The Influence of the Murder Commandment in 1 Corinthians

Abstract

This article investigates the influence of the Decalogue commandment not to murder in 1 Corinthians as a case study of Paul’s dependence on the law for ethics. Paul does not quote or allude to the murder commandment in the letter. However, there is good evidence that the murder commandment, in line with its interpretation in the Jewish Scriptures and early Jewish moral teaching, is a fundamental presupposition of Paul’s moral teaching in 1 Corinthians. This can be seen in Paul’s use of murder as a metaphor and of antisocial vices as synecdoches for the murder commandment, his concern about the moral impurity of such murder, and the close relationship between Paul’s call to love and his call to forsake such antisocial vices. Reading 1 Corinthians with the murder commandment in mind, especially as it was understood in ancient Judaism, sheds light on the nature of the problems in the church of God in Corinth and clarifies Paul’s response to the problems in the church.