have been around 100,000; Ebner 2012, 85. 31 The first letter is not preserved; Paul refers to it in 1 Cor 5, 9. 2 Cormight be a collection of letters. 3 Cor is a pseudepigraphic letter not included in the canonof theNewTestament. 32 Cf. 1 Cor 8. 33 TheKephas, i.e. Peter-group,mayhave its origins in themissionof followersofPeter inCorinth. Thereareno indications that Peterhimself came toCorinth. TheChrist-group is often explainedas a later addition; cf. Schrage 1991, 135f. 143–148; Schrage explains the Christ-group as a deliberate hyperbole of Paul, whowants to show the absurdity of group-building. 34 Gerber 2010, 230–232.