Mental Exercise

“Written on the body is a secret code only visible in certain lights; the accumulation of a lifetime gather there. In places the palimpsest is so heavily worked that the letters feel like Braille. I like to keep my body rolled up away from prying eyes. Never unfold too much, tell the whole story.” (Winterson, 89)

“Now the phenomenon of the social body is the effect not of a consensus but of the materiality of power operating on the very bodies of individuals.” (Gordon, 55)

The two quotes inserted here hint at the connection between the human physical and self-identity and power. There is recognition that the human body, per se, as the stage where both power and self-identity is being staged. The body can be translated like a book / text through which we can discover the identity of a person and the play of power, whether earthly or spiritual. It is in view of this that I tried to explore how Paul used the trope of the human body in the letter of Ephesians for discussion on self / corporate identity through a redefinition of ‘the body / bodies’ on which God’s ownership and power is displayed. This is just some thoughts that I have as I tried to make connections between the three subjects: body, power and identity in understanding the biblcal text. It is my hope that more enlightened person would give me your valuable critic and feedback and suggetsions.
It is acknowledged that a big part of Ephesians revolves around the central themes of power and identity (Snodgrass, 12) but seldom did any author see the connection between the two themes. Numerous scholars have written on the identity formation function of Ephesians (How can Jews and Gentiles be the ‘one people of God’?) and in recent years there are a number of authors who picked p on the ‘powers’ language in Ephesians, among whom are Wink, Arnold and Roberts. However, there is yet any prominent work that relates the two themes together in their readings of Ephesians. This lack, I suggest, is due to the inattentiveness to the sociological, cultural and religious implications played by the human body.
The body, ever since the rise of the Gnostics’ and Descartes’ dualism, has been relegated to a minor role or totally absent in our discourses. The mind-body / spirit-body dualism has skewed reading of our text toward ‘ideas’ and ‘concepts’ as the key player in the drama, and failed to see use of the ‘body’ as a trope to create distance between ethnic groups and formation of the ‘us-them’ special location. The human body played a major role in the sociological and religious grid of the ancient Jews and Greeks; it is the outward manifestation of their identity and status among their peers and ‘the other’, an indication of the insiders and outsiders. The ancient people used the body to demarcate different ethnic identity and physiognomic was an important discipline as well. For example, Tacitus described ‘the peoples of Germany … … [using physical traits such as] fierce blue eyes, red hair, tall frames …’ (Germinia 4.1-2) People are identified by their physical appearance and physical marks (like Braille) which can be read by observers. Our ethnicity, like sex, is visible identity marked in the body (Alcoff, 164) which is produced and shaped in a variety of ways according to historical, social, cultural and geographical exigencies; these factors worked together to form the body of a determinate type. (Alcoff, 185) The ‘Jewish body’ and the ‘Greek body’ are differentiated by a mark / stigmata which demarcate the ‘chosen body’ and the rejected body. The Jew’s body as the ‘chosen body’ is marked with the visible cut on the phallus – the circumcision, while the absent of this wound on the Gentile / Greek body spelled God’s rejection. This understanding of the ‘chosen body’ as belonging to Yahweh can be traced from the Old Testament through the inter-testament writings to the New Testament (including the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and Aprocrypha).
The chosenness of the Jewish body is further reinforced by the conscientious guarding and keeping of the body according to the Law. The Old Testament laws are filled with many that govern the body and bodily activities, e.g. Leviticus 21:5 in regard to funeral rites, “They shall not make any baldness on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make cuts in their flesh. They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God … so they shall be holy.” There is a direct relation between the Jew’s body and God’s power. God’s power is directed at the human body through which he demonstrates his sovereignty and choice. Only the an body that is governed by the laws of God can be the locus which he demonstrates his power and thus authenticate the chosenness of that body. The power of God directed on the body through the willing subjugation to his laws and demonstrated through visible outward showing authenticates that body as the body chosen by God – the people of God.
How does this work out in Ephesians? Paul in Ephesians is dealing with the reconciliation of two bodies – Jews’ and Greeks’ / Gentiles’ – in the one body of Christ through the body of Jesus which is a subset of the overarching narrative of the book as delineated in 1:10, “… an administration suitable to the fullness of time, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in heaven and on earth.” The ‘summing up’ of the different bodies in the one body of Christ is the first issue dealt by Paul in his letter. He begins with an affirmation of the chosenness of the body of Jesus by coagulating God’s power on the body of Christ, “…the surpassing greatness of His power … … in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised him from the dead and seated him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all (1:19-23).” The body of Jesus which seemingly is rejected by God who abandoned him to the powers of this world is now authenticated as the chosen body through the demonstration of all the power of God on and through this body. This recalled the story of Abraham and Sarah who were as good as dead, barren, and seemingly cursed because of childlessness, were authenticated as the chosen pair through the working of God’s power to resurrect the body with the birth of Isaac.
This election of God is confirmed by the stigmata of the covenant – the wound on the male genital – which served as a reminder and identity marker of the status to Abraham’s descendants. It is through this broken body that the Jews were able to approach the presence of God and constitute the community of God. Paul transferred this image to the person of Christ and applied it to the forming of the new corporate body of God, which include the different bodies. The different bodies, stigmatized or not by the wound on the phallus, can now approach the presence of God through the wounded body of Christ, as Paul has said that “now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (2:13).” It is now through this body, the Church, which God has chosen and through which He will authenticate through the outworking of His power through this Body, so that “the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places (3:10)”, and God himself may be glorified ‘in the church, i.e. in Christ Jesus, (en th ekklhsia kai en Cristw Ihsou, see Zerwick, 455.b.z. This reading takes a close identification of the Church with Jesus Christ.) to all generations forever and ever (3:21).”
The religio-ethnic distance created by the difference in body-composition and constitution (‘far and near’) is reduced by the abolition of the Jewish and Grecian body through the deconstruction and reconstruction of the body through Jesus Christ. There is now neither Jewish nor Grecian body, there is neither slave’s body nor free man’s body, and there is neither male nor female body; for all are now members of the one chosen body – the Body of Christ, i.e. the Church. Those who are formerly without the wound / stigmata can now be part of the Body because of the stigmata / wound of Jesus; those who have the stigmata / wound recognized that the circumcised body is deconstructed on the Cross and God has brought forth a new wounded body. Hence, it is now through his body that both have access to God having been reconciled through his body to God.
The ‘powers’ language in Ephesians do not function, as suggested by Arnold, to alleviate the fear of ‘dark spiritual forces’ of the Ephesians but a troupe to designate the identity between the chosen body and rejected body. The chosen body is the one which is the medium through which God display his power as compared to the rejected body as the channel for the play out of demonic powers. This can be read clearly in our text. The Gentile’s body is the playground of the ‘prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience (2:2)’, whereas the chosen body is the ‘His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works (2:10).’ This belief in human as agent of cosmic powers is prevalent in the ancient world is made possible within their religio-narrative(s). The nature of power that operates through a person’s body shows who the master of that body is. This, then, provides us with an alternative to understand Ephesians 6:10ff by placing it within this understanding. The warfare called for is not that as exemplified by the ‘Charismatic power-broker’ in today’s churches, but a less spiritualized or ‘demythologized’ spiritual warfare. I suggest that Paul is calling for the alterations of bodily life to reflect the characters of God (truthfulness, righteousness, peace-making, faithfulness), living out the reality of our salvation (Ph’p 2:12-13), and living in reliance of God (by living a life governed by His Word and prayer). This understanding seems more in tune with Paul’s thought if we compare it with Galatians 5:22-23. Our text seems to have the same function as the Galatians text in calling the people to exhibit a new way of life that is in accordance with the Gospel or ‘conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ (Ph’p 1:27).’
The religio-ethnic identity of each people is portrayed through the body as the stage for the play out of their identity through (the absent or present of; (in)visible) body markings and the demonstration of their God’s power. The Jewish body is chosen because it has the mark of the Sovereign’s acceptance (the circumcision) and authenticated through the display of the Sovereign’s powers through that same body (story of Abraham, Moses, and Elijah et al.). Whereas, the Grecian body is rejected because of the lack of the bodily mark (uncircumcision) and the channel for the display of rival / inferior powers of ‘the gods of this world’. This enmity is resolved by the deconstruction of the bodies on the Cross through the stigmatized body of Christ through which both Jews and Gentiles can now be part of the chosen body (the Body of Christ) through their incorporation as members of Christ.