C. K. Barrett, F. F. Bruce and E. Käsemann very briefly state, almost in passing, that difficulties at Corinth arose from an over-realized eschatology. In C. K. Barrett's words, the Corinthians were behaving ‘as if the age to come were already consummated…For them there is no “not yet” to qualify the “already” of realized eschatology.’ This claim, however, needs to be argued more closely, and objections to it considered, since it remains a matter of controversy. The most recent attack on this diagnosis of the situation at Corinth comes from E. Earle Ellis. He argues, firstly, that the error in I Cor. xv ‘offers doubtful support for an eschatological interpretation of I Cor. 4. 8’, and secondly, that it is unlikely that Paul would criticize the Corinthians ‘merely for appropriating an eschatological perspective that he himself has taught’.