Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- PART I FOR AND AGAINST A HOLISTIC DEFINITION OF SŌMA
- 1 Sōma as the whole person: the rise of a definition
- 2 Sōma in extra-Biblical literature
- 3 Sōma in the LXX
- 4 Sōma in the NT outside Pauline literature
- 5 The alternation of Sōma with personal pronouns in Pauline literature
- 6 Sōma elsewere in Pauline literature
- 7 Sōma in I Cor 6: 12–20
- PART II SŌMA IN THE FRAMEWORK OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL DUALITY
- PART III THE THEOLOGY OF SŌMA AS PHYSICAL BODY
- Select bibliography
- Index of passages cited
- Index of authors
4 - Sōma in the NT outside Pauline literature
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- PART I FOR AND AGAINST A HOLISTIC DEFINITION OF SŌMA
- 1 Sōma as the whole person: the rise of a definition
- 2 Sōma in extra-Biblical literature
- 3 Sōma in the LXX
- 4 Sōma in the NT outside Pauline literature
- 5 The alternation of Sōma with personal pronouns in Pauline literature
- 6 Sōma elsewere in Pauline literature
- 7 Sōma in I Cor 6: 12–20
- PART II SŌMA IN THE FRAMEWORK OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL DUALITY
- PART III THE THEOLOGY OF SŌMA AS PHYSICAL BODY
- Select bibliography
- Index of passages cited
- Index of authors
Summary
Although the writings of Paul provide most of the evidence adduced to support the meaning ‘whole person’ for sōma, references to other passages in the NT have not been lacking.
The statements in Matt 5: 29–30 are cited:
If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
But although the whole person may go to hell, that is more than the logion states. The terms ‘eye’, ‘hand’, and ‘members’ reinforce the purely physical connotation which sōma normally carries. Especially is this so in that these terms denote parts of the body in contrast to the whole of the body.
The parallel passages Matt 6: 22–3 and Luke 11: 34–6 receive similar citation in support of sōma as the whole person. We quote the Lukan version:
Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. […]
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- Information
- Soma in Biblical TheologyWith Emphasis on Pauline Anthropology, pp. 24 - 28Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1976