© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2007
Novum Testamentum 49 (2007) 40-53 www.brill.nl/nt
Novum
Testamentum
A Symposium in Rom. 14:17?
A Note on Paul’s Terminology
Peter
-
Ben Smit
Berne
1. Introduction
The present paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of the
Pauline interaction with meal etiquette and thus with the contemporary
discourse on symposiastic ideology. In the discussion about this, most atten-
tion is commonly given to 1 Cor. 8, 10, 11:17-34, and Rom. 14:1-23. Of
these texts, 1 Cor. 8, 10 and Rom. 14:1-23 deal with the question of eating
sacriicial foodstufs (especially meat) and 1 Cor. 11:17-34 deals with the
‘etiquette,’ or, for that matter, liturgy, of the Corinthian ƦƱƭƥƝƦƩ ƠơƬƩƫƩ
(1 Cor. 11:20). The overarching interest of all four texts is similar: securing
the unity and order of the respective communities expressed as it is in their
communal meals: the ‘weak’ should not be outplayed by the ‘strong’ as soon
as it comes to eating foodstufs sacriiced to ‘ idols’ (1 Cor. 8, 10, Rom. 14)
and class diferences should play no role at the celebration of the Eucharist
(see 1 Cor. 11:17-34, compare Jas. 2:2-5).
As the title indicates, here the focus will be on Paul’s characterization of
ƞƝƯƥƧơƛƝ ưƫ Ƥơƫ as it surfaces within his discussion of the Roman
Christians’ diet (Rom. 14:17). Commonly, this vs. is interpreted within the
context of Pauline theology,
1
in which the concepts of ƠƥƦƝƥƫƯƹƩƣ,
2
ơƭƚƩƣ,
3
and ƳƝƭƘ
4
are, in descending order of importance, anything but insigniicant
1)
here are no exceptions known to the author.
2)
See the occurrence of the noun ƠƥƦƝƥƫƯƹƩƣ in: Rom. (29), 1 Cor. (1), 2 Cor. (7), Gal. (4),
Phil. (3), and the verb ƠƥƦƝƥƸω occurring in Rom. (14), 1 Cor. (2), and Gal. (6).
3)
See Rom. (10), 1 Cor. (4), 2 Cor. (2), Gal. (3), Phil. (3), 1 hess. (3), Phlm. (1).
4)
Compare ƳƝƭƘ in: Rom. (3), 2 Cor. (5), Phil. (5), 1 hess., (4), and ƳƝƛƭω in Rom. (3),
1 Cor. (3), 2 Cor. (8), Phil. (7), 1 hess. (2).
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2007 DOI: 10.1163/004810007X163109