Acts 15:20 The extent of ἀπὸ / ἀλισγημάτων

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Please quote the Greek text you are discussing directly in your post if it is reasonably short - do not ask people to look it up. This is not a beginner's forum, competence in Greek is assumed.
David Lim
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Re: Can ritual impurity include πορνεία?

Post by David Lim »

Stephen Hughes wrote:
David Lim wrote:For whatever it is worth, I found http://www.mjstudies.com/storage/Mark%207.19b.pdf, which states "four pollutions" on page 10, however it makes some very strange claims, such as that "πορνεια" has to do with ritual impurity, ...
The URL that you mean to refer to is http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eq/2002-4_291.pdf . The detail that you are referring to is on the 10th page of the article, which is numbered as page 300 in the work.
Thanks! I apparently copied the wrong URL haha!
Stephen Hughes wrote:David I admire your astuteness :ugeek: in noticing that "ritual impurity" includes πορνεία in the reasoning of that article. I don't, however, find it "strange" that πορνεία would be used of ritual defilement / impurity in a very early Christian reference.

[...]

In other words, I don't find this to be a "very strange claim ..."
I do know what you describe, but I don't agree that it is relevant here, because the reason for staying away from "πορνεια" is primarily moral in nature and has nothing to do with ritual purity. For example Matt 5:32 says that "πορνεια" is the only valid reason for divorce. Sins of any kind will cause uncleanness, not just "πορνεια", so I don't see much reason to say that the reference to "πορνεια" in Acts is a matter of ritual impurity as described in the article. In any case I think that it is possible for Acts 15:20 to refer to four pollutions that stem from moral principles rather than considerations of ritual purity. I don't want to elaborate on that too much, since this is not the place for interpretation, but in short idolatry is insulting to the true God, strangling animals is a cruel way of killing them, blood is supposed to contain the life and is supposed to be poured out and not consumed, and of course "πορνεια" is one type of immorality. As for why those four and not others are mentioned, it could be because they are very common among non-Jews, but this is all just my speculation, so it would be better if someone knows some reference that shows that the Jews considered precisely these four things to be necessary for non-Jews based on ritual purity.
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Eeli Kaikkonen
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Re: Acts 15:20 The extent of ἀπὸ / ἀλισγημάτων

Post by Eeli Kaikkonen »

cwconrad wrote: I had read somewhere -- and can't recall where now -- that there are four kinds of impurities from which the rabbis insisted that Gentiles should abstain if they were to associate with Jews.
For example Craig Keener: the legendary The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Also Hard Sayings of the Bible explains similarly, but doesn't mention rabbinical opinions. The idea is that those things mentioned are not about morality but necessary compromises so that in mixed congregations both Jews and Gentiles could co-exist and celebrate the Lord's Supper together.

If you can wait for couple of months, this is the way to go: Keener, Acts: An Exegetical Commentary, Volume 3. If it's not there (with every imaginable detail), it's nowhere. (Despite the name it's not a full exegetical commentary but about the social and historical background. Yes, 3 vols over 1000 pages each!)
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