The life and work of St. Paul

692 APPENDIX.
He has, as every great writer has, " le style de an. yensee :" he has the style of genius, a
1
he has not the genius of style.
After quoting such remarkable and varied testimonies, it Is needless for me to write
an essay on the Apostle's style. That he could when he chose wield a style of remarkable
finish and eloquence without diminishing his natural intensity, is proved by the
incessant assonances and balances of clauses and expressions (parechesis, parisosis, paromoiosis)
in such passages as 2 Oor. vi. 3 11. And yet such is his noble carelessness of
outward graces of style, and his complete subordination of mere elegance of expression
to the purpose of expressing his exact thought, that he never shrinks, even in his grandest
outbursts of rhythmic eloquence, from the use of a word, however colloquial, which
expresses his exact shade of meaning. 3
All that has been written of the peculiarities of St. Paul's style may, I think, be
summed up in two words Intense Individuality. His style is himself. His natural
temperament, and the circumstances under which that temperament found its daily
sphere of action ; his training, both Judaic and Hellenistic ; his conversion and sanctincation,
permeating his whole life and thoughts these united make up the Paul we know.
And each of these has exercised a marked influence on his style.
1. The absorption in the one thought before him, which makes him state without any
qualification truths which, taken in the whole extent of his words, seem mutually
irreconcilable ; the dramatic, rapid, overwhelming series 0f questions, which show that
in his controversial passages he is always mentally face to face with an s
objection ; the
centrifugal force of mental activity, which drives him into incessant digressions and
goings off at a word, due to his vivid power of realisation ; the centripetal force of
imagination, which keeps all these digressions under the control of one dominaut
thought; 4 the grand confusions of metaphor; 5 the vehemence which makes him love
the most emphatic compounds; 6 the irony 7 and sarcasm; 8 the chivalrously delicate
courtesy; 9 the overflowing sympathy with the Jew, the Pagan, the barbarian with
saint and sinner, king and slave, man and woman, young and old 10
; the passion, which
now makes his voice ring with indignation 11 and now break with sobs 13
; the accumula-
tion and variation of words, from a desire to set forth the truths which he is proclaiming
In every possible light ; 1S the emotional emphasis and personal references of his style ; M
the depressed humility passing into boundless exultation; 15 all these are due to his
natural temperament, and the atmosphere of controversy and opposition on the one hand,
and deep affection on the other, in which he worked.
2. The rhetorical figures, play of words, assonances, oxymora, antitheses, of his style,
which are fully examined in the next Excursus ; the constant widening of his horizon ; 16
the traceable influence of cities, and even of personal companions, upon his vocabulary ; 17
the references to Hellenic life ; 18 the method of quoting Scripture ; the Rabbinic style of
exegesis, which have been already examined w these are due to his training at Tarsus and
Jerusalem, his life at Corinth, Ephesus, and Borne.
3. The daring faith which never dreads a difficulty ; x the unsolved antinomies, which,
though unsolved, do not trouble him Jl "
; the bold soaring dialectics with which he rises
1 Grimm, Corretp., 1788.
*
E.g., ij/co(Ai