PAUL AND THE RHETORIC OF REVERSAL: KERYGMATIC ...

Witherington notes that Paul would have had a “thorough grounding in Jewish traditions”,
and that “Paul would have been thoroughly grounded in the Scriptures”. 51 He reasons:
Paul would surely have learned certain methods of debating or persuading, of
arguing, for example, from current experience to scriptural proof in midrashic
fashion (see 1 Cor 9:7-14), or of using a form of what could be called pesher or
even allegory to make a point (Gal 4:21-31). 52
And yet, disappointingly, Witherington’s ensuing discussion of “Paul the Rhetor” limits
Paul’s rhetorical resources to the familiar three species of Greco-Roman speech rhetoric:
[T]here were three primary kinds of rhetoric, each tooled to suit a particular
setting: (1) judicial or forensic rhetoric for use in the law courts; (2) deliberative
rhetoric, meant to be used in the assembly; and (3) epideictic rhetoric, meant to
be used in funeral oratory or public speeches lauding some event or person, or in
oratory contests in the market place or the arena. 53
Rhetoric then reveals to us a Paul committed to and drawing on a great Greco-
Roman heritage. 54
It should not be denied that Paul was aware of, and frequently drew on, Greco-Roman
rhetorical devices; 55 but to deny the possible influence of Paul’s Hebrew heritage – or,
51 Witherington, New Testament Rhetoric, 100.
52 Witherington, New Testament Rhetoric, 102.
53 Witherington, New Testament Rhetoric, 121; emphases original.
54 Witherington, New Testament Rhetoric, 154.
55 C. Jan Swearingen, for example, argues: “The Greek audience at Corinth… [is]
addressed in terms, in genres, and through shifts in ethos that assume some familiarity
with a rhetorical vocabulary, concepts, and argumentative genres. Pairs such as sophialogos,
pneuma-gramma, and nomos-agape were well-established rhetorical terms linked in
a variety of paired topoi and contrastive argumentation. However, I would emphasize that
this is no simple case of Paul’s use of contemporary rhetorical practices. In his uses of
terms, antitheses, and multiple voices Paul gives Greek rhetorical and Hellenistic Jewish
terms new meanings, and crafts argumentative genres with unprecedented rhetorical
purposes”. C. Jan Swearingen, “The Tongues of Men: Understanding Greek Rhetorical
Sources for Paul’s Letters to the Romans and 1 Corinthians,” in Rhetorical Argumentation
85