Excursus: A brief overview of the opinion of exegetes on the cultural back-ground, reference and rhetorical function of ta; stivgmata tou` jIhsou` in Galatians 6:17
In their explanation of ta; stivgmata tou` jIhsou` in Galatians 6:17, exegetes usually discuss one or more of the following three aspects (without necessarily distinguishing between them): its possible cultural background, the na-ture of the bodily "marks" Paul has in mind, and his rhetorical purpose in mentioning these. For the purposes of this overview, these aspects will be discussed separately.
CULTURAL BACKGROUND
With regard to the cultural background of ta; stivgmata, most scholars refer to the practice of religious tattooing in antiquity as the most likely background. The following scholars (among others) could be mentioned as examples in this re-gard: Lietzmann, Lightfoot, Schlier, H. D. Betz, and Vouga. However, this view is not unanimous. For example, Burton rejects this view and prefers to link Paul's use to another custom, namely that of branding slaves to indi-cate ownership. Some exegetes merely name both possibilities without choosing be-tween them. See, for example, Longenecker and L�hrmann. The custom of religious tattooing seems to be the most obvious parallel to Paul's use of stivgmata in Galatians 6:17, and it is therefore understandable that exegetes tend to prefer it as potential background. However, perhaps one should not restrict the potential back-ground for Paul's reference to stivgmata to an either-or between the two possibili-ties mentioned thus far, since branded marks were a well-known phenomenon in an-tiquity, functioning in various social contexts. In his comprehensive overview of stivgmata, O. Betz provides numerous examples in this regard: the branding of animals; deserters; prisoners of war; robbers of temples; wrong-doers; slaves (for running away, stealing, or sometimes merely for the sake of indicating ownership [on the forehead]); recruits of the Roman army (on the hand); members of certain tribes; devotees of Dionysios (with an ivy leaf), the Great Mother, Mithras or other cults/gods. From Betz's overview it is evident that branded marks were a well-known phenomenon in Paul's time. Furthermore, one could also say that such marks were re-garded either positively or negatively. For example, in the case of runaway slaves or prisoners of war they functioned in a negative way. However, in those cases where people received such marks voluntarily, for example to indicate devotion to a particu-lar cult/god or membership of the Roman army, they were regarded as something positive (at least by the people who wore them!). Generally speaking, Paul's reference to his stivgmata could be classified as an example where the "marks" he received are viewed in a positive sense.
REFERENCE
To the question "Which bodily stivgmata does Paul have in mind in Ga-latians 6:17?" nearly all exegetes respond by referring to the marks left on his body as a result of his suffering as an apostle. However, this is not a unanimous view. Some exegetes propose other � often interesting! � interpretations:
� D�lger rejects the idea that Paul is referring to marks left on his body as a result of his sufferings as an apostle, and, claims that he had tattooed the name of Jesus on his body. He also states that if this was not the case, Paul's reference to his stivgmata should not be understood as any physical marks at all, but as referring to the fact that he considered himself a slave of Christ, i.e. as indicating "seine innigste Zugeh�rigkeit zum Herrn".
� Fenner interprets the stivgmata as Paul's auto-suggestive reactions to the sufferings which Jesus experienced on the cross. In other words, Fenner suggests that Paul experienced his mystical unity with Christ to such an ex-tent that he in fact developed bleeding wounds on his hands and feet.
� Hirsch is of the opinion that the events that occurred during Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus � in particular, the appearance of Christ ("die ihn blitzartige �berfallende Erscheinung") � could have caused him some lasting medical problems. He considers the possibility that these could have been eye problems due to the blinding light that Paul saw. However, Hirsch also points out that, according to Acts 26:13-14, the other people who travelled with Paul, also saw this blinding light, and this poses a prob-lem for identifying Paul's medical problems as eye problems. He therefore prefers to interpret the stivgmata as unspecified medical problems ("ein k�rperlicher Zusammenbruch und eine dauernde von uns nicht n�her bes-timmbare k�rperliche Sch�digung") resulting from Paul's conversion.
� Dinkler agrees with D�lger that Paul has bodily marks in mind. However, he links these to symbolic markings at baptism, in particular, to the possibility that the bodies of the Christians were marked symbolically with the letter X (the first letter of "Christ" in Greek) during baptism.
� Bligh agrees with scholars who are of the opinion that Paul is probably thinking of the scars left on his body as a result of the persecution, but also believes that stivgmata is Paul's "metaphorical description of the 'circum-cision of heart' or 'new creation' which he and the other Christians receive through faith and baptism".
Although these exegetes offer interesting and sometimes ingenious sugges-tions for interpreting stivgmata in Galatians 6:17, none of them is convincing. The view of the majority is thus to be regarded as the best interpretation
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-09212004-154428 |
| Date | 15 October 2004 |
| Creators | Tolmie, Donald Francois |
| Contributors | Prof J. van W. Cronje |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://lourie.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-09212004-154428/restricted/ |
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