[B-Greek] Figures of Speech in the Bible
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Wed May 14 03:58:06 EDT 2003
>
> 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.
I would say that Bullinger is well worth the money, but always check
whatever you read.
Although I am not able to check the place in the book you refer to, it looks
like you are referring to the figure of speech called litotes.
A well-known example is from Acts 12:18 "there was not a little commotion"
meaning a major commotion. Similarly in Acts 14:28 "they were spending not a
little time" meaning lots of time. Acts 15:2 "there was no small debate"
meaning a huge debate.
So, "not a little" is sometimes used to mean a lot, but what Rom 3:3 has to
do with this I cannot see.
A word for "some" can be quite flexible. It can mean a few or many, but that
is a contextual implication rather than a figure of speech.
Another common figure of speech is hyperbole (exaggeration) so that "all"
does not always mean all, but sometimes many or a lot.
Iver Larsen
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