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

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what they are being taught now with what they have been taught previously. The motive could be to prove the consistency of legitimate teaching over against the implied inconsistency of illegitimate teaching. Thus, by implication, the Cretans have been practising legitimate teaching all along, and are now in danger of forsaking that which they have embraced. If the Cretans do not embrace and practise sound doctrine, they are implicitly acting against themselves. Their behaviour would be interpreted as self-contradictory. Another interpretation would be to view it as a polemic against illegitimate teaching. The latter could have encouraged the people, namely the Cretans to conduct themselves in a manner contrary to the good conduct that is being advocated in this section. Whatever the content of the illegitimate teaching might have been, its implications may have involved encouraging the believers to conduct themselves in a manner unbecoming of good citizens. The appeal to prior knowledge relates to knowledge of what is considered positively by the secular society. The believers must, therefore, be reminded of that behaviour which they have known to be commendable and which society admires. They are to make a positive contribution towards society, namely demonstrable submissive conduct. In other words, they must not abandon that conduct which they have known to be good. The discourse suggests the existence of a need to remind the believers lest they make themselves guilty of conduct that would elicit a negative response from the rest of society and government authorities; conduct that would make them appear separatist, exclusivist and insurrectionary since it is to the ajrcaiv ejxousivai that they must submit. This interpretation seems to make the best sense in the present context, and explains the structure of the section: seven virtues (1-2) followed by seven vices (3) with several supportive rhetorical techniques, including asyndeton, direct repetition, assonance and paranomasia. Believers must submit to the ajrcaiv ejxousivai. Commentators struggle with the asyndeton here. This leaves them to interpret the two nouns very differently. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 119
Most commentators treat ejxousivai as modifying ajrcaiv, translating it as “governing/ government authorities” or “legitimate rulers” (Quinn, 1990:178; Fee, 1988:201; Collins, 2002:357). Some commentators supply a conjunction and treat the two adjectives as separate, for example, “rulers and authorities” (Johnson, 1996:245). Bernard (1980 [1899]:176) translates this literally as “to rulers, to authorities”. There would be no need to add a conjunction since the absence of the conjunction conforms to the structure of this entire section. Furthermore, asyndeton is a rhetorical technique used regularly in this letter. The absence of conjunctions in both lists is rather conspicuous. The asyndeton is for emphatic purposes. It accentuates the interrelatedness or inseparableness of the various elements that make up these lists. The cohesiveness is enhanced by the use of the infinitive mode in the first five verbs of verses 1 and 2: uJpotavssesqai, peiqarcei`n, ei\nai, blasfhmei`n and ei\nai. The list is completed with two adjectives namely ejpieikei`" and prau?thta. The relationship between believers and the governing authorities is one that ought to be characterised by submission on the part of believers. The verb uJpotavssesqai is an instance of paranomasia and a repetition from 2:5 and 2:9. Just as in the context of the home, the wife's relationship to her husband is characterised by submission and in the context of employment the servant’s relationship is characterised by submission to the master, so in the context of society the believer's relationship to government authorities must be characterised by submission. The progression in the theme of submission is remarkable when considered in the light of 2:1-3:1. It involves the distinct realms where submission is required, namely in the home, then in the workplace, culminating with submission in the public sector. Then there is progression in the three levels of recognised authority: first to a husband, then to a master, and finally to governing authorities. There is also progression in regard to the sectors from which submission can be expected: Christian wives, Christian slaves and Christian citizens. Thus, irrespective of whether you are a wife or a slave, a Christian must demonstrate submission to all PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 120
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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
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Throughout the letter, Paul shares
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equally negative conduct (1:16). In
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2.2.1.1 Emphasising the legitimacy
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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 and 114: what grace is instructing the belie
Page 115 and 116: Paul demonstrates that he is himsel
Page 117 and 118: The section closes with the apostle
Page 119 and 120: Another technique is personificatio
Page 121: the apostle adopts to persuade his
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
Page 165 and 166: turn, requires the presence of soun
Page 167 and 168: closing greeting to the Cretans inv
Page 169 and 170: SECTION 3 CONCLUSION In Section 1,
Page 171 and 172: 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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