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In his recent commentary on Leviticus (Baker), Allen Ross suggests that genital discharges were defiling because "The nature of God is so different from our human condition that the two conflict. The law made it clear that bodily functions prevent people from entering the presence of God - here or in the world to come." Also, normal discharges made a person unclean because "these things were all earthly and physical, and so they could never be included in the category of holy - they were in the category of common or profane." And again, "The law was simply restricting sexual acts from the sanctuary, keeping the boundaries between the physical and the holy."
To which one can only respond with a robust, WHOA! followed by a shocked, SAY WHAT?!? The theological implications of saying that "our human condition" is incompatible with the presence of God are staggering. What happens in the resurrection, when we have resurrection bodies? Perhaps Ross means simply that "flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom," which is true; but saying "flesh" does not inherit the kingdom is not the same as saying bodies with bodily functions will not inherit the kingdom.
And Ross is not even correct in the context of the Levitical system, where all kinds of physical things were included in the realm of the holy - consecrated priests, forks, snuffers, altars, tables, meat, and so on and on. What about the category of "holy ground"? I mean, what could be more earthly than earth? Physical is not equivalent to profane.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 11:05 AM
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