15 THE PAULINE KEY WORDS ΠΝΕΥΜΑ AND ΣAΡΞ AND THEIR TRANSLATION SAM CREVE, MARK JANSE, KRISTOFFEL DEMOEN This paper examines the meaning of the Pauline key words νεῡμα and σάρξ and the way they are rendered in recent Bible translations. The first part presents a new approach to lexical semantics called cognitive gram- mar by which the various meanings of νεῡμα and σάρξ are represented as networks connected by semantic relations such as metonymy and metaphor. The second part investigates the way in shich recent Bible translations navi- gate between concordant and interpretative translation: νεῡμα is generally translated concordantly as “S/spirit”, whereas σάρξ is often rendered inter- pretatively to avoid the traditional concordant translation “flesh”. *** Γνωρίζω γὰρ ὑμῖν, ἀδελφοί, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τὸ εὐαγγελισθὲν ὑπ’ ἐμοῦ ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν κατὰ ἄνθρωπον· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐγὼ παρὰ ἀνθρώπου παρέλαϐον αὐτὸ οὔτε ἐδιδάχθην, ἀλλὰ δι’ ἀποκαλύψεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. (Gal 1,11-12)1. For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (NRSV)2. 1. Introduction With Paul we go back to the roots of Christianity. His letters to the Thessalonians and the Galatians are the oldest Christian documents that have come down to us3. In these letters, just as in Paul’s later writings, we find theological propositions which, through the interpretations of the Church Fathers, would be adopted as important dogmata of Christian- ity. In this way Paul, as is well known, has had an enormous impact on Western culture. The terms πνεῦμα “spirit” and σάρξ “flesh” are key words in Paul’s theology. In the limited corpus of preserved letters, the words occur 184 and 108 times respectively4. In 22 cases they are contrasted to each other. The Greek text is quoted from E. Nestle – B. & K. Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece 1 et Latine (Stuttgart 198427). New Revised Standard Bible - anglicised text (Oxford 2003). 2 R.E. Brown, An introduction to the New Testament (New York 1997) 468. 3 The Corpus Paulinum comprises all the New Testament letters attributed to Paul. 4 Although Paul’s authorship in some letters is notoriously disputed or even proved false, we Filología Neotestamentaria - Vol. XX - 2007, pp. 15-31 Facultad de Filosofía y Letras - Universidad de Córdoba (España)