Book Description

In Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, he uses three images to identify the Corinthian congregation: "you are the body of Christ," (1 Cor 12:27)" you are the building of God," (I Cor 3 :9) and "you are the field of God" (1 Cor 3 :9). These striking terms are key parts of his argument in 1 Cor. In order to understand these images better and, in turn, to gain a more accurate understanding of Paul's argument in 1 Cor, this study examines these metaphors in their social-historical background and then compares this usage with Paul's use of the metaphors in 1 Corinthians. The question of methodology is the first concern addressed. The broader question of social-scientific approaches to the study of the New Testament is discussed and a specific approach termed "modified immersion" is defined and selected. This approach involves collecting as many examples of these metaphors as possible from the social-historical context in which Paul was writing. These texts are then analyzed in terms and categories suggested by the uses themselves. The study then moves to the examination of the metaphors, with one chapter devoted to each of the three. Each chapter begins with an assessment of the history of research of that particular metaphor in 1 Corinthians. This is done to locate this present study within the context of the scholarly research of these metaphors. This assessment also highlights the strengths and weakness of the different propositions for the appropriate background against which these metaphors should be understood. This examination leads to the conclusion that the Greco-Roman background appears to be the most probable one. Each metaphor chapter then continues with a detailed analysis of the use of the particular metaphor in Greco-Roman literature.