Doctrine of Man (Part 6): Paul’s Use of the Anthropological Terms <em>Sarx</em> and <em>Psyche</em>

Paul’s Use of the Anthropological Terms Sarx and Psyche

Last time we looked at one of the most important of Paul's anthropological terms, namely soma or body. Today we want to turn to a second important anthropological term used by Paul in his letters, and this is the word sarx. I've already briefly mentioned this word sarx which means “flesh.” Theologians who are familiar with the word sarx know that in the New Testament “the flesh” is often used metaphorically as a term for the evil proclivity which is in human beings. This use of the term therefore is not referring to the physical stuff of our body. The scripture does not teach that our bodies are evil because they are material. But “the flesh” will often be used by Paul to represent fallen human nature.

This usage touches a very sensitive chord in theology because in Germany, where I studied, at least, the Apostles Creed affirms “I believe in the resurrection of the Fleisch” that is to say “the flesh.” In English we say “I believe in the resurrection of the body” but in German it affirms “I believe in the resurrection of the flesh (Fleisch).” Theologians are quite rightly nervous about any sort of affirmation that the flesh in the sense of this evil fallen nature is going to be the object of the resurrection. Because of this they're prone to overlook the fact that Paul often uses the word sarx in a morally neutral sense to mean basically organic stuff – the material out of which an animal's body is made, the physical flesh, essentially “meat,” if you will. In this morally neutral sense, to affirm the resurrection of the flesh is unobjectionable. It is equivalent to believing in the resurrection of the physical body.

Let's look for example at 1 Corinthians 15:35-41 for Paul's disquisition on the nature of the resurrection body. Paul, imagining some Corinthian opponent of his doctrine, says,

But some one will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is alike, but there is one kind for men, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

In this passage Paul uses three analogies to illustrate the resurrection of the body. The first analogy is that it is like a seed and the plant which springs from that seed. The body is planted in the ground as it is buried, and then just as a plant that is quite different will come from the seed, so the resurrection body that comes from the earthly body that is sown will be vastly different from the earthly body. It will be a supernatural body endowed with powers and properties that this earthly body does not have.

To skip ahead, Paul's third analogy is from celestial and terrestrial bodies. The stars and the sun and the moon all have a different luminosity which is what the word “glory” refers to here. Just as these different bodies have different luminosities, so the resurrection body will differ from the earthly body in being more honourable and more glorious than the body that is sown.

It is the second analogy that we want to focus on. It appeals to different kinds of flesh. Paul is clearly using the word sarx here in a morally neutral sense – biological flesh, if you will. He says there's one kind of flesh in man. There is another one in animals, and another one in birds, and another one in fish. Here he's using the word “flesh” in a morally neutral sense to mean basically meat or the organic stuff of which animals are made. Robert Jewett, in his book Paul's Anthropological Terms, draws attention to the fact in this passage we have “a striking departure from the technical flesh category and an appropriation of traditional Judaic use of sarx as interchangeable with soma.” Here Paul is not using the word sarx in a moral sense but rather in a non-moral sense which is interchangeable with soma – the physical body. So in this passage Paul is not using the word sarx in the theological sense of fallen human nature, rather he basically uses it as akin to the body – the sort of bodies that exist in the biological realm. It's in this physical sense that the resurrection of the flesh is quite unobjectionable theologically. The resurrection body will be a physical body vastly different from this corruptible, mortal, dishonourable, and weak body that we presently possess, but a body nevertheless.

Paul’s third anthropological term that we want to draw attention to is psyche, from which we get our word “psychology” and “psychic.” It means “soul.” Psyche is “soul.” Paul teaches a dualism of body and soul with respect to human being. Look, for example, at 2 Corinthians 4:16 to 5:10. Paul writes,

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.

In this passage Paul speaks of our outer nature – the body. He uses the metaphor of a tent, which connotes frailty and transitoriness. A tent is not a permanent dwelling. It's going to be struck. The earthly tent represents our earthly body. He speaks then of the resurrection body that we shall receive as a house not made with hands. The contrast between the transitory, frail tent and this substantial building from God shows the immortality and incorruptibility of the resurrection body in contrast to the earthly body in which we live. In between our death and our eventual resurrection comes this intermediate state when we are without a body. Paul talks about being away from the body and at home with the Lord. He speaks of this state as a state of nakedness. In Greek literature this is a description of the soul existing without its body. Paul says it's not that we want to be in that kind of state. He says we'd really prefer not to be unclothed (that is to say, to have the body stripped away in death and to be naked). Rather, we would prefer to be further clothed. The verb here has the idea of pulling on top clothing, like a sweater over a shirt, without the necessity of undressing in order to put on that clothing. So Paul is saying here that we'd rather live until the return of Christ so that we receive our resurrection bodies immediately without having to go through the intermediate state of nakedness existing as a disembodied soul. But if we do go to be with the Lord by dying prior to Christ's return and so enter into that intermediate state, Paul says we still are of good cheer because to be away from the body is to be present with the Lord, and that is better than this earthly existence.

I think that you can see the importance of this body-soul dualism in Christian theology. As I said a couple of weeks ago, the Christian materialist who denies that there is any soul distinct from the body has to believe that when a person dies that person is simply extinguished. He literally ceases to exist. There is no intermediate state as the soul awaits the resurrection because there are no such things as souls. It seems to me that such a view is very difficult to reconcile with the teaching of a passage like this, which I think clearly contemplates the existence of the soul in a disembodied state.

Paul does not always employ a uniform terminology of soma and psyche (body and soul). In the passage just quoted, for example, neither term appears until the very end when Paul finally uses the word “body.” Rather, metaphors are used to express the concept. Similarly, sometimes Paul will mix his terms. Look, for example, at 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Paul says, “May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here Paul uses three terms: the soma, the psyche, and the pneuma (or “spirit” – the Greek word from which we get our word “pneumatic” as in a pneumatic drill). Paul is here expressing the thoroughgoing nature of our sanctification. Every aspect of human being is to be sanctified. Nothing is exempted. But we should not infer therefore that for Paul there is a third immaterial component of a human being, namely a spirit. If the soul or mind is the self-conscious “self” (the “I”), then it's bewildering what a distinct spirit could be. It's more plausible to take “spirit” as a function or aspect of the soul. In any case, what's important is that we are not, in Paul's view, simply material entities. Rather, we have an immaterial component to our being called the “soul” or “spirit” which will continue to exist after the death of the physical body until its reunion with the resurrection body at the return of Christ. Robert Gundry summarizes, “The Bible uses a multiplicity of terms for both the inner and outer parts, aspects, or functions of human beings, terms such as “spirit,” “soul,” “heart,” and “mind” for the inward, and “body,” “flesh,” “flesh and bones,” and “members” for the outward.”