Saturday, August 24, 2024

Joshua D. A. Bloor on the Meaning of σωμα in Hebrews 10:5-7 (cf. Psalm 40:6 LXX)

  

But how should σωμα and its designation as an ‘offering’ (προσφορα) be understood? Most interpreters read σωμα as a ‘body’ being offered (on earth or in heaven), yet σωμα could also symbolize Jesus’ earthly life of obedience, for several reasons.

 

First, σωμα, as well as θελημα and προσφορα are unusual terms for Hebrews in reference to purgative and sacrificial language are only imported here via Ps. 40. Generally, when Hebrews speaks of an offering (προσφορα) in a literal cultic sense it refers to either ‘sacrifice/gifts” (5.1, 3; 7.27, αναφερω; 8.3, 4; 9.9; 10.1, 2, 8, 11, 12, 18, προσφορα; 11.4, 17), ‘blood’ (9.7, cf. 9.25), or Jesus (9.14, 25, 28). But ‘offering’ is also used to denote obedience (5.7) and praise (13.15, αναφερω, cf. 12.7). Reading the ‘offering’ of Jesus’ σωμα in a literal cultic sense would seem odd, given that elsewhere Hebrews puts so much emphasis on the offering of blood . . .

 

Elsewhere in Hebrews σωμα is used in contexts that describe suffering obedience and faithfulness. In 10.22, the washed ‘body’ is essentially a ‘vehicle of obedience’. In 13.3 σωμα refers to imprisonment and those who were tortured. Finally, σωμα is used in suffering outside the gate, that is, on earth (13.11-12). Following this analogy, Hebrews exhorts the recipients to offer (αναφερω) a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of their lips, as they, like Jesus, continue to suffer outside the gate, that is, on earth (13.11-12). Following this analogy, Hebrews exhorts the recipients to offer (αναφερω) a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of their lips, as they, like Jesus, continue to suffer outside the camp (παρεμβολη, 13.13-15). Outside of Hebrews, Paul uses similar cultic language metaphorically to describe a life of obedience with exhortation ‘to present your bodies as a living sacrifice’ (παραστησαι τα σωματα υμων θυσιαν ζωσαν, Rom. 12.1). As Richard Longenecker writes, Paul is not referring to a ‘killed, bloody, or dead sacrifice, as were the animal sacrifices at the Jewish tabernacle and temple, but as the sacrifice of one’s entire person in all its created vibrancy and aliveness’.

 

By drawing on Ps. 40, Hebrews contrasts the many ‘sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings (10.8) with the greater sacrifice of a life lived in obedience to God and his will—the offering of Jesus’ σωμα (10.10). Reading σωμα as a reference to Jesus’ earthly life of obedience fits the logic of Ps. 40: obedience trumps sacrifice offerings. There is not necessarily anything abhorrent with rendering σωμα as ‘body’, but it is what ‘body’ signifies that matters. Jesus has come to live a life of obedience and he has come to do this within the σωμα prepared for him (10.5). The ‘offering’ of Jesus’ σωμα should not be limited to his death, but it is broader and concerns his ‘entire somatic existence’.

 

Accordingly, rather than juxtaposing the obedience spoken of in Ps. 40 with a literal cultic offering, Hebrews, at least initially uses sacrifice language to describe obedience to God’s will. Some of Eberhart’s conclusions can be critiqued, but he is right in stating that when Hebrews uses sacrifice language, it is not exclusively cultic, but also ‘points to Christ’s whole life as an example of Christian love’. (Joshua D. A. Bloor, Purifying the Consciousness in Hebrews: Cult, Defilement and the Perpetual Heavenly Blood of Jesus [Library of New Testament Studies 675; London: T&T Clark, 2024], 85-86)

 

 

 

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