Bible Lexicons

σῶμα, σώματος, τό (apparently from σῶς 'entire' (but cf. Curtius, § 570; others from the root, ska, sko, 'to cover', cf. Vanicek, p. 1055; Curtius, p. 696)), the Sept. for בָּשָׂר, גְּוִיָּה, etc.; נְבֵלָה (a corpse), also for Chaldean גֶּשֶׁם; a body; and:

1. the body both of men and of animals (on the distinction between it and σάρξ see σάρξ, especially 2 at the beginning; (cf. Dickson, St. Paul's use of 'Flesh' and 'Spirit', p. 247ff));

a. as everywhere in Homer (who calls the living body δέμας and not infreqently in subsequently Greek writings, a dead body or corpse: universally, Luke 17:37; of a man, Matthew 14:12 R G; (Mark 15:45 R G); Acts 9:40; plural John 19:31; τό σῶμα τίνος, Matthew 27:58; Mark 15:43; Luke 23:52, 55; John 19:38, 40; John 20:12; Jude 1:9; of the body of an animal offered in sacrifice, plural Hebrews 13:11 (Exodus 29:14; Numbers 19:3).

b. as in Greek writings from Hesiod down, the living body: — of animals, James 3:3; — of man: τό σῶμα, absolutely, Luke 11:34; Luke 12:23; 1 Corinthians 6:13, etc.; ἐν σώματι εἶναι, of earthly life with its troubles, Hebrews 13:3; distinguished from τό αἷμα, 1 Corinthians 11:27; τό σῶμα and τά μέλη of it, 1 Corinthians 12:12, 14-20; James 3:6; τό σῶμα the temple of τό ἅγιον πνεῦμα, 1 Corinthians 6:19; the instrument of the soul, τά διά τοῦ σωματου namely, πραχθεντα, 2 Corinthians 5:10; it is distinguished — from τό πνεῦμα, in Romans 8:10; 1 Corinthians 5:3; 1 Corinthians 6:20 Rec.; ; James 2:26 (4 Macc. 11:11); — from ἡ ψυχή, in Matthew 6:25; Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:22 (Wis. 1:4 Wis. 8:19f; 2 Macc. 7:37 2Macc. 14:38; 4 Macc. 1:28, etc.); — from ἡ ψυχή and τό πνεῦμα together, in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (cf. Song of the Three, 63); σῶμα ψυχικόν and σῶμα πνευματικόν are distinguished, 1 Corinthians 15:44 (see πνευματικός, 1 and ψυχικός, a.); τό σῶμα τίνος, Matthew 5:29; Luke 11:34; Romans 4:19; Romans 8:23 (cf. Winer's Grammar, 187 (176)), etc.; ὁ ναός τοῦ σωματου αὐτοῦ, the temple which was his body, John 2:21; plural, Romans 1:24; 1 Corinthians 6:15; Ephesians 5:28; the genitive of the possessor is omitted where it is easily learned from the context, as 1 Corinthians 5:3; 2 Corinthians 4:10; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Hebrews 10:22(23), etc.; τό σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν, the body of our humiliation (subjective genitive), i. e. which we wear in this servile and lowly human life, opposed to τό σῶμα τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ (i. e. τοῦ Χριστοῦ), the body which Christ has in his glorified state with God in heaven, Philippians 3:21; διά τοῦ σωματου τοῦ Χριστοῦ, through the death of Christ's body, Romans 7:4; διά τῆς προσφοράς τοῦ σωματου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, through the sacrificial offering of the body of Jesus Christ, Hebrews 10:10; τό σῶμα τῆς σαρκός, the body consisting of flesh, i. e. the physical body (tacitly opposed to Christ's spiritual body, the church, see 3 below), Colossians 1:22 (differently in Colossians 2:11 (see just below)); σῶμα τοῦ θανάτου, the body subject to death, given over to it (cf. Winer's Grammar, § 30, 2 β.), Romans 7:24; the fact that the body includes ἡ σάρξ:, and in the flesh also the incentives to sin (see σάρξ, 4), gives origin to the following phrases: μή βασιλευέτω ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν τῷ θνητῷ ὑμῶν σώματι, Romans 6:12 (cf. Winer's Grammar, 524 (488)); αἱ πράξεις τοῦ σώματος, Romans 8:13. Since the body is the instrument of the soul (2 Corinthians 5:10), and its members the instruments either of righteousness or of iniquity (Romans 6:13, 19), the following expressions are easily intelligible: σῶμα τῆς ἁμαρτίας, the body subject to, the thrall of, sin (cf. Winer's Grammar, § 30, 2 β.), Romans 6:6; τό σῶμα τῆς σαρκός, subject to the incitements of the flesh, Colossians 2:11 (where Rec. has τό σῶμα τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν τῆς σαρκός). δοξάζετε τόν Θεόν ἐν τῷ σώματι ὑμῶν, 1 Corinthians 6:20; μεγαλύνειν τόν Χριστόν ἐν τῷ σώματι, εἴτε διά ζωῆς, εἴτε διά θανάτου, Philippians 1:20; παραστῆσαι τά σώματα θυσίαν ... τῷ Θεῷ (i. e. by bodily purity (cf. Meyer at the passage)), Romans 12:1.

c. Since according to ancient law in the ease of slaves the body was the chief thing taken into account, it is a usage of later Greek to call slaves simply σώματα; once so in the N. T.: Revelation 18:13, where the Vulg. correctly translates bymancipia (A. V. slaves) (σώματα τοῦ οἴκου, Genesis 36:6; σώματα καί κτήνη, Tobit 10:10; Ἰουδαικα σώματα, 2 Macc. 8:11; examples from Greek writings are given by Lob. ad Phryn., p. 378f (add (from Sophocles Lexicon, under the word), Polybius 1, 29, 7; 4, 38, 4, also 3, 17, 10 bis); the earlier and more elegant Greek writings said σώματα δοῦλα, ὀικετικα, etc.).

2. The name is transferred to the bodies of plants, 1 Corinthians 15:37f, and of stars (cf. our 'heavenly bodies'), hence, Paul distinguishes between σώματα ἐπουράνια, bodies celestial, i. e. the bodies of the heavenly luminaries and of angels (see ἐπουράνιος, 1), and σώματα ἐπίγεια, bodies terrestrial (i. e. bodies of men, animals, and plants), 1 Corinthians 15:40 (ἅπαν σῶμα τῆς τῶν ὅλων φύσεως ... τό σῶμα τοῦ κόσμου, diod. 1, 11).

3. tropically σῶμα is used of a (large or small) "number of men closely united into one society, or family as it were; a social, ethical, mystical body"; so in the N. T. of the church: Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 10:17; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 2:16; Ephesians 4:16; Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18; Colossians 2:19 3:15; with τοῦ Χριστοῦ added, 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 4:12; Ephesians 5:30; Colossians 1:24; of which spiritual body Christ; is the head, Ephesians 4:15; Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18; Colossians 2:19, who by the influence of his Spirit works in the church as the soul does in the body. ἕν σῶμα καί ἕν πνεῦμα, Ephesians 4:4.

4. ἡ σκιά and τό σῶμα are distinguished as the shadow and the thing itself which casts the shadow: Colossians 2:17; σκιάν αἰτησόμενος βασιλείας, ἧς ἥρπασεν ἑαυτῷ τό σῶμα, Josephus, b. j. 2, 2, 5; ((Philo de confus. ling. § 37; Lucian, Hermot. 79)).