[B-Greek] Figures of Speech in the Bible
Paul Schmehl
pschmehl at sbcglobal.net
Wed May 14 00:48:44 EDT 2003
I'm not sure this is apropos for the list, but since you asked......
The figure you are referring to is "tapeinosis" or "demeaning", which is
"the lessening of a thing in order to increase it" according to Figures,
Baker Book House, Sixth Printing, pg 159.
Specifically, what Bullinger states about Rom. 3:3 is as follows:
" 'For what if some did not believe?' Our attention is by this at once
pointed to the fact that it was in reality the very opposite. It was only
'some' who believed, while the nation as a whole did not believe."
I think that Bullinger is correct here. There's no question that not many
of the Jews did believe. It would have seemed strange to a first century
reader to hear "what if some did not believe?" when they knew full well that
only a few believed. I would expect a response such as "Some? You mean
many, don't you?" from a first century listener, and in fact from a 21st
century reader who was familiar with the story.
Some other interesting passages that Bullinger points out under this figure
are:
Rom. 1:16 "I am not ashamed of the gospel" when in fact he dedicated his
life to it.
Heb 11:16 "Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God" when in fact
God says He is well-pleased to be their God.
You may not agree with every passage that Bullinger uses for examples, but
he will certainly make you think long and hard about what a passage is
really saying rather than its literal meaning. Figures of speech are meant
to draw attention, to make you stop and think. Unfortunately we "moderns"
are not nearly as well schooled in figures as some previous generations
were. It's almost a lost art, IMHO.
Paul Schmehl
pschmehl at sbcglobal.net
http://www.utdallas.edu/~pauls/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Weiss" <eweiss at gte.net>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 9:26 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] Figures of Speech in the Bible
> I looked at FIGURES OF SPEECH at a bookstore tonight, based on these
> recommendations, and what I saw did not impress me. But that could be my
> ignorance.
>
> E.g., he had a section where he was talking about how "a little" is used
> to mean "a lot" (I'm paraphrasing here), and as an example, he gave
> Paul's statement in Romans 3:3, I believe, where Paul writes "What then?
> If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the
> faithfulness of God, will it?" and explained that in fact A LOT did not
> believe, it wasn't "some." Is that really what the apostle is meaning
> here -- i.e., is his use of "some" really a figure of speech that means
> "many"? As I recall, that's what Bullinger was implying.
>
> There were some other things, too, that my brief glance-through struck
> me as not so profound. His section where he showed A-B-C-D-E-E-D-C-B-A
> structures was interesting, though. The book was listed at $39.99, with
> a special sale price of $24.97, so I might be able to be convinced to
> buy it, if I could be shown that my initial lukewarm impression was
> incorrect.
>
> - - -
> Eric Weiss
> http://home1.gte.net/vzn05pnm/index.htm
> S.D.G.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---
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