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the New Testament
Journal for the Study of
DOI: 10.1177/0142064X9101404405
1991; 14; 57 Journal for the Study of the New Testament
Terence Paige
1 Corinthians 12.2: a Pagan Pompe?
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1 CORINTHIANS 12.2: A PAGAN POMPE ?
Terence
Paige
Belfast Bible
College,
Glenbum Road South
Belfast BT17 9JP
Concerning spiritual things,
brothers,
I do not want
you
to be
ignorant.
You know that when
you
were
Gentiles,
wheneverl
you
used to be led to
silent idols
you
were
[really]
carried
away captive.
Therefore I am
letting
you
know2 that no one
speaking
in Gods
Spirit says,
Jesus is
Anathema,
and no one can
say
Jesus is Lord
except by (the) Holy
Spirit.
1 Cor. 12.2 is
notoriously
difficult to understand
clearly
because of
oddities in the
language
and the terseness of
expression.3
However the
grammatical
difficulties of 12.2 are to be
solved,
the verse is
plainly
a
reference to the
pagan past
of the Corinthian Christians
(at
least of the
majority
of
them).
Most
exegetes
take it in connection with v. 3a to be
a
description
of enthusiasm or
ecstasy
in their former
worship,
but
1. BDF
§§367, 455.2;
cf.
LSJ,
Ad.
1-2,
&OHacgr;ς.
2.
Letting you
know has the same effect as I make known to
you,
but the
former is idiomatic
English
while the latter is
really
not.
3. For a list of
exegetical options
with the
literature,
see J.
Héring,
The First
Epistle of
Saint Paul to the Corinthians
(trans.
A.W. Heathcote and P.J.
Allcock;
London:
Epworth,
1962),
pp.
123-24;
and discussion in G.
Fee,
The First
Epistle
to
the Corinthians
(Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1987), pp.
576-82.
4.
Frequently taking &eeacgr;γϵσ&thetas;ϵ &aacgr;παγ&oacgr;μϵν&ogr;&igr;
as intensive and
signifying
a
being
carried
away mentally: e.g.
J.
Weiss,
Der Erste
Korintherbrief (Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht,
2nd
edn, 1910), p. 294;
I.
Hermann,
Kyrios
und
Pneuma
(Munich: Kösel, 1961),
p. 70.
C.K. Barrett
(The
First
Epistle to the
Corinthians
[New
York:
Harper
&
Row, 1968], pp.
278-79)
adds to the
image
of
pagan ecstasy
the
thought
that Paul
may
be
referring
to demonic
control,
a
suggestion
which had
already
been advanced
by
Otto
Everling
(Die paulinische Angelologie
und
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58
this is somewhat inconsistent with the
wording
of the sentence and is
unnecessary.
Paul
says
that the Corinthians had been led towards the
images: 7tpO
ia Et8w7ta Ta
acpwva (0;
lav
iycr8,
whenever
you
used to be led to silent idols. ei6wXa here
signifies
the
images
of
wood,
stone or less
commonly
brass which were the actual
objects
of
cultic devotion. He does not
say
the Corinthians were led
by
idols or
the
gods
themselves. Neither does he
simply say
that
they
went after
idols
(note
both
iycr8
and
dKay6pevoi
are
passive).
The
picture
is
of
participating
in
something
which is directed
by
another,
which
leads the
participants
to a
place
of cultic
significance
connected with
the
images
of the
pagan gods.
It is
unnecessarily speculative
to
assume that
7taYllVOt
has here the
(somewhat
questionable)
sec-
ondary meaning
in
Greek,
to be carried
away (mentally),
to be out
of ones wits. There is a more
ordinary explanation
of this verse
Dämonologie [Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 1888], p. 32);
cf. also
D.L.
Baker,
The
Interpretation
of 1 Corinthians
12-14,
EvQ
46
(1974),
p.
230;
J.D.G.
Dunn,
Jesus and the
Spirit (Philadelphia:
Westminster
Press, 1975),
pp.
242-43;
J.
Bassler,
1 Cor. 12.3—Curse and Confession in
Context,
JBL 101
(1982), pp.
416-17;
R.P.
Martin,
The
Spirit
and the
Congregation (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1984), p.
9
(who
also sees a reference to seizure
by
a demonic
power
in
their former
worship);
Fee,
First
Corinthians,
pp.
577-78;
F.
Lang,
Die
Briefe
an
die Korinther
(Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 1986), p.
163.
1.
Taking &OHacgr;ς
&aacgr;ν
together
as
giving
an iterative force to
&eeacgr;γϵσ&thetas;ϵ (see
n. 1 on
previous page).
A somewhat similar solution is to see
&OHacgr;ς
as
picking up
the earlier
&oacgr;τι as
giving
iterative force to the verb
&eeacgr;γϵσ&thetas;ϵ.
So
Barrett,
First
Corinthians ,
p.
278; Conzelmann,
1 Corinthians
(trans.
J.
Leitch;
Philadelphia;
Fortress
Press,
1975),
p.
204 n.
2; Martin,
Spirit, p.
5; Fee,
First
Corinthians,
pp.
576-77. I also
take these two
particles
as
applying
to
&eeacgr;γϵσ&thetas;ϵ
rather than to
&aacgr;παγ&oacgr;μϵν&ogr;&igr;.
2. It
might
be
objected
that ϵ&iacgr;δωλα is a
description
used
by
Jews rather than
Gentiles
(a
Greek would
normally
think of
&aacgr;γ&aacgr;λματα),
but freedom must be
allowed for Paul to describe
pagan phenomena
in his own terms.
3. W. Grudem did well in
taking
12.2 to refer to travel to idol
temples
rather
than
ecstasy,
but then ruined his own case
by trying
to make
&aacgr;παγ&oacgr;μϵν&ogr;&igr; (passive!)
refer to this travel
(The Gift of Prophecy
in 1 Corinthians
[Washington,
DC:
University
Press of
America, 1982], pp. 162-64).
The term is too
strong,
and this
also fails to account for the use of the double
passive &eeacgr;γϵσ&thetas;ϵ &aacgr;παγ&oacgr;μϵν&ogr;&igr;.
The
Corinthians are said to have been
brought (&eeacgr;γϵσ&thetas;ϵ)
to the
cult-images,
which are
silent, i.e.,
dead and
powerless
(Martin, Spirit, p.
9).
4. In a text cited
by
several commentators
(Lucian,
Dial. Mort . 19.1
[Loeb, VII,
p. 161],
the use is
clearly metaphorical:
some daimon
[i.e. Eros]
leads us wherever
he wishes
(τ&igr;ς &eeacgr;μ&aacgr;&sfgr; δα&iacgr;μων &aacgr;γϵι
&eacgr;ν&thetas;α &aacgr;ν
&eacgr;&thetas;&eacgr;λη).
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context,
and not the
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59
arising
out of the
daily
life of a Hellenistic
city
such as Corinth was.
The
language
of v. 2 evokes the
image
of a cultic festival
procession
(the 7tO.17tTl)
in which the
participants normally proceeded along
a
sacred
route,
led
by priests
and other
celebrants,
those
carrying
cult
objects
or a cult
image.
Such
processions
must have been
fairly
common:
hardly
a festival is without its
pompe,
notes W.
Burkert,2
2
and it would be hard to
imagine
so much as a month
passing
without
at least one festival in a
city
as
large
as Corinth. The
pompe normally
made its
way through
the most
public
area of the
city
and ended at a
sanctuary
where sacrifices were offered to the
god.3 Alternatively
the
culmination of the
procession
could be other cultic
activities,
such as a
viewing
of cult
images
in the theater or a
bathing
of the
image.4
The best known of such celebrations was the
pompe
in connection
with the celebration of the Eleusinian
mysteries,
which wound its
way
from Athens to Eleusis. An
inscription
contains instructions for a sort
of
preliminary pompe
to the
great
Eleusinian one. In the
former,
the
director of the
Epheboi
is
charged
with
leading
the
Epheboi5
to
Eleusis and back in order to escort the sacred
objects
needed for the
major procession:
By
Gods will7 the
people
have decided to instruct the Director
of Epheboi
to lead
(aymv)
the
Epheboi
to Eleusis
according
to the ancient
traditions,
verb
&aacgr;γω,
which
suggests
a mental
activity.
And even
then,
ecstasy
is not intended.
1.
Carrying
cult
images
in the
pompe : Inscriptiones
Graecae
1011.10-11,
13-
14, 20 ; 1006.76; 1008.13-14;
Inschriften
von
Magnesia
98
(see below).
2. W.
Burkert,
Greek
Religion (trans.
J.
Raffan;
Cambridge,
MA: Harvard
University
Press, 1985), p.
99.
3. Burkert
notes,
To reach a centre such as the
Acropolis
in
Athens,
the
proces-
sion sets out from the
city gates
and makes its
way through
the market
place
(Religion, p. 99).
There is no reason to
suppose
that cultic
processions
elsewhere in
Greece and Asia Minor would be
any
less
conspicuous.
For a list of
pompai
men-
tioned in
literature,
papyri
and
inscriptions,
see F.
Bömer,
Pompa,
RE XXI.2
(1952),
cols.
1878-1994,
esp.
1913-74.
4.
Bömer,
Pompa,
cols.
1900, 1908.
5.
&eacgr;ϕηβ&ogr;&igr;
describes
(at Athens)
young
men who have attained the
age
of mili-
tary
service. In the Roman era the
college
of
epheboi
was an educational institution
with
something
of its
military
character still
surviving.
6.
Inscriptiones
Graecae,
II-III
(2nd edn),
1078.9-14
(c.
AD
220) (my
translation).
7.
Literally, by
Good Fortune
(&aacgr;γα&thetas;&eeacgr; τ&uacgr;χη), though
Fortune
personified
could be invoked as a
deity, propitiated,
and even made the
patron goddess
of a
city.
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60
with the accustomed manner of
procession (7toJl7tfi) along
with the
priests,l
on the thirteenth of the month
Boedromion,
in order for them
to escort
(7tapa7tJl7tro)
the Sacred
Things
until
they
reach the
Eleusinium...
At Corinth there was a
large sanctuary
dedicated to Demeter and
Kore on the
slopes
of the
Acropolis,
which continued in use after the
refounding
of Corinth
up
until the fourth
century
of our era. It is
almost certain that there were sacred
processions
in connection with
this
sanctuary, though
we do not have
any literary
record of them.3
Evidence also survives at Corinth of the
worship
of
Apollo, Dionysus
and Isis
(among
others),
who had their festivals with
accompanying
pompai.4
In addition to the
processions
for the
major public
cults,
there were
smaller,
private pompai
in honor of the
dead,
or
special
sacrifices
by
individuals or cult societies
(9vaiat itffitt1Cai).5
Par-
1.
&iacgr;ϵρ&ogr;&iacgr;&sfgr;
could be
interpreted
as from
&ogr;&iacgr; &iacgr;ϵρ&ogr;&iacgr;,
members of a
religious college.
If
interpreted
as dative of τ&aacgr;
&iacgr;ϵρ&aacgr;
(the
sacred
things
as in the next
line)
it cannot
mean
they proceed
to Eleusis with the
&iacgr;ϵρ&aacgr;,
for the
purpose
of their
going
is to
bring
them from Eleusis to the Eleusinium at Athens. It would have to mean that
they
are
expected
to
proceed
with the
customary
manner of the
pompe
that
goes together
with
the
&iacgr;ϵρ&aacgr;,
i.e.,
they
are to be
just
as solemn without the sacra as with them.
2. Demeter and Kore are the
goddesses
honored in the Eleusinian
mysteries.
On
the
sanctuary
at Corinth: N. Bookidis and J.
Fisher,
Sanctuary
of Demeter and Kore
on Acrocorinth.
Preliminary Report
V:
1971-73, Hesperia
43
(1974), pp.
267-91;
James Wiseman
(Corinth
and Rome I: 228 BC-AD
267, ANRW,
II.7.1
[1979],
pp.
469-71, 509) reports
that the remains are
impressive,
laid out in a
roughly
diamond
shape
which is 91.45 x 56 meters at its
longest
east—west and north-south
axes. The temenos
(outer wall)
had two entrances to the
road,
the main one
leading
onto a
great
central
stairway—ideal
for
processions.
The
sanctuary
also contained a
temple, cleansing
areas,
service
rooms,
and several
dining
halls. Cf. also
Pausanias,
4.7. Demeter and
Persephone
were
very popular goddesses;
their
mysteries
at
Eleusis,
unlike most celebrations of
mysteries,
admitted
people
of both
sexes and all social
classes,
including
slaves.
3. For a reference to celebration of
mysteries
of Demeter outside of Athens-
Eleusis,
see
Inschriften
von
Ephesos,
VII.1,
no. 3252
(also
with an
accompanying
pompe ).
4.
Burkert, Religion, pp.
99-100;
Murphy-OConnor,
Corinth,
pp.
27, 28, 34;
Pausanias, 2.6-7, 8; 3.6;
Wiseman
(Corinth, pp.
473-75, 530)
thinks that the
Archaic
Temple may
be to
Athena,
though
most
archaeologists writing
on Corinth
still
identify
it with
Apollo. Naturally,
Athena would have her festal
processions
also.
5.
Bömer,
Pompa,
col. 1902.
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61
ticipation
in such
processions
was
voluntary,
and could be
requested
by
invitation. To be chosen as one of the
many
kinds of officiants was
regarded
as an
especial
honor,
granted generally
to those of noble
families and
high
civic officials when the
pompe
was connected with a
major
cult.
Following
the
procession
and sacrifice would come the
lll.1OS0tVta,
the
peoples
feast. There
ordinary
citizens who other-
wise
might
not see meat on their table could
enjoy
a
piece
of roast.
Participation
in the
pompai
and
ensuing
feasts of
private guilds
or
other cult societies would be
primarily
reserved for members.
In several references to such
pompai
the verb
Nyw
or
compounds
of
it can be used to describe the
leading
of the
procession by priests
(lepeig, lepop6vIai)
or other officials. So in
Plutarch,
Alcibiades
34.5-6,
Alcibiades himself led
(iyev)
the sacred
procession
to Eleusis
under
military
escort and was
regarded by
the crowds as the
mystagogue
because of his
position
at the head of the
group.
After
the Eleusinian festival is over he then leads them back
again
(~n(xv(x,y6t,y(ov).
In
Plutarch,
Lycurgus
30.6,
to conduct
mysteries
and
processions
is
expressed by
the formula
new J.1.ucrtTlPta
kart
7tOJ.1.7t.3
A
good
illustration of the size of such a
procession
and of
the
people
involved comes from
Magnesia
in Asia Minor:
[31]
It has been decreed
by
the
(city)
council and the
people:
the wreath-
bearer who
always appears
with the
priest
and
priestess
of Artemis
Leucophryen
shall lead the
pompe ([y]nv t1,Jl [= t1,v] 1tOJl7t1v)
out
on the twelfth of the month Artemision and
[35]
sacrifice the bull which
has been
consecrated,
and that
together
with him in the
procession
shall
come
(oUJl1tOJl1tEtV)
the council and the
priests
and the chief
magistrates (icuq apxov2aS)
who were elected and the ones who were
1. A
pompe ending
with a sacrifice and distributions of
portions
of the victims
to the
participants: Inscriptiones
Graecae,
II
(2nd edn),
334. Cf.
Bömer,
Pompa,
col.
1905;
A.
Malherbe,
Social
Aspects of Early Christianity (Philadelphia:
Fortress
Press,
2nd
edn, 1983),
pp.
74-84;
G.
Theissen,
Studien zur
Soziologie
des
Urchristentums
(Tübingen:
Mohr
[Paul Siebeck], 1979), pp.272-89;
R.
MacMullen,
Paganism
in the Roman
Empire (New
Haven: Yale
University
Press,
1981),
pp. 39-40.
2.
Inscriptiones
Graecae,
II-III
(2nd edn), 1078.7, 11, 20, 31;
Inschriften
von
Magnesia
98.33-34,
41.
π&eacgr;μπω
is often used as well of
conducting
sacred
processions: Inscriptiones
Graecae,
II-III
(2nd edn), 334.3, 17-19; 1029.10, 13;
1030.5; 946.4-5; πρ&ogr;π&eacgr;μπϵ&igr;ν
1029.7;
1030.6.
3.
Cf. Inscriptiones
Graecae, II, 1078,
quoted
in
Bömer,
Pompa,
col. 1932.
4.
Inschriften
von
Magnesia
98.31-59
(my
translation).
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62
chosen
by
lot;
and the
Epheboi
and
boys
and the
children,
and those
victorious in the
Leucophryena (games),
[40]
along
with the other
contestants who have won athletic contests for a wreath. The wreath-
bearer
leading
the
pompe (aywv Ifiv 7tOI.1.7tfV)
shall
carry
wooden
images
of the twelve
gods
clothed as
beautifully
as
possible;
and he shall build a
rotunda
(?)
in the
agora
next to the altar of the twelve
gods.
He shall also
spread
out three of the
[45]
most beautiful
beds,
and
provide
as well
music,
a
flautist,
a
piper,
and a
lyre-player.
The administrators
(oi
t.
oncovouol)
who are in office on the twelfth of Artemision shall offer in
addition three
victims,
which
they
shall sacrifice to Zeus
Sosipolis
and to
Artemis
Leucophryen
and to the
Pythian Apollo: [50]
to Zeus the best ram
available;
to Artemis a
goat;
to
Apollo
a
he-goat. They
shall sacrifice to
Zeus on the altar of Zeus
Sosipolis,
to Artemis and
Apollo
on the altar of
Artemis. And the
priests
of these
gods
shall receive the
customary
perquisites.
When
they
sacrifice
[55]
the bull
they
shall distribute
portions
to those who
participate
in the
pompe;
but the ram and the
goat
and the he-
goat they
shall distribute to the wreath-bearer and the
priestess
and to the
Polemarchsl and the
presiding
officers of the
council,
and the
public
examiners and those
serving
(in public office?),2
and the administrators
(oi oi1(OV~OB)
shall distribute these
things.
It can be seen from the above that not
only
did the
procession
have
the attraction and
venerability
of the
cult(s)
to which it
belonged,
but
it involved
strong
social ties. All the most
important
civic officials
have a
place
in
it,
lending
it their endorsement and both
giving
and
getting
honor
by
their
participation.
The
pompe
is a statement of who
is
important,
and of who
belongs
to the center of the
citys
life. At the
same time the
accompanying
feast,
which would have
great
attraction,
was
supplied
from meat offered in sacrifice to the
gods
and
goddesses
honored. Thus the
pompe
becomes a
symbol
for all the attractions of
pagan
life: the attractions of
political power, religious
cult,
social ties
and the need to
belong,
not to mention the
enticing
feast. At the same
time,
Paul uses the
pompe
as a
symbol
of the delusion involved in all
of this.
The
image
of a
pagan pompe leading
a
group
of Corinthians about
the
city
is a
powerful
one,
and best fits the
prepositional phrase npbS
ia
ei6wXa,
literally
to the
images,
i.e.,
the cult
images
that would be
1. The Polemarchs
may
have been
part
of the
group designated
Archons,
as at
Athens;
or it
may
have been a
military
command of some sort.
2.
τ&ogr;&iacgr;ς λητ&ogr;υργ&eeacgr;σασ&igr;ν.
unauthorized distribution.
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63
viewed in the
sanctuary
at the end of the
procession.
It was for the
gods
as seen in the
images (probably
the two were not
very clearly
distinguished
in the common
persons
mind)
that sacrificial animals
were led in the
pompe
as well.
Perhaps
Paul
plays
on this
leading
of
both
people
and animals
by implying
that in their former
practices
the
Corinthians were like the animals
themselves,
led
away captive
to
slaughter (>
&v
iycr8 .7taYllVOt).
The
pompe
then
symbolizes
the
ignorance
and
slavery
of the Corinthians
pre-conversion
life,
in
which
they simply
followed where
they
were
led,
like the sacrificial
animals in the
procession.
The
pompe
is one of the most
public,
elaborate,
expensive
and
exciting
events in the
liturgical year
of a
sanctuary.
Yet it ends in a
hopeless
encounter with dead wood. The
images
of the
gods
are
honored,
prayed
to, clothed;
they
are set out to
watch cultic
activities,
athletic
contests,
or theater
performances;
but
they
are deaf and
helpless.
Paul
repeats
the verb to lead with a
twist,
in imitation of the
prophetic style
of the Old
Testament,
by using an-ayw
in
conjunc-
tion with
aye. anayw
can have
many meanings
in
Greek,
including
to
carry away (physically)
or,
in a
negative
sense,
to lead
away by
force,
to be carried off a
captive
(of war),
to be
captured
or even
to be arrested. The
image,
then,
is not of
being
carried
away
mentally by
the
ecstasy
of
pagan
Bacchanalia.
Rather,
it is that those
who are led
by pagan priests
and
society
to the
worship
of other
gods
are
really
made
captives
to a dark force.
They
are
prisoners
as it were. Earlier in the letter Paul had
already expressed
his
opinion
1. Or
possibly
a reference to
being
led in the direction of the
images
carried at
the head of a
procession.
This also
explains
the use
of &eeacgr;γϵσ&thetas;ϵ
within the social life
of ancient Corinth.
2.
Inschriften
von
Magnesia
98.61-62:
&aacgr;γ&eacgr;τω
δ&eacgr; &oacgr;
&eacgr;ργ&ogr;λαβ&eeacgr;σας
τ&oacgr;ν
τα&uacgr;ρ&ogr;ν
ϵ&iacgr;ς τ&eeacgr;ν &aacgr;γπρ&aacgr;ν; Inscriptiones
Graecae,
II-III
(2nd edn),
896.11-12:
πρ&ogr;σαγ&aacgr;γϵ&igr;ν
δ&eacgr; α&uacgr;τ&oacgr;ν κα&iacgr;
&thetas;&uacgr;μα &OHacgr;ς &eeacgr;δ&uacgr;νατ&ogr;
κ&aacgr;λλ&igr;στ&ogr;ν;
Inscriptiones
Graecae,
II-III
(2nd
edn),
1030.14-15:
Δ&igr;&ogr;νυσ&iacgr;&ogr;&igr;ς &eacgr;τϵρ[&ogr;ν τα&uacgr;ρ&ogr;ν &OHacgr;ς
&oacgr;τι
κ&aacgr;λλ&igr;σ]τ&ogr;ν π[αρ&eeacgr;γαγ&ogr;ν
τ&eeacgr;ι π&ogr;μπ&eeacgr;&igr;
&oacgr;ν κα&iacgr; &eacgr;&thetas;υσαν &eacgr;ν τ&OHacgr;ι
&iacgr;ϵ]ρ&OHacgr;ι;
cf. also
Inscriptiones
Graecae, II-III,
334.3,
17-19.
3.
E.g.
the verbal
plays
on names in the Hebrew text of Mic. 1.10-16.
4. Like the
English
carried off: LSJ
s.v. ;
cf. Mt.
26.57; 27.2, 31;
Acts
12.19;
cf. A.T. Robertson and A.
Plummer,
A Critical and
Exegetical Commentary
on the
First
Epistle of St
Paul to the Corinthians
(Edinburgh:
T. & T.
Clark, 1914), p.
260;
A.
Schlatter,
Paulus der Bote Jesu
(Stuttgart:
Calwer
Verlag,
1934),
pp.
331-32.
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64
that
though
an idol is
nothing-that
is,
the cult
image
has no life or
power-yet
there is an evil
power
at work in the
cult,
and service to
these demons is
absolutely opposed
to service of the true God
(10.19-21). Indeed,
pagan popular philosophy
asserted that daimones
attended both oracles and
images, providing
answers to
queries
and
supernatural power
to work miracles in answer to
prayer.
While the
daimones were
regarded by pagans
as often
being good
creatures who
served as intermediaries of the
greater god(s),
Christians and most
Jews held the daimonia
(as they preferred
to call
them)
to be
unquali-
fiedly
evil.
In
my
translation I take
dKay6pevoi
as a kind of circumstantial
participle:
whenever
you
were led
[in
the
processions] you
were
[really] being
carried
away captive.
In this
way,
it is not
necessary
to
read the
participle
as a
pleonastic
construction with
1,rc,
and the
problem
of how to relate
T)TE
to two
predications
(when you
were
Gentiles and
you
were
being
led
away) disappears.
The Corinthians are reminded that in their former life
they
were
enslaved,
in
ignorance
of the true God and his
workings,
to evil
powers
associated with the
pagan
cultus.
By implication,
these
powers
were associated with the entire structure of
pagan society.
The
Corinthians were led about in a manner
they
did not
truly
understand,
as the crowd is led
by
the
pagan
officiants in a
pompe.
The
apostle
proceeds
not
only
in v. 3 but
throughout
chs. 12-14 to
explain
to them
what it is to be
really
led
by
God~r,
as he
puts
it,
to
speak
and
work
by
the
Holy Spirit
(vv. 3, 7;
chs.
13, 14).
3
1.
Plato, Epinomis 984d8-e3; Plutarch,
De
defectu
oraculorum
416d-417a;
Albinus
(?), Didaskalion,
ch.
15;
P.
Merlan,
Greek
Philosophy
from Plato to
Plotinus,
in The
Cambridge History of
Later Greek and Medieval
Philosophy (ed.
A.H.
Armstrong; Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1965),
p.
72;
John
Dillon,
The Middle Platonists
(London: Duckworth, 1977), pp.
90-91,
287-88.
2Cf. H.W.
Smyth,
Greek Grammar
(rev.
edn G.M.
Messing; Cambridge,
MA:
Harvard
University
Press, 1956), pp.
456-59,
esp.
sections
2062,
2068.
3. Martin believes the contrast made in vv. 2-3 is between the
pagan
who was
seized, overcome,
and "violated"
by
a demonic
power
and the
presence
of the
Holy
Spirit
who,
by implication,
comes in a more
peaceable, voluntary,
and
orderly
fash-
ion
(Spirit, pp.
9-10;
The
Worship of
God
[Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1982],
p. 178).
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65
ABSTRACT
1 Cor. 12.2 has
presented
translators and commentators with
problems
because of
the terseness of
expression
and its unusual
grammar.
It is
frequently
taken in modem
exegesis
as
referring
to occurrences of
ecstasy
in the
pagan worship
in which the
Corinthians
formerly participated.
The author
proposes
that the diction and
imagery
are better understood as a reference to
participation
in a cultic
religious procession,
the
pompe.
The
pompe
was a common event in Greek civic life and a reference to
one would be
readily recognized by
the Corinthians. The
participle attayou-evoi
(led
away)
is read as a circumstantial
participle,
not as a
pleonastic
construction
with
T71-re.
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