Spiritual Weakness, Illness, And Death in 1 Corinthians 11:30 (Critical Essay)

In 1 Cor 11:30 Paul speaks of the consequences of abuses in the Corinthian community related to the celebration of the Lord's Supper; he has just warned the Corinthians against eating and drinking the Eucharist in an unworthy way [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], in a state of sin. The sin referred to in the immediate context is division within the community, disorders in the celebration of the supper, lack of charity toward the poor on the part of the rich, gluttony, and drunkenness. Partaking of the supper when the church is divided is a sin against Christ's body. (1) Now, in v. 30 Paul observes: [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. There are no textual problems in the Greek. English translations include the following: "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep" (KJV); "For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep" (ASV); "On this account many among you are weak and infirm, and a good many are fallen asleep" (Darby); "That's why so many of you are weak and sick and a considerable number are dying" (International Standard Version). (2) I think that the last is the best rendering; indeed, I would translate: "For this reason, among you, many are weak and ill, and a good number are dying (or: are dead)." What is more, I shall argue that this disease and death can be understood in a spiritual sense, that they were understood in this sense by most ancient exegetes, and that such a reading fits naturally into a common Hellenistic trope and into Paul's linguistic use. Practically all contemporary commentators agree that the illness and death to which Paul refers here are to be interpreted in a physical sense, as bodily sickness and death. The only exception of which I am aware is an article by Sebastian Schneider, who rightly points out grammatical and logical difficulties arising from the physical interpretation, one of which is that, if [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] referred to persons who are physically dead, this would contradict the notion conveyed by their being said to be "among you" [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], in the community. (3) On the basis of Philonic parallels in the metaphorical use of [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] in reference to the sleep of the mind, he argues that the "weak" and "ill" are weak in faith (he takes [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] as practically synonyms), and those asleep are those lethargic in their faith.