Eros and the Christ: Longing and Envy in Paul's Christology

4 Abduction Disregarded

4 Abduction Disregarded Hades carried her off to wed her . . .1 AΡΠΑΓΜΟΣ Although it is impertinent to say so, scholars have misunderstood a crucial word in Phil 2:6-8. If an error has occurred, however, it is entirely understandable, since sensitive minds recoil when ἁρπαγμός, the word in question, appears in one of earliest and most influential christological statements: “he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped (οὐκ ἁρπαγμὸν ἠγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ).” The usual translations of ἁρπαγμός (“thing to be grasped” or “thing grasped after”) accord with traditional christological doctrine. Yet neither translation is correct. As strange as it may sound, in Paul’s day ἁρπαγμός meant “erotic abduction.” There is great theological pressure not to recognize this odd but accurate definition, since many (but not all) past commentators assert and present-day Pauline scholars agree that Phil 2:6-8 tells of Christ’s humble obedience to God, not some story about sexual violence. Furthermore, it is often claimed that, by giving up divine attributes and privileges rightfully his own or by not grasping after them in the first place, Christ Jesus illustrates the self-effacement that is required of all humans if they wish to flee Adam’s waywardness and live restored lives under the lordship of God. Christ emptied himself to show that his obedience was accomplished with human faculties alone, without the boost provided by flesh infused with divinity. Or, in an alternate narrative, his giving up of divine powers and privileges was itself the perfect illustration of obedience to God. In either interpretation, it is required that ἁρπαγμός in 85 2:6 be translated “a thing to be grasped” or “a thing grasped after.” Divinity is assumed to be a substance that can be retained, let go, or pursued. Such an interpretation further demands that ἁρπαγμός cover the same linguistic ground as a related term ἁρπαγμά, which without question designates “a thing to be grasped” or “a thing grasped after”.2 The term ἁρπαγμός, which occurs only in Phil 2:6 and a handful of times outside of the New Testament if early Christian commentaries are excluded, is defenseless against the lexical onslaught led by ἁρπαγμά. Beginning in the early church and continuing to the present day, interpreters insist that Paul unquestionably must have meant the more frequently occurring ἁρπαγμά—an understandable claim, given the weirdness of interjecting the topic of erotic abduction into the story of the Son of God’s assumption of human flesh. Just imagine the perplexity of Christian philologists. Tracking down linguistic leads in ancient Greek literature, these researchers had hoped to find a sense of the word ἁρπαγμός that would be appropriate to the conceptual matrix of traditional christological dogma presumed to underlie the Christ Hymn, that is, the metaphysical category of substance and the ethical topics of ruling and subordination. Their investigations took them instead to a treatise on education doubtfully attributed to Plutarch (50–120 c.e.), where ἁρπαγμός refers to a rite of initiation on Crete that through sexual violence guided boys to adulthood. Closest in time to the Christ Hymn, this occurrence of the word has never been brought to bear on the Phil 2:6. Plutarch’s treatise takes up a wellworn educational topic, the attention teachers might appropriately show to the lads in their care: Now we ought indeed to drive away those whose desire is for mere outward beauty, but to admit without reserve those who are lovers of the soul. And while the sort of love prevailing at Thebes and in Elis is to be avoided, as well as the so-called kidnapping in Crete (ἁρπαγμόv), that which is found in Athens and in Lacedaemon is to be emulated.3 Admittedly, a comparison of Plutarch’s condemnation of the abduction of young males at Thebes, in Elis, and on Crete with Phil 2:6 is silly if the presupposition of the investigation is a christology oriented to divine sovereignty. But if the task is to reimagine Christology through a longing that moves both Paul and Christ in their innards, then this brief mention of sexual seizure in Crete is intriguing and goes a long way to define what Christ Jesus 86 | Eros and the Christ did not regard as a pattern for his own narrative, even if it is not immediately clear what to make of it. We will return to this treatise later in the chapter. Making Sense of Abduction If the erotic meaning of ἁρπαγμός in Phil 2:6 is...