Already Immortal?

I want to explore something a little more that I’ve explored here before, related to the “denial of resurrection” in Corinth: To get you up to speed, I guess I’m wondering whether perhaps the problem was tripartite:

1. Some in Corinth were confident in their own present “spiritual” immortality (as many Christians are today – assuming that we are essentially an immortal soul)
2. They were dismissive of the plight of those who had died – assuming that ”the dead” were at a real disadvantage
3. They looked down on Paul’s gospel of present cruciformity

Paul responds by insisting that the life of the believer consists in living an ongoing death (i.e. the pattern of the cross), and looking ahead, with those who have died, to Christ’s future appearing, when the dead will be raised, and will finally share in Christ’s immortality.

Anyway, the further development is that I’ve been looking more into the question of whether point 1 above is reasonable: Is it reasonable to think that people thought of themselves as already having entered a sort of spiritual immortality.  I had already noticed that the Epicureans thought that way – presently imperishable and immortal…

Epicurus: Letter to Menoeceus, 123

Firstly, think of God as an imperishable and blessed being.

125

Therefore death, the most fearsome of evils, is nothing to us, seeing as when we exist, death is not present; and when death is present, we do not exist.  So death is nothing to those who are living or to those who have died, seeing as for the one, it is nothing, and for the other, they are nothing.

135

But you [the follower of Epicurus' ways] will live as a god among humans.  For a person living amidst immortal goods is nothing like a mortal being.

Plutarch: Against Epicurean Happiness, 1091b-c

What great pleasure belongs to these people [the Epicureans], and what blessing they enjoy, rejoicing about their lack of suffering and grief and pain!  Therefore, is it not fitting, on account of these things, also to think and to speak as they do speak, calling themselves imperishable and equal to gods…!

And it has now struck me that Philo seems to envisage something similar – the possibility of entering imperishability/immortality in the present, in some sort of spiritual sense:

Philo: The Worse Attacks the Better, 48-49

For the soul from which the love of virtue and love of God have been removed has died to the life of virtue….  So then, the wise person, who seems to die to mortal life, lives the immortal life.  But the worthless person, who lives in wickedness, dies to happiness.

Philo: On Dreams, 2.253

Whoever, then, has the strength to leave behind war and fate, creation and mortality, and cross over to the uncreated, to the immortal, to free will, and to peace, might rightly be said to be the dwelling-place and city of God.

Perhaps some in Corinth were acting as though something similar had been inaugurated for themselves – having become Christians, they had passed from “creation and mortality” to “the uncreated, to the immortal, to free will” – and thus were in a position to look down on those who had died: “There is no resurrection of the dead”.

A New Cold War?

I know it’s Reformation day and All Saints’ Eve and Halloween and my mum’s birthday – but there is an even more pressing issue to post about: I think there’s a new cold war a’brewin.  My evidence?  For the last week or two I’ve received LOADS of russian spam on my blog.  I don’t understand any of it, but I suspect the KGB.

Psalms

What do Coolio, U2, Boney M, and Shakespeare have in common?  They all share the honour of participating in the Bibledex Psalms video, along with Peter and myself…

Here I Stand? On Submission to Tradition

My job hunting is leading me to reflect on the relationship between individual belief and confessional tradition.  At this point I am applying for one position in Australia, and one position in the US of A (both are for a position as full time New Testament lecturer in a confessional institution).  It has struck me that there is an extent to which my individual beliefs ought not to be relevant: Rather than asking me, for example, ”Do you believe that such-and-such a form of church government is the biblical position?” perhaps it would be more fitting for them to ask, “Will you submit yourself to such-and-such a tradition for the term of your appointment?”

Of course, I don’t mean that personal belief is irrelevant – just that it’s possible to submit oneself to a tradition: I can choose to commit to a set of beliefs and practices, even though I may not experience a strong sense of personal conviction about some of the areas it covers… I guess, though, that it’s important that there’s the opportunity for ongoing reflection and dialogue.

Just some rambling thoughts, really…

Matthew video

The gospel, not the mandolin-player…

The rapture experiment

“The rapture index” is a website that explains itself thusly:

The Rapture Index has two functions: one is to factor together a number of related end time components into a cohesive indicator, and the other is to standardize those components to eliminate the wide variance that currently exists with prophecy reporting. The Rapture Index is by no means meant to predict the rapture, however, the index is designed to measure the type of activity that could act as a precursor to the rapture. You could say the Rapture index is a Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity, but I think it would be better if you viewed it as prophetic speedometer. The higher the number, the faster we’re moving towards the occurrence of pre-tribulation rapture.

So here’s an experiment that ought to show how sane this website is:

1. Go to google
2. Type in: The rapture index
3. Don’t press enter or click ‘go’; simply look at what suggestion google gives…

Do it.  NOW.

1 Corinthians 5-14: How to be crucified

Not long ago I posted an overview of 1 Corinthians chapters 1-4, suggesting that it represents a showdown between that which is of God, and that which is human: The Corinthians are called to choose between two models:

- The rulers of this age, who have visible wealth, wisdom, and power (and who crucified Christ, and are heading for destruction; or

- The crucified Messiah, whose hidden wealth, wisdom, and power are embodied in the cruciform life of the apostles.

Paul urges them to move from the former to the latter, calling the Corinthians to imitate himself.  The following 10 chapters, I suggest, apply this to the ethical issues that are going on in the Christian assemblies of Roman Corinth.  They spell out how to be crucified…

Chapters 5-7: The Cross Applied I: Your Body Belongs to the Lord

 

Sexual Immorality and Greed

A: 5:1-13: Sexual Immorality (the refusal to judge)

B: 6:1-11: Greedy exploitation (an apparent inability to judge)

A¹: 6:12-7:40: Sexual Immorality, the body, marriage

 

Chapters 8-14: The Cross Applied II: Discern the Body

 

Knowledge and Rights

A: 8:1-13: Meat offered to idols (using knowledge and rights to endanger weaker brothers & sisters)

B: 9:1-27 Paul’s example/defence (foregoing rights for others & self)

A¹: 10:1-11:1: Meat offered to idols (foregoing rights for self and others)

 

Tradition and Division

A: 11:2-16: I praise you for keeping the traditions I passed on (public worship)

B: 11:17-22: I do not praise you (in both v17 and v22)

A¹: 11:23-34: I passed on to you what I also received (tradition of Lord’s Supper)

 

Gifts and Love

A: 12:1-31: Gifts within the body (mutual interdependence)

B: 12:31-13:13: Love

A¹: 14:1-40: Gifts (for ordered edification of the whole)

Philemon video

The next video from the theology department here at Nottingham is up, and it’s on the book of Philemon, featuring Emily (who sits next to me) and Thiselton.   I think it’s like the video of 1 Corinthians in a way – less controversial, but more informative.

When English is harder than Greek…

The following is a “memory aid” that will apparently help you to learn Greek – there’s a whole book of ‘em…

ummm… okay…

With thanks to Peter for pointing it out… I think…

On Becoming English

Today I listened to a bit of a talk that I gave a few months ago, and it sounded… normal.  Then I listened to a talk that I gave about two and a half years ago – just before I left Australia – and it sounded… really really Australian – Like Crocodile-hunter style Australian… did I really used to talk like that???  And have I really changed???