1 corinthians 12.2 a pagan pompe (t. paige)

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DOI: 10.1177/0142064X9101404405 1991; 14; 57 Journal for the Study of the New Testament

Terence Paige 1 Corinthians 12.2: a Pagan Pompe?

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1 CORINTHIANS 12.2: A PAGAN POMPE?

Terence PaigeBelfast Bible College, Glenbum Road South

Belfast BT17 9JP

Concerning spiritual things, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.You know that when you were Gentiles, wheneverl you used to be led tosilent idols you were [really] carried away captive. Therefore I am lettingyou know2 that no one speaking in God’s Spirit says, ’Jesus is

Anathema’, and no one can say ’Jesus is Lord’ except by (the) HolySpirit.

1 Cor. 12.2 is notoriously difficult to understand clearly because ofoddities in the language and the terseness of expression.3 However thegrammatical difficulties of 12.2 are to be solved, the verse is plainly areference to the pagan past of the Corinthian Christians (at least of the

majority of them). Most exegetes take it in connection with v. 3a to bea description of enthusiasm or ecstasy in their former worship,’ but

1. BDF §§367, 455.2; cf. LSJ, Ad. 1-2, ’&OHacgr;ς’.2. ’Letting you know’ has the same effect as ’I make known to you’, but the

former is idiomatic English while the latter is really not.3. For a list of exegetical options with the literature, see J. Héring, The First

Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (trans. A.W. Heathcote and P.J. Allcock;London: Epworth, 1962), pp. 123-24; and discussion in G. Fee, The First Epistle tothe Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), pp. 576-82.

4. Frequently taking &eeacgr;γϵσ&thetas;ϵ &aacgr;παγ&oacgr;μϵν&ogr;&igr; as intensive and signifying a being’carried away’ mentally: e.g. J. Weiss, Der Erste Korintherbrief (Göttingen:Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2nd edn, 1910), p. 294; I. Hermann, Kyrios undPneuma (Munich: Kösel, 1961), p. 70. C.K. Barrett (The First Epistle to theCorinthians [New York: Harper & Row, 1968], pp. 278-79) adds to the image ofpagan ecstasy the thought that Paul may be referring to demonic control, a suggestionwhich had already been advanced by Otto Everling (Die paulinische Angelologie und




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this is somewhat inconsistent with the wording of the sentence and isunnecessary. Paul says that the Corinthians had been led towards the

’images’: 7tpOç ia Et8w7ta Ta acpwva (0; lav iíy£cr8£, ’whenever youused to be led to silent idols’.’ ei6wXa here signifies the ’images’ ofwood, stone or less commonly brass which were the actual objects ofcultic devotion.’ He does not say the Corinthians were led by idols orthe gods themselves. Neither does he simply say that they ’went’ afteridols (note both iíy£cr8£ and dKay6pevoi are passive).’ The picture isof participating in something which is directed by another, which’leads’ the participants to a place of cultic significance connected withthe ’images’ of the pagan gods. It is unnecessarily speculative toassume that å7taYóll£VOt has here the (somewhat questionable) sec-ondary meaning in Greek, ’to be carried away (mentally)’, ’to be outof one’s wits’.’ There is a more ’ordinary’ explanation of this verse

Dämonologie [Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1888], p. 32); cf. also

D.L. Baker, ’The Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 12-14’, EvQ 46 (1974), p. 230;J.D.G. Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975),pp. 242-43; J. Bassler, ’1 Cor. 12.3—Curse and Confession in Context’, JBL 101(1982), pp. 416-17; R.P. Martin, The Spirit and the Congregation (Grand Rapids:Eerdmans, 1984), p. 9 (who also sees a reference to seizure by a demonic power intheir former worship); Fee, First Corinthians, pp. 577-78; F. Lang, Die Briefe andie Korinther (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1986), p. 163.

1. Taking &OHacgr;ς &aacgr;ν together as giving an iterative force to &eeacgr;γϵσ&thetas;ϵ (see n. 1 on

previous page). A somewhat similar solution is to see &OHacgr;ς as ’picking up’ the earlier&oacgr;τι as giving iterative force to the verb &eeacgr;γϵσ&thetas;ϵ. So Barrett, First Corinthians,p. 278; Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians (trans. J. Leitch; Philadelphia; Fortress Press,1975), p. 204 n. 2; Martin, Spirit, p. 5; Fee, First Corinthians, pp. 576-77. I also

take these two particles as applying to &eeacgr;γϵσ&thetas;ϵ rather than to &aacgr;παγ&oacgr;μϵν&ogr;&igr;.2. It might be objected that ϵ&iacgr;δωλα is a description used by Jews rather than

Gentiles (a Greek would normally think of &aacgr;γ&aacgr;λματα), but freedom must beallowed for Paul to describe pagan phenomena in his own terms.

3. W. Grudem did well in taking 12.2 to refer to travel to idol temples ratherthan ecstasy, but then ruined his own case by trying to make &aacgr;παγ&oacgr;μϵν&ogr;&igr; (passive!)refer to this travel (The Gift of Prophecy in 1 Corinthians [Washington, DC:University Press of America, 1982], pp. 162-64). The term is too strong, and thisalso fails to account for the use of the double passive &eeacgr;γϵσ&thetas;ϵ &aacgr;παγ&oacgr;μϵν&ogr;&igr;. TheCorinthians are said to have been ’brought (&eeacgr;γϵσ&thetas;ϵ) to the cult-images’, which aresilent, i.e., dead and powerless (Martin, Spirit, p. 9).

4. In a text cited by several commentators (Lucian, Dial. Mort. 19.1 [Loeb, VII,p. 161], the use is clearly metaphorical: ’some daimon [i.e. Eros] leads us whereverhe wishes (τ&igr;ς &eeacgr;μ&aacgr;&sfgr; δα&iacgr;μων &aacgr;γϵι &eacgr;ν&thetas;α &aacgr;ν &eacgr;&thetas;&eacgr;λη)’. It is the context, and not the




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arising out of the daily life of a Hellenistic city such as Corinth was.The language of v. 2 evokes the image of a cultic festival procession(the 7tO¡.17tTl) in which the participants normally proceeded along asacred route, led by priests and other celebrants, those carrying cultobjects or a cult image.’ Such processions must have been fairlycommon: ’hardly a festival is without its pompe’, notes W. Burkert,2 2and it would be hard to imagine so much as a month passing withoutat least one festival in a city as large as Corinth. The pompe normallymade its way through the most public area of the city and ended at asanctuary where sacrifices were offered to the god.3 Alternatively theculmination of the procession could be other cultic activities, such as a’viewing’ of cult images in the theater or a bathing of the image.4The best known of such celebrations was the pompe in connection

with the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries, which wound its wayfrom Athens to Eleusis. An inscription contains instructions for a sortof preliminary pompe to the great Eleusinian one. In the former, the’director of the Epheboi’ is charged with leading the Epheboi5 toEleusis and back in order to escort the sacred objects needed for themajor procession:’

By God’s will7 the people have decided to instruct the Director of Epheboito lead (aymv) the Epheboi to Eleusis according to the ancient traditions,

verb &aacgr;γω, which suggests a mental activity. And even then, ecstasy is not intended.1. Carrying cult images in the pompe: Inscriptiones Graecae 1011.10-11, 13-

14, 20 ; 1006.76; 1008.13-14; Inschriften von Magnesia 98 (see below).2. W. Burkert, Greek Religion (trans. J. Raffan; Cambridge, MA: Harvard

University Press, 1985), p. 99.3. Burkert notes, ’To reach a centre such as the Acropolis in Athens, the proces-

sion sets out from the city gates and makes its way through the market place’(Religion, p. 99). There is no reason to suppose that cultic processions elsewhere inGreece and Asia Minor would be any less conspicuous. For a list of pompai men-tioned in literature, papyri and inscriptions, see F. Bömer, ’Pompa’, RE XXI.2(1952), cols. 1878-1994, esp. 1913-74.

4. Bömer, ’Pompa’, cols. 1900, 1908.5. &eacgr;ϕηβ&ogr;&igr; describes (at Athens) young men who have attained the age of mili-

tary service. In the Roman era the college of epheboi was an educational institutionwith something of its military character still surviving.

6. Inscriptiones Graecae, II-III (2nd edn), 1078.9-14 (c. AD 220) (mytranslation).

7. Literally, ’by Good Fortune’ (&aacgr;γα&thetas;&eeacgr; τ&uacgr;χη), though Fortune personifiedcould be invoked as a deity, propitiated, and even made the patron goddess of a city.




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with the accustomed manner of procession (7toJl7tfiç) along with thepriests,l on the thirteenth of the month Boedromion, in order for themto escort (7tapa7t£Jl7tro) the Sacred Things until they reach the

Eleusinium...

At Corinth there was a large sanctuary dedicated to Demeter andKore on the slopes of the Acropolis, which continued in use after therefounding of Corinth up until the fourth century of our era.’ It isalmost certain that there were sacred processions in connection withthis sanctuary, though we do not have any literary record of them.3Evidence also survives at Corinth of the worship of Apollo, Dionysusand Isis (among others), who had their festivals with accompanyingpompai.4 In addition to the processions for the major public cults,there were smaller, private pompai in honor of the dead, or specialsacrifices by individuals or cult societies (9vaiat iÔtffitt1Cai).5 Par-

1. &iacgr;ϵρ&ogr;&iacgr;&sfgr; could be interpreted as from &ogr;&iacgr; &iacgr;ϵρ&ogr;&iacgr;, members of a religious college.If interpreted as dative of τ&aacgr; &iacgr;ϵρ&aacgr; (the ’sacred things’ as in the next line) it cannotmean they proceed to Eleusis with the &iacgr;ϵρ&aacgr;, for the purpose of their going is to bringthem from Eleusis to the Eleusinium at Athens. It would have to mean that they areexpected to proceed ’with the customary manner of the pompe that goes together withthe &iacgr;ϵρ&aacgr;’, i.e., they are to be just as solemn without the sacra as with them.

2. Demeter and Kore are the goddesses honored in the Eleusinian mysteries. Onthe sanctuary at Corinth: N. Bookidis and J. Fisher, ’Sanctuary of Demeter and Koreon Acrocorinth. Preliminary Report V: 1971-73’, Hesperia 43 (1974), pp. 267-91;James Wiseman (’Corinth and Rome I: 228 BC-AD 267’, ANRW, II.7.1 [1979],

pp. 469-71, 509) reports that the remains are impressive, laid out in a roughlydiamond shape which is 91.45 x 56 meters at its longest east—west and north-southaxes. The temenos (outer wall) had two entrances to the road, the main one leadingonto a great central stairway—ideal for processions. The sanctuary also contained a

temple, cleansing areas, ’service rooms’, and several dining halls. Cf. also

Pausanias, 4.7. Demeter and Persephone were very popular goddesses; theirmysteries at Eleusis, unlike most celebrations of mysteries, admitted people of bothsexes and all social classes, including slaves.

3. For a reference to celebration of mysteries of Demeter outside of Athens-Eleusis, see Inschriften von Ephesos, VII.1, no. 3252 (also with an accompanyingpompe).

4. Burkert, Religion, pp. 99-100; Murphy-O’Connor, Corinth, pp. 27, 28, 34;Pausanias, 2.6-7, 8; 3.6; Wiseman (’Corinth’, pp. 473-75, 530) thinks that the’Archaic Temple’ may be to Athena, though most archaeologists writing on Corinthstill identify it with Apollo. Naturally, Athena would have her festal processionsalso.

5. Bömer, ’Pompa’, col. 1902.




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ticipation in such processions was voluntary, and could be requestedby invitation. To be chosen as one of the many kinds of officiants wasregarded as an especial honor, granted generally to those of noblefamilies and high civic officials when the pompe was connected with amajor cult. Following the procession and sacrifice would come theÔlll.1OS0tVta, the ’people’s feast’. There ordinary citizens who other-wise might not see meat on their table could enjoy a piece of roast.’Participation in the pompai and ensuing feasts of private guilds orother cult societies would be primarily reserved for members.

In several references to such pompai the verb Nyw or compounds ofit can be used to describe the ’leading’ of the procession by priests(lepeig, lepop6vIai) or other officials.’ So in Plutarch, Alcibiades34.5-6, Alcibiades himself led (iyev) the sacred procession to Eleusisunder military escort and was regarded by the crowds as the

’mystagogue’ because of his position at the head of the group. Afterthe Eleusinian festival is over he then leads them back again(~n(xv(x,y6t,y(ov). In Plutarch, Lycurgus 30.6, ’to conduct mysteries andprocessions’ is expressed by the formula new J.1.ucrtTlPta kart

7tOJ.1.7táç.3 A good illustration of the size of such a procession and ofthe people involved comes from Magnesia in Asia Minor:’

[31] It has been decreed by the (city) council and the people: the wreath-bearer who always appears with the priest and priestess of ArtemisLeucophryen shall lead the pompe (Èçá[y]nv t1,Jl [= t1,v] 1tOJl7t1Ív) outon the twelfth of the month Artemision and [35] sacrifice the bull whichhas been consecrated, and that together with him in the procession shallcome (oUJl1tOJl1tEÚ£tV) the council and the priests and the chiefmagistrates (icuq apxov2aS) who were elected and the ones who were

1. A pompe ending with a sacrifice and distributions of portions of the victimsto the participants: Inscriptiones Graecae, II (2nd edn), 334. Cf. Bömer, ’Pompa’,col. 1905; A. Malherbe, Social Aspects of Early Christianity (Philadelphia: FortressPress, 2nd edn, 1983), pp. 74-84; G. Theissen, Studien zur Soziologie desUrchristentums (Tübingen: Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1979), pp.272-89; R.

MacMullen, Paganism in the Roman Empire (New Haven: Yale University Press,1981), pp. 39-40.

2. Inscriptiones Graecae, II-III (2nd edn), 1078.7, 11, 20, 31; Inschriften vonMagnesia 98.33-34, 41. π&eacgr;μπω is often used as well of conducting sacredprocessions: Inscriptiones Graecae, II-III (2nd edn), 334.3, 17-19; 1029.10, 13;1030.5; 946.4-5; πρ&ogr;π&eacgr;μπϵ&igr;ν 1029.7; 1030.6.

3. Cf. Inscriptiones Graecae, II, 1078, quoted in Bömer, ’Pompa’, col. 1932.4. Inschriften von Magnesia 98.31-59 (my translation).




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chosen by lot; and the Epheboi and boys and the children, and thosevictorious in the Leucophryena (games), [40] along with the othercontestants who have won athletic contests for a wreath. The wreath-

bearer leading the pompe (aywv Ifiv 7tOI.1.7tf¡V) shall carry wooden imagesof the twelve gods clothed as beautifully as possible; and he shall build arotunda (?) in the agora next to the altar of the twelve gods. He shall alsospread out three of the [45] most beautiful beds, and provide as wellmusic, a flautist, a piper, and a lyre-player. The administrators (oi t.

oncovouol) who are in office on the twelfth of Artemision shall offer inaddition three victims, which they shall sacrifice to Zeus Sosipolis and toArtemis Leucophryen and to the Pythian Apollo: [50] to Zeus the best ramavailable; to Artemis a goat; to Apollo a he-goat. They shall sacrifice toZeus on the altar of Zeus Sosipolis, to Artemis and Apollo on the altar ofArtemis. And the priests of these gods shall receive the customaryperquisites. When they sacrifice [55] the bull they shall distribute portionsto those who participate in the pompe; but the ram and the goat and the he-goat they shall distribute to the wreath-bearer and the priestess and to thePolemarchsl and the presiding officers of the council, and the publicexaminers and those serving (in public office?),2 and the administrators(oi oi1(OVÓ~OB) shall distribute these things.

It can be seen from the above that not only did the procession havethe attraction and venerability of the cult(s) to which it belonged, butit involved strong social ties. All the most important civic officialshave a place in it, lending it their endorsement and both giving andgetting honor by their participation. The pompe is a statement of whois important, and of who belongs to the center of the city’s life. At thesame time the accompanying feast, which would have great attraction,was supplied from meat offered in sacrifice to the gods and goddesseshonored. Thus the pompe becomes a symbol for all the attractions ofpagan life: the attractions of political power, religious cult, social tiesand the need to belong, not to mention the enticing feast. At the sametime, Paul uses the pompe as a symbol of the delusion involved in allof this.The image of a pagan pompe leading a group of Corinthians about

the city is a powerful one, and best fits the prepositional phrase npbSia ei6wXa, literally ’to the images’, i.e., the cult images that would be

1. The Polemarchs may have been part of the group designated Archons, as atAthens; or it may have been a military command of some sort.

2. τ&ogr;&iacgr;ς λητ&ogr;&upsi;ργ&eeacgr;σασ&igr;ν.




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viewed in the sanctuary at the end of the procession.’ It was for the

gods as seen in the images (probably the two were not very clearlydistinguished in the common person’s mind) that sacrificial animalswere led in the pompe as well.’ Perhaps Paul plays on this ’leading’ ofboth people and animals by implying that in their former practices theCorinthians were like the animals themselves, led away captive toslaughter (ó>ç &v iíy£cr8£ å.7taYóll£VOt). The pompe then symbolizesthe ignorance and slavery of the Corinthians’ pre-conversion life, inwhich they simply followed where they were led, like the sacrificialanimals in the procession. The pompe is one of the most public,elaborate, expensive and exciting events in the ’liturgical year’ of asanctuary. Yet it ends in a hopeless encounter with dead wood. Theimages of the gods are honored, prayed to, clothed; they are set out towatch cultic activities, athletic contests, or theater performances; butthey are deaf and helpless.

Paul repeats the verb ’to lead’ with a twist, in imitation of the

prophetic style of the Old Testament,’ by using an-ayw in conjunc-tion with aye. anayw can have many meanings in Greek, including’to carry away’ (physically) or, in a negative sense, ’to lead away byforce’, ’to be carried off a captive (of war)’, ’to be captured’ or even’to be arrested’.’ The image, then, is not of being ’carried away’mentally by the ecstasy of pagan Bacchanalia. Rather, it is that thosewho are ’led’ by pagan priests and society to the worship of othergods are really made ’captives’ to a dark force. They are ’prisoners’as it were. Earlier in the letter Paul had already expressed his opinion

1. Or possibly a reference to being led in the direction of the images carried atthe head of a procession. This also explains the use of &eeacgr;γϵσ&thetas;ϵ within the social lifeof ancient Corinth.

2. Inschriften von Magnesia 98.61-62: &aacgr;γ&eacgr;τω δ&eacgr; &oacgr; &eacgr;ργ&ogr;λαβ&eeacgr;σας τ&oacgr;ν τα&uacgr;ρ&ogr;ν ϵ&iacgr;ς τ&eeacgr;ν &aacgr;γπρ&aacgr;ν; Inscriptiones Graecae, II-III (2nd edn), 896.11-12: πρ&ogr;σαγ&aacgr;γϵ&igr;νδ&eacgr; α&uacgr;τ&oacgr;ν κα&iacgr; &thetas;&uacgr;μα &OHacgr;ς &eeacgr;δ&uacgr;νατ&ogr; κ&aacgr;λλ&igr;στ&ogr;ν; Inscriptiones Graecae, II-III (2ndedn), 1030.14-15: Δ&igr;&ogr;ν&upsi;σ&iacgr;&ogr;&igr;ς &eacgr;τϵρ[&ogr;ν τα&uacgr;ρ&ogr;ν &OHacgr;ς &oacgr;τι κ&aacgr;λλ&igr;σ]τ&ogr;ν π[αρ&eeacgr;γαγ&ogr;ντ&eeacgr;ι π&ogr;μπ&eeacgr;&igr; &oacgr;ν κα&iacgr; &eacgr;&thetas;&upsi;σαν &eacgr;ν τ&OHacgr;ι &iacgr;ϵ]ρ&OHacgr;ι; cf. also Inscriptiones Graecae, II-III,334.3, 17-19.

3. E.g. the verbal plays on names in the Hebrew text of Mic. 1.10-16.4. Like the English ’carried off: LSJ s.v. ; cf. Mt. 26.57; 27.2, 31; Acts 12.19;

cf. A.T. Robertson and A. Plummer, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on theFirst Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1914), p. 260;A. Schlatter, Paulus der Bote Jesu (Stuttgart: Calwer Verlag, 1934), pp. 331-32.




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that though an idol is nothing-that is, the cult image has no life orpower-yet there is an evil power at work in the cult, and service tothese ’demons’ is absolutely opposed to service of the true God(10.19-21). Indeed, pagan popular philosophy asserted that daimonesattended both oracles and ‘images’, providing answers to queries andsupernatural power to work miracles in answer to prayer.’ While thedaimones were regarded by pagans as often being good creatures whoserved as intermediaries of the greater god(s), Christians and mostJews held the daimonia (as they preferred to call them) to be unquali-fiedly evil.

In my translation I take dKay6pevoi as a kind of circumstantialparticiple:’ ’whenever you were led [in the processions] you were[really] being carried away captive’. In this way, it is not necessary toread the participle as a pleonastic construction with 1’,rc, and theproblem of how to relate T)TE to two predications (’when you wereGentiles’ and ’you were being led away’) disappears.The Corinthians are reminded that in their former life they were

enslaved, in ignorance of the true God and his workings, to evilpowers associated with the pagan cultus. By implication, these powerswere associated with the entire structure of pagan society. TheCorinthians were led about in a manner they did not truly understand,as the crowd is led by the pagan officiants in a pompe. The apostleproceeds not only in v. 3 but throughout chs. 12-14 to explain to themwhat it is to be really ’led’ by God~r, as he puts it, to speak andwork ’by the Holy Spirit’ (vv. 3, 7; chs. 13, 14). 3

1. Plato, Epinomis 984d8-e3; Plutarch, De defectu oraculorum 416d-417a;Albinus (?), Didaskalion, ch. 15; P. Merlan, ’Greek Philosophy from Plato toPlotinus’, in The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Medieval Philosophy (ed.A.H. Armstrong; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965), p. 72; JohnDillon, The Middle Platonists (London: Duckworth, 1977), pp. 90-91, 287-88.2 Cf. H.W. Smyth, Greek Grammar (rev. edn G.M. Messing; Cambridge, MA:

Harvard University Press, 1956), pp. 456-59, esp. sections 2062, 2068.3. Martin believes the contrast made in vv. 2-3 is between the pagan who ’was

seized, overcome, and "violated" by a demonic power’ and the presence of the HolySpirit who, by implication, comes in a more peaceable, voluntary, and orderly fash-ion (Spirit, pp. 9-10; The Worship of God [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982],p. 178).




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ABSTRACT

1 Cor. 12.2 has presented translators and commentators with problems because ofthe terseness of expression and its unusual grammar. It is frequently taken in modemexegesis as referring to occurrences of ecstasy in the pagan worship in which theCorinthians formerly participated. The author proposes that the diction and imageryare better understood as a reference to participation in a cultic religious procession,the pompe. The pompe was a common event in Greek civic life and a reference toone would be readily recognized by the Corinthians. The participle attayou-evoi(’led away’) is read as a circumstantial participle, not as a pleonastic constructionwith T71-re.




1 corinthians 12.2 a pagan pompe (t. paige)

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