Embodiment is central to salvation, so is suffering in the body. Without the incarnation, passion, and ongoing enfleshed intercession of Christ, there is no redemption. This was the heartbeat of the apostle Paul’s preaching in ancient Corinth, a city pulsing with ideas and illicit passions. Postmodern identity politics has challenged the Pauline and Enlightenment (natural law) conception of fixed human forms determining gender, sexuality and social interactions. The New Left has also reconfigured the idea of suffering. Identity for the postmodern social justice warrior is a fluid reality constructed by language. Those who have access to the “truths” of identity politics, those who offer the vision for cultural renewal, are the social outcasts: persons belonging to oppressed intersecting groups, like racial minorities, transgendered individuals, and the sexually queer.¹ The contemporary postmodern West shares in common with ancient Corinth a deconstruction of embodiment coupled with a reconstruction of power through a relativising use of words. Paul counters this destructive pragmatism with a reaffirmation of the objective Word of the incarnate Christ: for the salvation of His One Body of many bodies on earth.

The apostle Paul’s message to the church at Corinth centers on the recovery of the subversive theology of the cross. Yet, this recovery did not override forms and hierarchies embedded in and arising out of the created order, including gender and sexual identities. In other words, according to Paul, grace does not cancel nature, even in a fallen world, and even when the body has to suffer to bring about salvation.

The Body In A City Without Boundaries

One way to describe the problem experienced by the Corinthian church in the first-century Greco-Roman world is a disorder that lacked the boundaries of God-ordained forms. This church had difficulty navigating the pressures of life amid a pluralist, pragmatic and competitive society fueled by a prosperous market economy.²

Throughout the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul pushes against worldliness within a local church (cf. 1 Cor 1:20–21; 3:1–4, 19). These Christians were influenced by a popular culture that placed great importance upon outward shows of power, status and success when climbing the social ladder (Thiselton 2000:12–13). Examples of these symbols were family pedigree, accumulation of wealth, learning (wisdom) and rhetoric (cf. 1 Cor 1:26–2:9). Not to be underestimated is the role language played to promote these and other signs of socio-political superiority as means to persuade for pragmatic and dominating ends (cf. 1 Cor 2:1–5; 12–14). In many respects, the city of Corinth prefigured the postmodern turn with its relativising use of language for political purposes, albeit to further the interests of those already in power. Traditional and creational forms did not matter as long as specific group interests were promoted (Hicks 2013:161–162; cf. Thiselton 2000:12–17; Lockwood 2000:9–12).

Like any church, the one in Corinth was its own “body politic.” Like any city, with people working together to make culture according to a philosophical system, the church there had its flesh-and-blood members who generated a culture of their own, for better or worse. Not surprisingly, Paul makes copious references to the “body” (more so than in any of his other epistles) as mutually informing both physical and social (metaphorical) realities.³ The problem for the Corinthians was that their spiritual and social body, as well as their physical bodies, were being divided, divorced and degraded because of the pressure of worldly wisdom coming from a faction of spiritual elites or “pneumatics” (cf. 1 Cor 1:10–17; 5:9–6:8; 7:1–5, 12–16; 10:14–22; 11:17–22; 12:14–31; cf. Fee 2014:8–16). Certain “teachers” or “super-apostles” had succeeded in leading some believers astray into a chaotic kind of piety that knew few boundaries. It mattered little what one did in the body, whether physical or social because “true spirituality” transcended the earthy constraints of the bodily system.⁴ This dysfunctional “spiritual freedom” manifested itself predominantly in sexual license (cf. 1 Cor 5–6; 8–11; 14) mixed with a minor strand of asceticism (cf. 1 Cor 7:1–16). The Corinthians abandoned bodily decorum concerning biological sex, genitals, dress, the tongue, spiritual gifts and worship rituals. Such is the quest for spiritual power that bypasses the cross and wants glory now (1 Cor 4:8–13; cf. Lockwood 2000:13–14).

Hence, in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul corrects these believers with a message of controlled and ordered unity amid hierarchical and functional diversity along creational and re-creational lines. The body of the Christian and the Body of Christ must be treated as holy (cf. 1 Cor 6:9–20).

The Apostle Paul’s Re-forming Word

I now set forth the following points that illustrate Paul’s challenges in this context and, in turn, his re-forming Word.

(1) The apostle reasserts himself as the authority amidst the competition for leadership in Corinth that had led to a splintered body (1 Cor 1:1; 3:10–15; 4:14–21). Paul had no problem with separating himself from the rest of the ‘preachers’—legitimately called and otherwise—by claiming recourse to his inspired apostolic mandate. Here, Paul claims a place at the top of the official ecclesiastical hierarchy that finds its source of life and unity in someone greater, Christ, the head of the church. At the same time, the apostle affirms the paradoxical cruciform truth that in God’s church, the less prominent parts of the body are to be treated with greater honor; the last will be first and the first last (1 Cor 12:21–26; Matt 20:16).

(2) Paul is careful to call the Corinthian believers away from the latest spiritual fads wrapped in fancy rhetoric and back to the spiritual tradition of the Apostles received from Christ (1 Cor 3:10–15; 4:14–21). In other words, the apostle appreciated the authority of the creedal past and wanted its content and forms to endure through the ecclesiastical rites ordained by Christ, however weak and inconsequential they may seem (cf. 1 Tim 3:14–16; 6:3–12). 

(3) The apostle undercuts the model of ornate sophistry that had become so popular in Corinth by setting forth his outwardly impotent preaching as the example to follow. He made no apologies for or attempts to reverse his speaking deficits and lack of compelling presence. The unimpressive nature of Paul’s embodied ministry is in keeping with the cruciform pattern of the earthly ministry of Jesus (1 Cor 1:20–21; 2:1–5; 4:1–13).

(4) In a similar vein, most church members at Corinth could be described as socially and politically weak, even “nothing” (1 Cor 1:20–31; 2 Cor 1:3–11). Yet, here, too, Paul does not call these believers to revolt against their inferior stations in life, let alone their gender, just as he does not call persons with less conspicuous gifts to give into discontent or allow the more gifted to preen themselves as spiritually superior (1 Cor 7:17–24; 11:2–16; 12:21–25). Like the apostle’s marginal personal presence, the experience of persons and talents lower down the social hierarchy is in keeping with the way of the cross. In fact, contrary to the world’s standards of success and advancement, lesser persons and less prominent spiritual gifts are to be treated with higher honor in the body of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 1:20–31; 12:21–26). Such is the law of Christ (1 Cor 9:21; cf. Eph 6:2).

(5) And now, with a view to the conduct of members of the covenant community outside of the church, Paul wanted the Corinthians to use their bodies within the bounds of God’s moral design. Some Christians at Corinth had behaved in ways consistent with a worldly Epicurean/Stoic philosophy, coupled with an overrealised (proto-Gnostic) eschatology (cf. 1 Cor 1:18–2:16; 4:6–13; Neyrey 1986:159–162; Lockwood 2000:1–9). Therefore, the apostle saw the need to intervene. The primary triggers for this intervention were instances of sexual excess or deprivation under the guise that the form of the body counts for little. For example, men sleeping with their mother-in-law or prostitutes must stop on account of the sanctity of their bodies and the institution of marriage (1 Cor 5–6). Those withholding conjugal rights or dissolving marriages according to a so-called higher form of spirituality are also to repent and renew their marriage vows (1 Cor 7). In short, the morally porous conduct of the world, plus a twisted view of nature and grace in relation to heaven, was apparent in what believers were doing with their bodily openings.⁵ Paul admonishes a return to God’s creational forms for sexual expression, lest the guilty are excommunicated from the body of Christ (1 Cor 5; cf. Matt 18).⁶

(6) A sixth point remains with Paul’s concern for what the Corinthians do with their bodies, but now with a view to a more dominant theme in his first letter, public worship. Abuses in this regard ranged from the idolatry of participating in pagan spirituality and prejudice at the Lord’s Table to gender-bending decorum and speech in the divine service (1 Cor 8; 10–12). Paul is adamant about bringing ordered unity to this chaotic diversity. His line of reasoning includes the idea that what one does with the physical body—for better or worse—serves as a metaphor for the health of the social body, the church. Particularly relevant to this book are Paul’s remarks about gender-specific etiquette in public worship. In 1 Corinthians 11:2–16 (cf. 14:26–40), Paul grounds appropriate masculine and feminine behavior in public worship in God’s nature, Christ’s rule and the created order. Just as God is the authoritative head of Christ and Christ is the head of every man, the man is the head of the woman in marriage and the church. These hierarchical relationships give rise to specific behavioral patterns. In the case of men and women, they should not behave as if sex and gender do not matter in the church (despite a particular reading of Gal. 3:28; cf. 1 Cor 7:17-24). For example, women are to honor God and their husbands by acting in a feminine way, which includes not presenting themselves in a masculine or ‘loose’ manner, as well as refraining from behaviors that usurp male authority, such as preaching or teaching (Neyrey 1986:151–156; Thiselton 2000:799–848).

A similar logic applies to Paul’s ranked and differentiated treatment of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. Christians are to think of harmony in the body of Christ as analogous to the healthy functioning of the physical body: holy unity amid diversity. The destabilizing twist, however, is that the less conspicuous individual parts of the body are to be treated with greater honor (vv21–26; cf. 1 Cor. 15:7–11; Neyrey 1986:156–159; Thiselton 2000:989–1024). This cruciform wisdom is not unlike the greater honor given to the wife—the “weaker vessel”—in marriage, just as the husband (representing Christ) serves his bride (representing the church) to sanctify her and raise her (Eph 5; 1 Pet 3:7).

Subversive Power Through The Cruci-form

In short, Paul’s re-forming message to the Corinthians centers on the recovery of the subversive theology of the cross. But this recovery does not override forms and hierarchies—including gender and associated roles—embedded in and arising out of the created order. In other words, grace does not cancel nature, even in a fallen world. Despite Paul’s opponents’ theology and practice to the contrary, there is a controlled and ordered bodily unity—physical and social—amid diversity, both inside and outside the church. Those born into less privileged families do not necessarily enjoy the same standard of living as the upper class. The woman must accept that she is not a man and should submit to her husband’s and pastor’s authority. Likewise, not all in the Body of Christ have the same gifts, just as the body comprises different parts, and some possess gifts (like body parts) that are more public and prominent. Even beyond the life of the church and this present age, created hierarchical forms will remain, both in respect to God and His re-creation (1 Cor 15:12–49; cf. Neyrey 1986:159–162).

While the Apostle Paul is pleased to maintain the outward forms of social hierarchy and differentiation in the church at the end of the age, those who fill them do so with wisdom at odds with the top-down diffusion of power and status in the world. The ethical forms of the church follow the pattern of the God-man, Jesus, the Head who became nothing in sacrificial service to His Body (cf. Phil 2). Christians are not to insist on their rights and freedoms but sacrifice them for others in the church, particularly those who are socially inferior (cf. 1 Cor 6:12; 10:23; cf. 4:8–13). Hence, social outcasts are in. Lisping preachers are potent. Wealth accrues to those who give up their rights. Less prominent gifts are given greater honor. The woman is the glory of man and the mother of all living. The church grows through the outward weakness of the ministry of the Word and the sacraments. Such is the theology of the cross that Paul proclaimed to the Corinthians, steeped in a theology of glory. For the Apostle Paul, the church’s cruci-form life is distinguished by holy control of the body—physical and social—in ways at odds with the world (cf. 1 Cor 5:9–13; 6:12–20; 11:27–33; 12:12–31). Christians are to emulate the ministry of the incarnate Christ in the body.

In an age of postmodern disembodied identity politics, the Western church needs more than ever the Apostle Paul’s message of a re-formed Body consisting of suffering men and women anticipating glorified bodies through their creating, crucified and risen Head, Jesus Christ. 

Editor’s Note: This essay is adapted from Chapter 2, Section 7, of Rev Jooste’s book, Embodiment and Power: The Essential Nature of Office in the Identity Politics Debate (Potchefstroom: Calvin Jubilee Bookfunds, 2022; Amazon: Kindle), which can be purchased here.

©Simon Jooste. All Rights Reserved.

Endnotes

1. Pluckrose, H. and James Lindsay, 2020, Cynical Theories: How Universities Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity – and Why This Harms Everybody, Swift Press, London.

2. The Pauline era of the city of Corinth was characterised by a Roman character where the likes of Greeks and Romans, slaves and free, participated in a culture profoundly shaped by trade, business and entrepreneurial pragmatism in the pursuit of success (Thiselton 2000:1-12).

3. Paul refers to (1) bodily orifices of genitals and mouth (1 Cor 5–8, 10–14); (2) bodily surfaces such as hair (1 Cor 11); (3) bodily structure consisting of a head and members (1 Cor 11–12); and bodily discipline (1 Cor 9): as they relate to sexual intercourse, marriage, eating, covering, speaking and otherwise issues relating to the social body; see Neyrey (1986:129-130).

4. Paul’s opponents had a weak, porous, and uncontrolled view of the body that resulted in informality, especially in the areas of sexuality, worship, and spiritual gifts (Neyrey 1986:135-138; Fee 2014:7-8).

5. Bodily technique is a learned social behaviour. The Corinthian believers had learned to use their bodies in ways reflecting the broader social body in which they lived, both in terms of the church and the world. For Paul, the physical body is a microcosm of the social body. A lack of bodily control indicates a broader lack of social control (Neyrey 1986:131; Douglas 1973:93, 99).

6. The regulation of the sexual orifice mirrors a concern for the integrity of the church’s (social body’s) boundaries and entrances (Neyrey 1986:139).

References

Douglas, M., 1973, Natural Symbols, Vintage Books, New York.

Fee, G.D., 2014, The First Epistle of the Corinthians, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids.

Hicks, S.R.C., 2011, Explaining Postmodernism: Scepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault. Ockham’s Razor.

Lockwood, G.J., 2000, 1 Corinthians, Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis.

Neyrey, J.H., 1986, “Body Language in 1 Corinthians: The Use of Anthropological Models for Understanding Paul and his Opponents”, Semeia 35, pp. 129-170.

Pluckrose, H. and James Lindsay, 2020, Cynical Theories: How Universities Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity – and Why This Harms Everybody, Swift Press, London.

Thiselton, A., 2000, NIGTC: The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids.

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