What does Paul mean by “members”?

Explanation:

Paul exhorts the Romans not to present their members (τὰ μέλη) as instruments of unrighteousness. In other words, Paul warns the Romans not to sin with their members. What are members? Likely the term refers to a person’s natural capacities and abilities. We can detect this because of what Paul means by body in Romans 6:12. There he tells the Romans not to let sin reign in their mortal bodies. What he means by mortal bodies is person in contact with the world.⁴ Now, Paul says not to present one’s members as instruments of righteousness. Given that body refers to the person in contact with the world, the members of the body must have to the do with members of the person. Of course, the members of a person are that person’s capacities and abilities, so members refers to the capacities and abilities of a person.⁵

Counterargument:

This argument depends on the assumption that when Paul refers to the mortal body in Romans 6:12 he has in mind the person in contact with the world. Of course, it could be that Paul has in mind not that but physical body. And if Paul refers to the physical body in Romans 6:12, then the members of the body must be the body parts or limbs. So unless this argument can justify why we should take body in Romans 6:12 to refer to the person in contact with the world, we should take members to refer to body parts.

Response to counterargument:

We can justify the fact that body refers to the person in contact with the world because of what Paul writes in Romans 6:11.⁶ In particular, Paul writes that the Romans must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. Notice that by referring to the Romans as yourselves, Paul highlights not just that the physical body is dead to sin, but the whole person is. Paul then writes in Romans 6:12 that they should not let sin reign over their mortal bodies. Given that he just wrote that as persons they are dead to sin, not letting sin reign over the mortal body likely has to do with them not letting sign reign over their existence as persons in contact with the world. In fact, Paul reinforces this argument because after telling the Romans not to present their members to sin, he tells them to present yourselves to God. Thus, Paul again associates the members with the person.

Explanation:

We can understand what Paul means by μέλη by determining how he uses the same term elsewhere. In particular, in Romans 12:4–5 he uses it to refer to various abilities and capacities.⁷ There he explains that the body has many μέλη and not all have the same function. In the same way, we are one body in Christ and μέλη of one another. By suggesting that not all μέλη have the same function, Paul implies that he has in mind a person’s various capacities and abilities.

Counterargument:

This argument is not enough to show that μέλη refers to the various capacities of a person, because it simply pushes the problem back. That is, this view uses the meaning of μέλη in Romans 12:4–5 to inform Paul’s meaning in Romans 6:13, but by doing so, it simply assumes that the term refers to the various capacities of a person. Of course, it is just as likely that the term means body parts, for we can just as easily assert that it refers to such in Romans 12:4–5, which implies that when Paul exhorts the Romans not to use their μέλη as instruments of righteousness in Romans 6:13, he has in mind physical body parts.

The weakness of this view is that one prominent dictionary meaning of the term μέλη is body parts. Further, the immediate context lends to this meaning so that the natural meaning of μέλη in Romans 6:13 is arguably body parts. Of course, this leads us to wonder exactly what it means to sin with one’s body parts.

Explanation:

Paul warns the Romans not to present their members as instruments of unrighteousness. Likely, when he refers to μέλη he has in mind their body parts. We can detect this because we know that a person is comprised of a soul and a body, but that sin cannot operate on the soul of a person.¹¹ Of course, Paul is warning the Romans not to let sin operate in their μέλη, and since sin cannot operate in a person’s soul, and a person consists of a soul and body, he must have in mind sin operating on the body. Of course, the μέλη of the body is not the body itself, but the parts of the body. So Paul is warning the Romans not to present their body parts as instruments of unrighteousness.¹²

Counterargument:

There are several problems with this argument. First, we do not find Paul separating the soul from the body as this argument suggests. In fact, Paul was raised Jewish, and Jews typically did not separate the soul from the body but considered the person in their holistic state.¹³ Second, even if Paul did separate the soul from the body, there is no indication from Paul that sin operates only in the body and not in the soul. Third, the notion that sin could only operate in the body and not the soul is not coherent. For those who separate the soul from the body, it is generally held that the soul includes the intellect and will. Now, sin has to do with the intellect and will acting in a way that is contrary to God’s will, because the body, aside from the direction of the intellect and will, cannot do anything. In other words, sin cannot operate in the body aside from the intellect and will, because when considered apart from the intellect and will, the body is simply a collection of particles, and particles do not sin. Thus, we cannot conclude that μέλη (members) refers to body parts based on the notion that the soul is separate from the body.

Explanation:

Paul often emphasizes that sin has to do with the physical body. For example, in Romans 12:1 he exhorts the Romans to present their bodies as a living sacrifice to God. Likewise, in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul explains that he disciplines his body to keep it under control.¹⁴ That Paul associates sin with the body can inform what he means in Romans 6:13 when he warns the Romans not to present their μέλη (members) as instruments of unrighteousness. For the term can be used to denote a body part.¹⁵ That the term in the singular can denote a body part, along with the fact that Paul associates sin with the body, implies that when Paul refers to their members in Romans 6:13, he has in mind their body parts.

Counterargument:

The problem with this argument is that it assumes that when Paul refers to the body, he has in mind the physical body. Now, we have good reason to take it that when Paul refers to the body, he has in mind the whole person. For in Romans 6:6 Paul refers to being in the body of sin, and in Romans 6:12 he refers to the mortal body. That Paul characterizes the body as the body of sin and mortal suggests that he has in mind the person’s whole existence, not just their physical body.¹⁶ Further, the term μέλη not only means physical body parts but can also refer to the parts of a whole.¹⁷ Of course, that μέλη can refer to parts of the whole is consistent with how Paul uses the term body to refer to the whole person. For if body refers to the whole person, then when Paul warns the Romans not to present their members as instruments of unrighteousness, he simply means any part of their person, whether their physical body parts, mind, will, or anything else.

Response to counterargument:

There are other passages where Paul uses the term μέλη where he clearly has in mind body parts. In particular, in 1 Corinthians 12:1–31 Paul compares the church to the members of the body. He then indicates what he means by members of the body pointing out that these include things like the eye and the ear. Clearly Paul uses the term μέλη to refer to actual body parts. Likewise, he likely uses the term μέλη to refer to body parts in Romans 6:13.

The one weakness of this view is that it is not clear how the members of the body could sin without the involvement of the intellect and will. That is, without the involvement of the whole person. For body parts are nothing more than collections of particles.