Sexual Interpretation: children as fruit for death
~*~
HOWEVER
we understand
the soliloquy of Romans 7,
I think a strong case can be made
for the interpretation that Paul's theme in THIS chapter
is sexuality and redemption from it, as from the flesh through Christ's crucifixion,
which make possible the crucifixion of the flesh in
Everyman in Everydayland.
~*~
Paul opens chapter 7
[1-4] with the analogy of the married woman
whose husband dies:
~*~
~*~
"DO you know brethren
- for I am speaking to those who know the law -
that the law is binding on a person only during his life.
THUS a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives;
but if her husband dies she is discharged from the law concerning her husband.
ACCORDINGLY,
she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive.
But if her husband dies she is free from that law,
and if she married another man
she is not an adulteress.
LIKEWISE, my brethren,
you have died to the law through the body of Christ,
so that you may belong to another,
to him who has been raised from the dead in order that
we may bear fruit
for "G*D"!"
~*~
THIS
parable or analogy
has often been regarded as clumsy
by even the most friendly of
Pauline interpreters.
A typical reaction:
"THIS analogy is NOT
the most perspicuous in the myDiliterature!"
THE problem with the analogy is
that Paul's parable is of a woman no longer subject to the law of adultery because her husband has died,
but its application is about one who is no longer married because she herself has died.
There seems to be a lack of fit.
THIS slippage between parable and application is, however,
rather typical of the parabolic structure.
In the parable itself, which refers to actual human life,
obviously it is the husband who must die,
for otherwise his wife
could not remarry.
However, in the application of the parable, the Christian reality,
within which, as Paul argues in chapter 6,
the believer dies to one kind of life and is reborn to another,
even within this world and this body,
the wife through dying becomes released from her obligations to her former husband and is free
to marry again.
Christians,
having died to their first husband, the Law, are brides of Christ,
married to him, in order that they may bear fruit
for "G*D".
It is indeed the Christian who dies to the Law
- not the Law which dies -, but the result is equivalent to the Law having died in that the Christian is no longer an adulteress
if she does not live faithfully to the Law but joins herself
only to Christ.
~*~
This
parable's
erotic overtones,
moreover, are not accidental but absolutely crucial,
on my reading, to the whole context,
for what has died to the Law is the fleshiness,
the being in the flesh, which required the pursuit of an act
which bore fruit not fot "G*D"
but for death.
The choice of the marital analogy is exact,
because being tied to the Law meant obligation to marry
and bear children that the Law enjoins in its command
to be fruitful and
multiply.
No longer married to the Law,
since they have died to the flesh
- meaning both the fleshly, literal meaning of the commandment
and the use of the flesh that it implies and enjoins -,
Christians belong to Christ - sexually, as it were,
so that as his bride they bear "fruit for g*d,"
spiritual children.
~*~
Romans 7:5-6
repeat this precise argument
in nonparabolic
language:
"When we
were in the flesh,
our sinful passions, aroused by the law,
were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
But now we are discharged from the law,
dead to that which held us captive,
so that we serve not under the old written code
but in the new life
of the Spirit."
~
'ki be'et
heyotenu vabasar
tesjukot hachet asher hitoraru al-yedei hatorah
hayu foalot be'evareinu la'asot pri lamavet;
aval atah niftarnu min-hatorah
ki matnu la'asher hayinu asurim bo
lema'an na'avod me'atah lefi hitchadshot haruach
velo lefi-yshan
hakatuv'
~
Toen we ons
nog lieten leiden door onze eigen wil,
werd ons bestaan beheerst door zondige hartstochten die de wet in ons opriep en droeg het alleen vrucht voor de dood.
We waren aan de wet geketend,
maar nu zijn we bevrijd: we zijn dood voor de wet,
zodat we niet meer de oude orde van de wet dienen,
maar de nieuwe orde
van de geest.
~
These verses raise several questions:
(1) What is the meaning of being "in the flesh"?
(2) What is the connection between that fleshly condition and being under
the Law?
(3) Why does the Law arouse sinful passions?
(4) How is being freed of the Law going to prevent the arousal of sinful
passions?
~*~
~*~
There is,
in effect, a single answer to all of these questions.
Paul speaks of a situation in which "we were still in the flesh,"
which is the antithesis to having died to the Law.
In other words, then, being in the flesh is equivalent
to being alive to
the Law.
This is
best understood
if "the flesh" is taken to refer to the [written] letter of the Law together with all of its associated fleshiness:
generation and
filiation.
Being alive to the Law,
that is, serving in the old being of the letter - Be fruitful & multiply -,
arouses sinful passions in our members to bear fruit for death,
that is to have children and thus to participate in the whole disaster of human morality.
In the new life
of the spirit, however,
even that most fleshly commandment to procreate will be understood in its spiritual sense, namely, as a commandment to spiritual procreation,
to that which bears fruit for "G*D" and not
for death.
~*~
Serving under
the old written code
includes the positive commandment to be fruitful and multiply
- the first commandment in the Torah -,
as well as the first negative commandment not to desire
(Paul's midrashic gloss, on my hypothesis, on being forbidden to eat of the fruit).
Prescribed
procreation leads inevitably to
forbidden sexuality, and the whole process to bearing fruit for death.
It is no wonder that PAUL. given this set of assumptions,
will speak of the law in the second part of Romans 7 as presenting an impossible dilemma, indeed
a double bind.
DO have sex, in order to bear children, but do not have desire.
Dying to the law through the body of Christ relieves one of the obligation to produce children - "fruit for death" - and thus frees one
to bear only spiritual fruit,
fruit for g d.
~#~
HOWEVER
we understand
the soliloquy of Romans 7,
I think a strong case can be made
for the interpretation that Paul's theme in THIS chapter
is sexuality and redemption from it, as from the flesh through Christ's crucifixion,
which make possible the crucifixion of the flesh in
Everyman in Everydayland.
~*~
Paul opens chapter 7
[1-4] with the analogy of the married woman
whose husband dies:
~*~
~*~
"DO you know brethren
- for I am speaking to those who know the law -
that the law is binding on a person only during his life.
THUS a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives;
but if her husband dies she is discharged from the law concerning her husband.
ACCORDINGLY,
she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive.
But if her husband dies she is free from that law,
and if she married another man
she is not an adulteress.
LIKEWISE, my brethren,
you have died to the law through the body of Christ,
so that you may belong to another,
to him who has been raised from the dead in order that
we may bear fruit
for "G*D"!"
~*~
THIS
parable or analogy
has often been regarded as clumsy
by even the most friendly of
Pauline interpreters.
A typical reaction:
"THIS analogy is NOT
the most perspicuous in the myDiliterature!"
THE problem with the analogy is
that Paul's parable is of a woman no longer subject to the law of adultery because her husband has died,
but its application is about one who is no longer married because she herself has died.
There seems to be a lack of fit.
THIS slippage between parable and application is, however,
rather typical of the parabolic structure.
In the parable itself, which refers to actual human life,
obviously it is the husband who must die,
for otherwise his wife
could not remarry.
However, in the application of the parable, the Christian reality,
within which, as Paul argues in chapter 6,
the believer dies to one kind of life and is reborn to another,
even within this world and this body,
the wife through dying becomes released from her obligations to her former husband and is free
to marry again.
Christians,
having died to their first husband, the Law, are brides of Christ,
married to him, in order that they may bear fruit
for "G*D".
It is indeed the Christian who dies to the Law
- not the Law which dies -, but the result is equivalent to the Law having died in that the Christian is no longer an adulteress
if she does not live faithfully to the Law but joins herself
only to Christ.
~*~
This
parable's
erotic overtones,
moreover, are not accidental but absolutely crucial,
on my reading, to the whole context,
for what has died to the Law is the fleshiness,
the being in the flesh, which required the pursuit of an act
which bore fruit not fot "G*D"
but for death.
The choice of the marital analogy is exact,
because being tied to the Law meant obligation to marry
and bear children that the Law enjoins in its command
to be fruitful and
multiply.
No longer married to the Law,
since they have died to the flesh
- meaning both the fleshly, literal meaning of the commandment
and the use of the flesh that it implies and enjoins -,
Christians belong to Christ - sexually, as it were,
so that as his bride they bear "fruit for g*d,"
spiritual children.
~*~
Romans 7:5-6
repeat this precise argument
in nonparabolic
language:
"When we
were in the flesh,
our sinful passions, aroused by the law,
were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
But now we are discharged from the law,
dead to that which held us captive,
so that we serve not under the old written code
but in the new life
of the Spirit."
~
'ki be'et
heyotenu vabasar
tesjukot hachet asher hitoraru al-yedei hatorah
hayu foalot be'evareinu la'asot pri lamavet;
aval atah niftarnu min-hatorah
ki matnu la'asher hayinu asurim bo
lema'an na'avod me'atah lefi hitchadshot haruach
velo lefi-yshan
hakatuv'
~
Toen we ons
nog lieten leiden door onze eigen wil,
werd ons bestaan beheerst door zondige hartstochten die de wet in ons opriep en droeg het alleen vrucht voor de dood.
We waren aan de wet geketend,
maar nu zijn we bevrijd: we zijn dood voor de wet,
zodat we niet meer de oude orde van de wet dienen,
maar de nieuwe orde
van de geest.
~
These verses raise several questions:
(1) What is the meaning of being "in the flesh"?
(2) What is the connection between that fleshly condition and being under
the Law?
(3) Why does the Law arouse sinful passions?
(4) How is being freed of the Law going to prevent the arousal of sinful
passions?
~*~
~*~
There is,
in effect, a single answer to all of these questions.
Paul speaks of a situation in which "we were still in the flesh,"
which is the antithesis to having died to the Law.
In other words, then, being in the flesh is equivalent
to being alive to
the Law.
This is
best understood
if "the flesh" is taken to refer to the [written] letter of the Law together with all of its associated fleshiness:
generation and
filiation.
Being alive to the Law,
that is, serving in the old being of the letter - Be fruitful & multiply -,
arouses sinful passions in our members to bear fruit for death,
that is to have children and thus to participate in the whole disaster of human morality.
In the new life
of the spirit, however,
even that most fleshly commandment to procreate will be understood in its spiritual sense, namely, as a commandment to spiritual procreation,
to that which bears fruit for "G*D" and not
for death.
~*~
Serving under
the old written code
includes the positive commandment to be fruitful and multiply
- the first commandment in the Torah -,
as well as the first negative commandment not to desire
(Paul's midrashic gloss, on my hypothesis, on being forbidden to eat of the fruit).
Prescribed
procreation leads inevitably to
forbidden sexuality, and the whole process to bearing fruit for death.
It is no wonder that PAUL. given this set of assumptions,
will speak of the law in the second part of Romans 7 as presenting an impossible dilemma, indeed
a double bind.
DO have sex, in order to bear children, but do not have desire.
Dying to the law through the body of Christ relieves one of the obligation to produce children - "fruit for death" - and thus frees one
to bear only spiritual fruit,
fruit for g d.
~#~
26 jul 2005 - bewerkt op 14 mrt 2008
- meld ongepast verhaal
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Asih
dinsdag 26 juli 2005 01:50
Een fanaticus is iemand die doet wat hij denkt dat de Heer zou doen als die met de feiten van de zaak op de hoogte was:
het vreemdste in deze wereld is ook dat we het - hoewel we het meestal geen van allen met elkaar eens zijn - allemaal bij het recht{st}e
eind hebben?
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