Sam Creve, Mark Janse, Kristoffel Demoen 16 The starting point of our investigation into the terms πνεῦμα and σάρξ is a lecture candide of the Corpus Paulinum, an approach that tries to avoid any preliminary conception of the interpretation of Paul’s theology. By just observing the terms πνεῦμα and σάρξ in their context, we enter the domain of two disciplines that are usually considered auxiliary sciences to theology and exegesis: semantics and traductology. In the first sec- tion a contextual description of the meanings of both terms is presented, without reference to the exegetical tradition. We adopt the methodology of a recent development in linguistics: cognitive semantics. In the second section we analyse the translation of πνεῦμα and σάρξ in recent English Bible translations, clarifying as much as possible the link between mean- ing and representation in translation. 2. The meaning of Paul’s πνεῦμα and σάρξ Οὐ πᾶσα σὰρξ ἡ αὐτὴ σάρξ (1 Cor 15,39) Not all flesh is alike (NRSV) Imagine someone reading Paul’s letters in the original language with- out a single notion of the meaning of the key words πνεῦμα and σάρξ. He would observe that the words appear in different contexts and his impression of their meaning would be modified by every single context. In the case of πνεῦμα and σάρξ, where the contexts sometimes differ dramatically, he would not be able to construct a coherent view of the meanings, unless he classified the contexts into more homogeneous groups and tried to form an image of the terms’ meaning in each of the groups. In other words, he would have to accept that they are polysemous. A critical mind would also wonder how these terms came to be used in such a wide range of contexts and what is the precise relation between the different meanings. This is exactly how we set about. We restricted ourselves to read- ing Paul’s letters in the original Greek version, describing “the range of contexts in which [these] term[s] can be appropiately employed”5 and have opted for the traditional form of the corpus, in order to avoid discussions less relevant for our investigation. The corpus is not a compositorial unity, but consists of fourteen letters written on a concrete occasion and with a specific purpose, addressed to young Christian communities or fellow missionaries. It includes the letters to the Romans (Rom), the Corinthians (1-2 Cor), the Galatians (Gal), the Ephesians (Eph), the Philippians (Phil), the Colossians (Col), the Thessalonians (1-2 Thess), and the letters to Timothy (1-2 Tim), Titus (Titus) and Philemon (Phlm). E.A. Nida - J.P. Louw, Lexical Semantics of the Greek New Testament (Atlanta 1992) 5 37.