Texts in Conversation
Genesis describes a man leaving his parents to unite with his wife and become one. Paul quotes this verse in 1 Corinthians to argue that joining with a prostitute likewise makes two people one flesh.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 2:24
Hebrew Bible
23 Then the man said, “This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife, and they become one family. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.
1 Corinthians 6:16
New Testament
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that anyone who is united with a prostitute is one body with her? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But the one united with the Lord is one spirit with him.
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Notes and References
“... To sleep with a prostitute was natural enough for a young man in Corinth. Jews admitted that a bachelor who remained chaste in a great city must be an outstandingly pious man. For Paul, to sleep with a prostitute involved nothing less than becoming ‘one flesh’ with her, as surely as Adam had become one flesh with Eve. It was a startling use of an image of physical joining usually applied only to husband and wife. ...”
Brown, Peter
The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity
(pp. 51-52) Columbia University Press, 1988
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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