Monday, August 3, 2026

James T. South (1993) on the Curse/Death Phenomenon in Acts 5:1-11 and 1 Corinthians 11:30

While rejecting the theme for 1 Cor 5:5, James T. South contends that the curse/death phenomenon is found in Acts 5:1-11 and 1 Cor 11:30:

 

Acts 5.1-11 relates the incident in which Ananias and his wife Sapphira, two members of the church in Jerusalem just after its establishment, were both struck dead for lying to the Holy Spirit by keeping back some of the proceeds from the sale of property while claiming to give it all. . . . in 1 Cor 11.30 Paul explains that due to the Corinthians' aberrant observance of the Lord's Supper, πολλοι ασθενεις και αρρωστοι και κοιμωνται ικανοι. The verb κοιμαω (to sleep) is apparently here a euphemism for physical death, as in 15.18. So the concept of physical death as punishment for sin was not at all foreign to Paul's thinking. . . . in both texts people receive a capital punishment for spiritual offences. (James T. South, “A Critique of the ‘Curse/Death’ Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 5.1-8,” New Testament Studies 39, no. 4 [October 1993]: 543, 547-48)