Pauline lit lecture 6

1. Body (soma) and Flesh (sarx) 1.1 Body (soma)The term “body” (soma) has positive, neutral and negative usages. 1.1.1 The body is the indispensable agent or instrument of the human self or personality, 1 Cor. 15:35-49 1.1.2 There is continuity between our present body, suited for this world, and our future body, suited for the world to come, Phil. 3:21; 2 Cor. 5:1-4; 1 Cor. 15:37, 42-44 (cf. vv. 51-52); see 1 Cor. 6:12-20 where Paul argues against sexual immorality based, in part, on our bodies’ destiny (resurrection) and identity (members of Christ). 1.1.3 The body and its members must be recovered from the rule of sin and presented to God, Rom. 6:12, 13, 19. 1.1.4 “Body of sin” and “body of death,” Rom 6:6, 7:4 (cf. 6:23). Death to the old life; now we are members of the body of Christ. 1.1.5 Conclusion“The members of the body can be offered to sin or to God. The sin-dominated body must die; or the body, the members, must be recovered from the rule of sin and be presented to God.” C. K. Barrett, Paul: An Introduction to his Thought, p.69. 1.2 Flesh (sarx)The term “flesh” is a more negative term than “body.” It has a neutral usage, but its usage is primarily negative. 1.2.1 Flesh in a physical and biological sense— 1 Cor. 6:16; 15:39; 2 Cor. 4:11 (cf. Isaiah 31:3); 7:1; Rom 9:3. 1.2.2 Oriented to this present world (the fallen world system with its values), “according to the flesh,” 1 Cor.1:26-27; 2 Cor. 5:16; 1 Cor. 3:1,3; Phil. 3:3ff; Rom. 2:25, 28-29; 4:9-12; Gal. 3:3; 4:23; 6:13, 15.We have an interesting and clarifying case in 2 Cor. 10:2-4. Paul differentiates between: a) living in the flesh as simply bodily life in this present world and, therefore, ethically neutral, and b) living according to the flesh, which is submitting to standards and securities other than God. NOTE: the NIV translates Paul’s phrases here by “in the world” rather than as the Greek, “in the flesh.” The passage literally reads (from the King James Version): “…I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God…” 1.2.3 The law, though good, is rendered ineffective because of the flesh, Rom. 7:17-8:13 1.2.4 The flesh is opposed to the Spirit and to love, Gal. 5:13-24 2. Mind (nous) and Heart (kardia) 2.1 Mind (nous) 2.1.1 Reasoning faculty, Rom, 14:5; 1 Cor. 14:14, 15, 19; Phil. 4:7 2.1.2 The unfit, depraved, or reprobate mind, Rom. 1:28; Eph. 4:17-19 2.1.3 The mind can be renewed, Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:20-24; Col. 3:2, 10; cf. Phil. 4:8 2.1.4 Conclusion The mind, like the body, is at a crossroads: it can turn towards God or to sin. The mind, therefore, is not higher than any other aspect of the human person, as in Greek thought; the mind may be dominated by sin. 2.2 Heart (kardia) 2.2.1 The innermost part of the person: the seat of thinking, feeling, willing, and being 2.2.1.1 Core of our being“He who searches the heart,” Rom. 8:27; the law and circumcision must penetrate to the heart, Rom 2:15, 29; obedience and belief need to be “from the heart,” Rom. 6:17; 10:9-10 2.2.1.2 Emotive aspect, Rom. 9:2; 2 Cor. 2:4; Rom. 10:1; Phil. 4:7; Col. 3:15; Col. 2:2; 4:8; Phil. 1:7-8, where heart parallels “bowels” (NIV, “affections”) 2.2.1.3 Decision-making aspect, 1 Cor. 7:37; 2 Cor. 9:7 2.2.2 ConclusionThe term “heart” was needed as well as the term “mind.” J.D.G. Dunn writes, “It was important for Paul…that the human being was not just rational and not just a bundle of feelings, but both…. Paul thus in effect refused to reduce the wholeness of the person to rationality, but sought to maintain a balance between the rational, the emotional and the volitional.” The Theology of Paul the Apostle, p.75. 3. Soul (psyche) and Spirit (pneuma) 3.1 Soul (psyche)Psyche has a variety of senses as does its corresponding Hebrew word, nephesh. 3.1.1 Life, Rom. 11:3 (“They seek my life”), 16:4; Phil. 2:30; cf. 1 Cor. 15:45 citation of Gen. 2:7. 3.1.2 Person, representative of the human race.Paul seems to be following a common Hebrew use when he writes “every soul” for all representatives of the human race. Rom. 2:9; 13:1. 3.1.3 Aspect of our psycho-somatic unity (human person), 1 Thess. 5:23. 3.1.3.1 Similar to Jesus teaching his disciples to love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength (Mk. 12:30), i.e., their whole being. Jesus was not teaching four separate parts of the person. 3.1.3.2 Compare 2 Cor. 7:5 with 2:13. In the first passage Paul says that because of his anxiety over his friends in Corinth, “his flesh (sarx) had no rest.” In 2 Cor. 2:13, speaking of the same experience, he says, “I had no rest for my spirit (pneuma)”—a practically synonymous usage of the terms. 3.2 Spirit (pneuma)This term is difficult to assess because it is hard to tell when Paul is speaking of the human spirit (which he does frequently) and when he is speaking of the Holy Spirit (which he does often). It is seldom that the latter can be ruled out, even when we think he is speaking of the former. 3.2.1 The spirit in a person corresponds with the Spirit of God as a self-cognitive element, 1 Cor. 2:11; Rom. 8:16. 3.2.2 In 1 Cor. 14:14 (cf. v 32) it is difficult to determine whether Paul is speaking of God or a human person. “My spirit” may be a part of his psychological make-up, or the spiritual gift entrusted to him, or the spiritual agency affecting it, or the Holy Spirit given to him (“the Spirit appointed to me”). 3.2.3 Aspect of the total person, 2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Cor. 7:34. In these texts, Paul is speaking in a popular way of the total person, of cleansing and devotion, respectively.

The external threats of the human plight.

The internal threats of the human plight.

• Usage of the term “death”
• It has a spectrum of usage similar (and related to) the “flesh.” Although it has a neutral usage, its usage is primarily negative.

Neutral usage, Rom. 14:8; 1 Cor. 3:22; 9:15; 15:31-32; 2 Cor. 6:9; 11:23; Phil. 1:20-22 1.1.1.2

Negative usage (predominant), Rom. 1:32 (due punishment for sins catalogued in 1:29-31), 7:10 (the forfeiture of life) and 2 Cor. 1:9 (as an official sentence, apokrima)

• Outcome of life lived “in the flesh.”The outcome of life lived under sinful passions (Rom. 7:5), the flesh’s mind-set (8:6), the life lived “in accordance with the flesh (kata sarka)” (8:13), of sowing to the flesh (Gal. 6:8), the end of a process of decay (1 Cor. 15:42, 50) 1.1.3 Result of sin, Rom. 5:12, 15, 21; 6:16, 21, 23; 7:5, 9-10; 8:2Death is the worst effect of sin in this world. 1.1.4
• Death: a dominating power 1.1.4.1
• Exercises rule, Rom. 5:14, 17; 6:9 1.1.4.2 “The last enemy,” 1 Cor. 15:26 1.1.4.3 Creation cries out for deliverance from it, Ro. 8:20-21

Rom. 1:18-32

Sin is both something we are in bondage to and something we choose to do. We cannot escape its grip by merely resolving to do better. However, “Man…is not simply, as some Jews tended to think of him, the unfortunate victim of oppression, the deprived heir of an Adam who had lost his wisdom, beauty, strength and freedom…. He is himself a guilty rebel against his Creator, condemned to perish by his own most grievous fault.” (Barrett, Paul, p.60) 1.1.1.1

• Choice· A turning away from God to something less than God – absolutizing the relative, making an idol, Rom. 1:18-31, esp. vv. 21, 25, 28.· You serve whom you give yourself to (Rom. 6:16, 19). “You become like what you worship,” N. T. Wright. 1.1.1.2 Bondage, Rom. 6:6, 20; 7:14, 19-20·
• Consequent loss of freedom.· “Their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Rom. 1:21b.· Illustration: addiction to alcohol, chemicals, etc.· Sin’s propensity to multiply itself – the downward spiral into sin manifests the wrath of God (passive wrath, giving us over to our sin – Rom. 1:24). Accelerating decadence and degradation “are marks of lives that turn from Creator to creature.” (Ziesler, Pauline Christianity, p.76). Rom. 1:24: “…in sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another,” 1:26, “to shameful lusts,” 1:28, “to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.” “God did not restrain them, but allowed them to enmesh themselves in the toils of their own chosen courses.” (Ziesler, p.76)· Once admitted into human nature, sin proceeds to reign as a king or a lord and correspondingly makes us its slaves, Rom. 6:12, 14, 17, 19-20. Sin is universal in scope; all are under the power of sin (Rom.3:9-20).

Hamartia is the most common is the Greek term: the failure to hit the target or to reach the goal one aims at.This is complicated because the Greek word translates a number of Hebrew words for sin that bring into the Greek a number of additional meanings.

“all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” points to the loss and restoration of the glory of God in the intertestamental literature.The notion of Adam’s sin resulting in his deprivation of the glory of God is already present in Apoc Mos 20.2 and 21.6 and the hope of the Age to Come could be expressed in terms of the restoration or enhancement of the original glory in Apoc Mos 39:2-3 (cf. 4 Ezra 7:122-125; 2 Baruch 51.1, 3; 54.15, 21, etc.). In seeking to grasp for God’s glory (to be like God), humans lost even the share of that glory which they had originally been given. (Dunn, p.94)

Rom. 5:12-21

The point of this passage is to demonstrate that the law does not bear responsibility for the reality of death. Death became a factor before the law was given (5:13-14). 1.1.1.1 The primal sin was wrong desire (epithymia) and it was this coveting of divine status which the serpent appealed to in the Garden. (Gen. 3:5)· The command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil expresses the commandment, “You shall not covet.” (Exodus 20:17)· In Rom 7:7-13, the serpent represents sin and the “I” pronoun is our identification with Adam (adam: everyman, humankind).· The reading of the passage unfolds from here. 1.1.1.2 Israel’s “story” or history· Israel received the commandment on Sinai provoking covetousness.· Israel surrendered to idolatry (the golden calf) and unbridled lust at the foot of Sinai.· The death or slaughter, which followed, left an indelible memory.· Therefore, Israel was also as guilty as the Gentiles and as entrapped as they were in sin bringing death.

Romans 8:19-22

Hebrew.... to do the wrong thing, miss the mark (similar to hamartia), 1 Kings 8:46; cf. Rom. 3:23·

Hebrew- adds the notion of guilt, having wronged someone, iniquity, Ps. 51:7. (Sin, first of all, is a relational word rather than a word from an abstract ethical system. So, it is defined in relationship to God (Rom. 1:18-32). Thus, when Rom. 14:23 says, “Everything that is not of faith is sin,” it assumes that to have faith is to stand in a right relationship with God and, therefore, anything that is wrongly related to God is sin).·

Hebrew- rebellion, transgression, Ps. 19:14 cf. 1 Cor. 8:12