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The Function of “Excommunication” in Paul

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Adela Yarbro Collins
Adela Yarbro Collins
Affiliation:
McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL 60637
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Extract

Many difficulties beset the interpreter of Paul's response to the case of incest at Corinth. With the partial exception of the letter to the Romans, Paul's letters are occasional pieces written in response to very particular circumstances in the communities addressed. The occasional character of the first letter to the Corinthians is evident as Paul responds to oral reports (1:11; 5:1; 11:18) and to written queries (7:1). The interpreter is acutely aware of having access to only one side of a conversation, to only half a correspondence. Because of the close contact between writer and addressees, much could be left unsaid.

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Articles
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Harvard Theological Review , Volume 73 , Issue 1-2 , April 1980, pp. 251 - 263
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1980

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References

1 Bornkamm, Günther, Paul (New York: Harper & Row, 1971) 244;Google ScholarConzelmann, Hans, 1 Corinthians (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975) 2–4.Google Scholar

2 See the literature cited by Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians, 96, n. 29.

3 See the discussion of the various positions taken by earlier interpreters in Allo, E.-B., Saint Paul: Première épitre awe Corinthiens, (EtBib; Paris: Gabalda, 1956) 121Google Scholar and in Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians, 97.

4 Heitmüller, Wilhelm, “Im Nahmen Jesu”: Eine sprach- u. religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung zum Neuen Testament, speziell zur altchristlichen Taufe (FRLANT; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1903).Google Scholar

5 See the treatment by Forkman, Göran, The Limits of the Religious Community: Expulsion from the Religious Community within the Qumran Sect, within Rabbinic Judaism, and within Primitive Christianity (ConB; Lund: Gleerup, 1972) 87–108Google Scholar; the birkat ha-minim is discussed on 90–92; the ban on 92–98.

6 Ibid., 17–20; Danby, Herbert, The Mishnah (London: Oxford, 1933) 562Google Scholar, n. 16.

7 Bruce, F. F., 1 and 2 Corinthians (London: Oliphants, 1971) 54Google Scholar; Str-B 3. 358.

8 This parallel was first pointed out by Deissman, Adolf, Light from the Ancient East (4th ed.; London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1927) 302Google Scholar. The translation given in the text above is the writer's. The Greek text and a German translation can be found in Preisendanz, Karl, Papyri Graecae Magicae: Die griechischen Zauberpapyri (Leipzig: Teubner, 1928) 1. 190–93;Google Scholar the address to the demon is papyrus 5. 335–36. The new edition (ed. Albert Henrichs; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1973 [vol. 1] and 1974 [vol. 2]) was not available to the writer. Some similar texts can be found in Richard Wünsch, Sethianische Verfluchungstafeln, cited by Büchsel, Friedrich, “paradidōmi” TDNT 2 (1964) 170Google Scholar. The text cited by Hans Conzelmann (1 Corinthians, 97, n. 37) is not as close a parallel, since it is a demon who is handed over, not a human being; that text is in Preisendanz, 1. 115 (pap. 4. 1246–47).

9 Preisendanz, 1. 185 (pap. 5. 70–95), 1. 187 (pap. 5. 174–80), 1. 189 (pap. 5. 185–210). The writer is grateful to Professor Hans-Dieter Betz of the University of Chicago for assistance in locating these references.

10 Exod. Rab. 21 (84a); a German translation is given in Str-B 3. 358.

11 Strack, Hermann L. dated it, following Zunz, to the eleventh or twelfth century (Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash [New York: Atheneum, 1969] 215).Google Scholar

12 Büchsel (“paradidōmi,” 170) associates it with Jewish magic.

13 See n. 3 above.

14 This text was cited by Deissman (Light from the Ancient East, 303) in connection with 1 Corinthians 5. The translation given is his.

15 The translation is Deissmann's (Light from the Ancient East, 259). The text is also in Preisendanz, 1. 169 (pap. 4. 2999–3001).

16 Trans. Vermes, G., The Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Baltimore: Penguin, 1962) 105.Google Scholar

17 Robertson, Archibald and Plummer, Alfred, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (ICC; New York: Scribner's, 1911) 99–100Google Scholar; Lietzmann, Hans allows for expiation after death (An die Korinther 1–11 [HNT 9; 4th ed.; Tübingen: Mohr, 1949] 23);Google Scholar Allo, Saint Paul: Première épitre aux Corinthiens, 124; Schlatter, A., Paulus, der Bote Jesu: Eine Deutung seiner Briefe an die Korinther (Stuttgart: Calwer, 1956) 177–78Google Scholar; Bultmann, Rudolf, Theology of the New Testament (New York: Scribner's, 1951) 1. 208Google Scholar; Bruce, 1 and 2 Corinthians, 55; Orr, William F. and Walther, James A., 1 Corinthians (AB; Garden City: Doubleday, 1976) 188–89;Google ScholarBarrett, C. K., A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians (HNTC; New York: Harper & Row, 1968) 126–27Google Scholar. Conzelmann does not make a clear decision in his commetary (1 Corinthians, 97–98), but he translates “his flesh” and “his spirit” (Ibid., 94).

18 Schweizer, Eduard, “sarx,” TDNT 7 (1971) 125Google Scholar; Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, 1. 233.

19 Schweizer, Eduard, “pneuma, pneumatikos,” TDNT 6 (1968) 434–35Google Scholar; Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, 1. 205–6.

20 See the discussion in Forkman, The Limits of the Religious Community, 146.

21 Orr and Walther, l Corinthians, 188–89; Allo and the earlier scholars cited by him (Saint Paul: Première épitre aux Corinthiens, 124); Brun, Lyder inclined to this view (Segen und Fluch im Urchristentum [Oslo: Dybwad, 1932] 107).Google Scholar

22 See LSJ (9th ed., 1940) 1287.

23 See, e.g., Forkman, The Limits of the Religious Community, 145.

24 See LSJ, 1748 (s.v. sōzō, 2).

25 Paul apparently thought that, under certain circumstances, a Christian individual or community could be cut off from Christ even before the day of judgment (Gal 3:1–5, 5:2–4). But the reasoning behind 1 Corinthians 5 is different.

26 Tertullian On Modesty 13; the translation is from ANF 18. 89–90 (1870 ed.). Allo referred to Tertullian's interpretation and two others like it, but dismissed them with no arguments (Saint Paul: Première épitre awe Corinthiens, 122).

27 Campenhausen, Hans von, Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power in the Church of the First Three Centuries (London: Black, 1969) 135Google Scholar, n. 50.

28 See the discussion by Forkman, The Limits of the Religious Community, 46.

29 See Ringgren, Helmer, The Faith of Qumran (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1963) 91–92;Google Scholar Friedrich Nötscher, “Geist und Geister in den Texten von Qumran,” Mélanges bibliques rédigés en l'honneur de André Robert (Travaux de l'institut catholique de Paris 4; Paris: Bloud & Gay) 314.

30 See CD 5.11; Nötscher, “Geist und Geister in den Texten von Qumran,” 308.

31 The texts are discussed by Gärtner, Bertil, The Temple and the Community in Qumran and the New Testament (SNTSMS; Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1965) 4–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

32 This passage is in a column labeled B II by Vermes (The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, 106); according to Lohse's edition (Die Texte aus Qumran [Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1971] 105)Google Scholar, it is CD 20.1–8.

33 See Forkman, The Limits of Religious Community, 41–47.

34 Ibid., 42–43, 47.

35 The theories of Mary Douglas could be helpful in such a study (see esp. Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology [New York: Random House, 1973]).Google Scholar