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Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians: Eucharistic exhortation

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1 Corinthians 6:15-17: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? May it never be. Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? For He says, The two will become one flesh. But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

1 Corinthians 10:21-22: You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, September 9, 2007 at 8:10 am

Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians: Pauline difference

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Paul also makes some observations that hint at aspects of a theology of music. He says or implies several things in 1 Corinthians 14:6-8. First, he introduces a musical analogy into a discussion of speech in the church, implying a parallel between music and language. That analogy becomes explicit as he returns to the argument about tongues in verse 9 - like an indistinct musical instrument, one who speaks in a tongue without being understood is only vibrating the air. We can put the analogy this way: A musical instrument is a lifeless speaker, and a speaker is a living instrument. Or: Language has musicality, and music has a linguistic character.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, January 29, 2007 at 8:37 am

Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians: Pauline Linguistics

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In 1 Corinthians 14:10-11, Paul supports a point about tongues and prophecy with a bit of linguistics. Meaning, he notes, functions within a linguistic community. Languages have significance (v 10), but only for those who know that significance (v 11). Language boundaries are community boundaries, so that if we speak a language that’s not understood we seem a “barbarian” (NASB; Greek, barbaros). Without common language, speakers remain barbarians to one another (v. 11).

Paul’s is a fairly simple observation, but it shows that Paul had some sense of the communal dimension of meaning. And it also raises the intriguing prospect that 1 Corinthians 14 might be plundered for more insights into language and meaning.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, January 29, 2007 at 8:22 am

Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians: Wedding Sermon

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1 Corinthians 7:3-4: Let the husband fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

These days, Christianity is often characterized as misogynist, bigoted, or anti-feminist. The Apostle Paul, after all, warns women to be silent in the church, tells Timothy that women should not teach or have authority over men, and describes marriage in terms of husbandly headship and the wifely submission.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, August 20, 2006 at 8:16 am

Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians: Foolishness of God

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Does the “foolishness of God” carry the connotation of “God playing the fool”? As in, God the jester? Is Paul saying that God the jester is wiser than the sages?

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, March 4, 2004 at 2:52 pm

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