Life and Death in the Body of Christ
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6017/lv.v7i2.9863Abstract
Focusing on 1 Corinthians, I argue for a literal reading of Paul’s understanding of life and death in the body of Christ. Recent research carried out by Dale Martin and Troels Engberg-Pedersen has uncovered a Stoic notion of pneuma in Paul’s writings. That is to say, Paul understood pneuma as a material substance that allows for life, perception, and knowledge. Paul believed that human beings are born with a fleshly pneuma, but God’s pneuma is given at baptism. Those possessing God’s pneuma literally see a different reality and are materially bound to other believers. Since for Paul the risen Christ is a pneumatic body, believers are also materially bound to Christ to form a single pneumatic body, the body of Christ. The body of Christ is not a metaphor, but an actual material body that is made up of God’s pneuma. Ultimately, to have a share in God’s pneuma means eternal life with the risen Christ and existence apart from God’s pneuma means death. This paper treats 1 Cor. 11:17-34 as a case study. In this pericope Paul warns that the body of the Lord acts as a poison, causing sickness and death, to those who participate unworthily in the Lord’s supper. “Unworthiness” here refers to the factionalism that was plaguing the Corinthian community. Paul believed that the Corinthians were literally killing the body of Christ—as well themselves individually—by tearing apart the corporate pneumatic body of believers through factionalism. In short, for Paul factionalism means death.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2017 Lumen et Vita
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
I/We grant to Boston College the right to include and publish the above-described submission in the online journal Lumen et Vita. I/We will retain copyright ownership but hereby grant to Boston College the non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free right to use, copy, distribute, and display my submission in any format or medium for any educational, non-commercial purposes, including as part of the online journal. Boston College will apply the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License to all works published in Lumen et Vita.
These rights include, without limitation, the right to maintain one or more copies of the submission in multiple formats for security, back-up, and preservation purposes, and to allow a third party to hold one or more copies solely for such purposes.
I/We represent and warrant that the submission is my/our original work, that I/We have the right to grant the permission in this agreement, and that, to the best of my/our knowledge, the submission will not infringe upon anyone’s intellectual property rights. I/We have obtained all necessary permissions to include in my/our submission any materials created or owned by third parties and any such third party material is clearly identified and acknowledged within the content of the submission.
If the submission is based upon work that has been sponsored or supported by an organization or agency other than Boston College, I/We certify that I/We have fulfilled any right of review or other obligations required by any contract or agreement with such agency or organization.
Boston College will clearly identify my/our name(s) as the author(s) or owner(s) of the submission.
Nothing in this agreement shall be deemed to obligate Boston College to publish the submission.
