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The Beginnings of Church Discipline: 1 Corinthians 5

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Extract

Since the rise of the interdisciplinary approach to the study of Christian origins in the 1970s, little attention has been given to the problem of social control within the early church. This is true although control issues arose early in the Christian movement and have continued throughout Christian history. Before 1970 scholars treated the problem historically and theologically under the topic of discipline. Among scholars who utilize the social sciences in their approach to Christian origins, there are some scattered materials on internal social control but little direct, sustained investigation.

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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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References

1 A notable example of the historical approach is the chapter on discipline by Goguel, M. in The Primitive Church (New York: Macmillan, 1964) 224–46.Google Scholar An example of a theological approach is the essay by Lampe, G. W. H., ‘Church Discipline and the Interpretation of the Epistles to the Corinthians’, Christian History and Interpretation: Studies Presented to John Knox (ed. Farmer, W. R., Moule, C. F. D., Niebuhr, R. R.; Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1967) 337–61.Google Scholar For bibliography on earlier studies, see Forkman, G., The Limits of the Religious Community: Expulsion from the Religious Community within the Qumran Sect, within Rabbinic Judaism, and within Primitive Christianity (Lund, Sweden: CWK Gleerup, 1972) 1011.Google Scholar

2 See Theissen's, G. studies in The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity: Essays on Corinth (ed. and trans. Schütz, J.; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982) esp. 182–6Google Scholar; Meeks, W., The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (New Haven: Yale University, 1983) 111–39Google Scholar, esp. 127–31; also Malina, B. J., Christian Origins and Cultural Anthropology: Practical Models for Biblical Interpretation (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1986) esp. 112–38Google Scholar. Forkman, Limits, is the most comprehensive study since 1970. His main emphasis is on expulsion from the community.

3 Berger, P. L. and Luckmann, T., The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1967) 55. See further, 47–92.Google Scholar

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6 In addition to 1 Cor 5, see 2 Cor 2. 5–11; 12. 19–13. 10. I accept the widely held view of modern scholarship which does not identify the deviant of 2 Cor 2. 5–11 with the incestuous man of 1 Cor 5. See Furnish, V., II Corinthians (Anchor Bible 32A; Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1984) 159–66.Google Scholar

7 My translation. Biblical quotations are from the RSV unless otherwise indicated.

8 Cf. Hurd, J. C. Jr, The Origin of I Corinthians (New York: Seabury Press, 1965) 51, n. 2.Google Scholar

9 See Sagarin, E., ‘Positive Deviance: An Oxymoron’, Deviant Behavior 6 (1985) 169–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar See also Black, D., Toward a General Theory of Social Control: Vol. 1, Fundamentals (Orlando: Academic Press [Harcourt Brace Jovanovich] 1984) 5, n. 7.Google Scholar The main debate in defining the term concerns whether norms or reactive behaviour is the crucial element.

10 Himmelweit, , ‘Deviant Behaviour’, 196.Google Scholar

11 Barrett, says, ‘In the New Testament however [πορυεία] is regularly used for unchastity and sexual irregularity of almost any kind.’ A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1968) 121.Google Scholar

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17 My translation.

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29 Social Setting, 183. Cf. Matt 18. 15–17, which is an early form with some legal characteristics.Google Scholar

30 See Käsemann, E., New Testament Questions of Today (London: SCM, 1969) 70–3.Google Scholar

31 My translation.

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33 ‘Function of “Excommunication”’, 253.Google Scholar

34 Sanders, E. P., Paul, the Law and the Jewish People (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983) 105Google Scholar, explains the tension in Paul's position on the law by saying, ‘Paul's statement “not by works of law” has to do with entry into the body of Christ. It is not at all inconsistent that he expects correct behaviour on the part of those who are in Christ, nor that he thinks that transgressions on the part of Christians will be punished.

35 See Urban Christians, 97103.Google Scholar

36 Räisänen, H., Paul and the Law (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983) 117, n. 112.Google Scholar

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39 New Heaven, 166. See also Gager's use of the formula, Kingdom and Community, 35–7.Google Scholar

40 New Heaven, 13, 99. See further Jewett, R., Thessalonian Correspondence, 172–3.Google Scholar

41 See also 1 Cor 10. 23.

42 Bauer, W., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (2nd ed.; Chicago: University Press, 1979) 444.Google Scholar

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46 Cf. Radcliffe-Brown, , ‘Sanction’, 533.Google Scholar

47 I Corinthians, 97.Google Scholar

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49 See Conzelmann, , I Corinthians, 96–7Google Scholar, and Forkman, , Limits, 141–3Google Scholar, on various construals. A. Y. Collins argues for taking έν τ òνóματι τοῦ κυρίου 'lησου with τòν οτως τον̑το κατεργασάμενον. ‘The Function of “Excommunication” in Paul’, HTR 73 (1980) 253.Google Scholar Our study of deviance supports this understanding.

50 See von Campenhausen, H., Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power in the Church of the First Three Centuries (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1969) 133–5, esp. 134, n. 50.Google Scholar

51 So Forkman, , Limits, 146.Google Scholar

52 Limits, 144, 146–7Google Scholar; similarly, Conzelmann, , I Corinthians, 97.Google Scholar See further, Roetzel, , Judgement, 116–17.Google Scholar

53 Limits, 150.Google Scholar

54 Limits, 150–1.Google Scholar See further, Marshall, P., Enmity at Corinth (WUNT 2/23; Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck] 1987) esp. 341–95.Google Scholar

55 Deut 17.7;19.19;21.21;22.21,24;24.7.

56 ‘Sanction’, 532–3.Google Scholar

57 See Furnish, , II Corinthians, 163–8.Google Scholar

58 ‘Church Discipline’, 354.Google Scholar

59 See Conzelmann, , I Corinthians, 97.Google Scholar

60 Sacred Canopy, 31.Google Scholar

61 On Paul's use of rhetoric, see Marshall, P., Enmity at Corinth, esp. 341–95.Google Scholar See also Fiorenza, Elisabeth Schüssler, ‘Rhetorical Situation and Historical Reconstruction in 1 Corinthians’, NTS 33 (1987) 386403, as well as Jewett, Thessalonian Correspondence.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

62 See Weber, M., The Theory of Social and Economic Organization (Oxford: University Press, 1947) 129; see also 154.Google Scholar

63 See Furnish, , II Corinthians, 161.Google Scholar