2 Corinthians 6 Footnotes

6:14 Because 6:14–7:1 contains a large number of words found nowhere else in the NT and appears to interrupt the line of Paul’s argument, it has been regarded by many as a non-Pauline insertion. Verbal parallels with the Dead Sea Scrolls have led some to argue for its origin in the writings of the Dead Sea sect. But the passage is a powerful call for separation from pagan temple worship and may reasonably be seen as a logical continuation of Paul’s exhortations in 1Co 8–10. The listing of OT texts, some of which were employed by the Dead Sea Scrolls community at Qumran, only illustrates a dependence on the OT shared by the apostle and the Qumran scribes. The demand that the Corinthians break with pagan practice, far from interrupting Paul’s line of thought on the subject of the new covenant, is actually his pointed appeal to them. This forms a fitting climax to the passage begun at 2:14.