Holiness and Community in 2 Cor 6: 14-7:1

This book examines 2 Cor 6:14--7:1 and argues that its theological message is communal holiness. It culminates in an attempt to posit a Pauline theology of corporate sanctification in the Corinthian correspondence. Pauls view of sanctification it is argued should be seen as multifaceted: relational communal ethical and mission-oriented. Thus a coherent picture of Pauline teaching on holiness in the Corinthian correspondence emerges from this book. For Paul the focus of Gods redemptive activity is primarily the community and not the individual. Pauls view on holiness has to do with communal holiness within the people of God the goal of which is to make God known to the wider society. In sum this book argues that the teaching on holiness should not be and cannot be satisfactorily explained in terms of the individual but only as the individual stands in relation to the community of faith. Thus the conclusion offers a corrective to some strands of modern interpretation that emphasize the individualistic experiential aspects of Christian holiness thus tending to reduce Christian holiness to morality.