A Text centred rhetorical analysis of Paul's Letter to Titus

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implications legitimate teaching has for this present life. The sentence demonstrates multiple time dimensions moving from past to present and in verse 13 to future. This heightens the temporal momentum that is evident in this section. The motivation behind this notion is clearly to illustrate to the Cretans that their conduct does not take place in a vacuum. Their positive conduct in the present is attributable to the historical intervention of God. Verse 13 takes up the future dimension that is also present in the salutation. The ejlpiv" zwh`" aijwnivou in 1:2 now becomes hJ makariva ejlpiv". Paul ties the blessed hope to the fact of the return of Jesus Christ, whom he identifies here as God. The past-present-future time references place the congregation between two appearances: the first was when divine grace appeared in the past; the second appearance will be in the future when Jesus Christ will return. Complying to sound doctrine with corresponding behaviour is not only the wisest option because of its divine origin. Right (or wrong) behaviour has implications for the future: those who manifest compliant behaviour do so because they demonstrate thereby that they have a "blessed hope". Negatively, the implication is that those who do not manifest obedience to the instruction of grace must remember that Jesus Christ is going to appear again in the future. In other words the "now age" is the age of compliance. The divinity of Jesus Christ relates directly to the salutation. Elsewhere, I have indicated my concurrence with the interpretation that the expression “our great God and Saviour” applies to Jesus Christ. (cf. p. 30). The reference to Jesus as hJmw`n is another example of “inclusive language”. If Paul’s arguments in chapter 2:2-10 can be described as sociological or even missiological (Collins, 2002:12-13; Karris, 1979:113, 116), his argument in this section can be described as theological. Paul amasses theological terms in this part of the sentence, in order to convince his audience of the transcendent implications of legitimate teaching. The transcendent nature of sound doctrine places it in a class of its own and superior to “Jewish myths and the commandments of men” (1:14). The evidence serves as proof for the insistence upon adherence and submission to sound doctrine. Through the use of inclusive language, PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 111
Paul demonstrates that he is himself in submission to the teaching and lives as one anticipating the return of Jesus Christ. Most commentators agree that this section serves to explain the preceding instructions (Demarest, 1984:320; Johnson, 1996:240; Clark, 2002:111). Rhetorically, however, more is involved. Paul is not only saying: “The reason I want you to do this (2-10) is because of this (11-14).” Instead, he is claiming: “The teaching that I want you to embrace and the behaviour I want you to manifest are superior to what those presumptive fellows are trying to sell you. Their teaching originates from a human mind. Just look at the way they live! This doctrine is divine. If you do not accept it, you are in direct opposition to God. It is a choice between teaching that is human and teaching that is divine.” It leaves the hearer-reader in the awkward position of having to decide. It offers no neutral grounds. The vocabulary selected in this section places the emphasis on the uniqueness and the distinctiveness of God’s people. There is a sense in which Paul almost indirectly uses the language to pointing to the ideal. He does not tell or specify to the Cretans that they are a special people; that they have been chosen of God. Instead, the emphasis appears to be on the notion of privilege to have been chosen by God. There are in verse 14 two final instances of inclusive language. Jesus is said to have given himself “for us”, to redeem “us” (o}" e[dwken eJauto;n uJpe;r hJmw`n, i{na lutrwvshtai hJma`"). The emphasis in the final verse is on the activity of the divine. Having identified Jesus Christ as God “our Saviour”, the sentence goes on to describe what He has done: He gave himself for us, in order that He might save us. This us then become a “unique and peculiar people, zealous for good works” (2:14). The reality of the divine intervention thus constitutes the reason why Christians or Cretan believers ought to be characterised by the performance of good works compliant with sound doctrine. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 112
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A TEXT-CENTRED RHETORICAL ANALYSIS
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DECLARATION I declare that the diss
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SECTION 2 RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 2.1 R
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SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 OVERVIEW
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The content of the authorship debat
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consistently identified as pioneer
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J. Quinn. Their list of scholars ad
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Uncharacteristic Pauline theology:
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etc. are not referring to actual pe
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History never lies” (Titus 1:2)?
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meaning as determined by historical
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other to explain what these critics
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1.1.2.4 Conclusion The various theo
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Excursus: Cumulative-complimentary
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Lumping or clustering apparent oppo
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these letters on a more individual
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Furthermore, the name Jesus Christ
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C. 1. qeou` and swthvr depend on do
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accentuate the unmistakable role of
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order to prove issues of authorship
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Miller (1997:124) is particularly u
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Next, Van Neste goes on to show how
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There have been some recent excepti
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The first part of the analysis is e
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offer any translations in this rega
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novel. To the best of my knowledge,
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ather than as a supplement to the T
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Accordingly, the research hypothesi
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•Step 3: Where deemed necessary,
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The rhetorical situation correspond
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Titus' primary assignment is to app
Page 63 and 64: Throughout the letter, Paul shares
Page 65 and 66: equally negative conduct (1:16). In
Page 67 and 68: 2.2.1.1 Emphasising the legitimacy
Page 69 and 70: strategically throughout this secti
Page 71 and 72: This section is suffused with the r
Page 73 and 74: and trustworthiness. This choice of
Page 75 and 76: “By whose authority are you imple
Page 77 and 78: “shared knowledge”. The qualiti
Page 79 and 80: espectively within the same sentenc
Page 81 and 82: dichotomy at the front end of this
Page 83 and 84: church. Implicit contrasting is als
Page 85 and 86: aijscrokerdhv", and these false tea
Page 87 and 88: The second part of verse 13 contain
Page 89 and 90: different groups. He relentlessly p
Page 91 and 92: implicit contrasting. The negative
Page 93 and 94: marker is the use of the plural of
Page 95 and 96: instruction in this regard. “Heal
Page 97 and 98: almost desirable. Thus, legitimate
Page 99 and 100: The subject is the older women. Thi
Page 101 and 102: negatively upon the oJ lovgo" tou`
Page 103 and 104: 2.2.5.6 The behaviour of slaves In
Page 105 and 106: or originating from God (tou' … q
Page 107 and 108: to God and this paves the way for t
Page 109 and 110: This explains the use of inclusive
Page 111 and 112: Furthermore, through the direct rep
Page 113: what grace is instructing the belie
Page 117 and 118: The section closes with the apostle
Page 119 and 120: Another technique is personificatio
Page 121 and 122: the apostle adopts to persuade his
Page 123 and 124: Most commentators treat ejxousivai
Page 125 and 126: person. Interestingly, both instanc
Page 127 and 128: 2.2.8 Titus 3:3: Evoking disgust wi
Page 129 and 130: purpose while Mounce (2000:446) bel
Page 131 and 132: negative. Paranomasia and the metap
Page 133 and 134: conformity to the divine example. I
Page 135 and 136: as traditional, with verse 3 as an
Page 137 and 138: aptism effected by the Holy Spirit
Page 139 and 140: exclusively or that this constitute
Page 141 and 142: through self-vilification in the op
Page 143 and 144: crhstovth" and filanqrwpiva of God
Page 145 and 146: ejpoihvsamen hJmei`" (works) ajlla;
Page 147 and 148: these titles. The future appearance
Page 149 and 150: The certainty and completeness of t
Page 151 and 152: The next two words in v. 7 are exam
Page 153 and 154: their salvation by God. The divine
Page 155 and 156: discourse. In this regard, consider
Page 157 and 158: two groups is accentuated and the d
Page 159 and 160: Verse 9 opens with the adversative
Page 161 and 162: awareness of the insidiousness of f
Page 163 and 164: This is a very tight unit, carefull
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turn, requires the presence of soun
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closing greeting to the Cretans inv
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SECTION 3 CONCLUSION In Section 1,
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7: Titus 3:1-2: Persuading the Cret
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apostles and lay leaders appointed
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In unit 7 (3:1-2), the relationship
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The second objective is to highligh
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These four objectives may be summar
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expected manner can look forward to
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f. Arguments based on the use of vi
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m. Example. For example, in 3:4-7 G
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ehaviour expected of older men. In
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Aageson, J. W. (1997).
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Everts, J. M. (1993). Hope Dictiona
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Lea, D. and H. P. Griffin (1992). 1
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Sumney, J. L. (1996). “A Reading
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ABSTRACT This study has been conduc
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In Section 3 the results of the stu
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amanuensishipotese en die allonieme
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KEY TERMS 1. Pastoral Letters 2. Rh
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A Text centred rhetorical analysis of Paul's Letter to Titus

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