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  • From: "Elli Elliott" <elli AT kci.net>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: Flesh and Spirit
  • Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 10:49:09 -0600


A couple of chapters in my forthcoming book address this issue in the case
of Galatians. I won't try to relate the whole argument here, just a few of
the results:

I concur with Doug that the dichotomy refers to the contrast of ritual means
of entry -- by means of circumcision (which Paul identifies with the even
"fleshier" ritual castration of the galli of the Anatolian Mountain Mother
of the Gods) or by means of an experience of the spirit.

The means of entry, however, also demarcate ritual-metaphorical and mutually
exclusive territories (of the Law or the Mountain Mother vv. the sphere of
Christ). Paul presents this in a Two Ways form beginning with the
metaphorical contrast laid out in 4:21-31 and continuing in chs. 5-6. The
guides of the respective ways are the Law (cast as the Meter Sinaiene, a
Mountain Mother) overseeing the Way of the Flesh, on the negative side, and
Christ, overseeing the Way of the Spirit, on the positive side. In the vice
list (part of the Two Ways form) associated with the Flesh, Paul chooses not
only "pagan" vices, as Mark indicates, but also pagan vices readily
associated with the cult of the Mother of the Gods. The marks of entry in
Flesh and Spirit continue as marks of belonging to the respective "ways" or
metaphorical territories. To be very specific about it, "Flesh" is also a
circumlocution for penis. The way of the Flesh is the way of life guided by
the penis, whether in the pursuit of the appetites Jews associated with
paganism or in preoccupation with ritual action upon the penis.

In response to Bob's original question, scholars have often looked to the
body-soul contrast prevalent in an array of ancient iterature that shows the
influence of Plato. The "flesh-spirit" vocabulary is not a precise match
and seems to be Paul's own vocabulary although the context of thought
indicated in the body-soul dichotomy is hardly irrelevant.

Bob, I recognize also that your question was about Romans 8. This
represents a further developmental phase in Paul's
thought, addressing a different context, and I confess that I'm not yet
prepared to comment on it.

Elli

Elli Elliott
(The Rev. Susan M. Elliott, Ph.D.)
Pastor, Zion United Church of Christ, Sterling, Colorado
Pastor, Immanuel Congregational United Church of Christ, Brush, Colorado
Ph.D., New Testament and Early Christianity, Loyola University Chicago
elli AT kci.net







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