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

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doctrine cannot be clearer. Whereas false teaching was “upsetting whole households”, o{lou" oi[kou" ajnatrevpousin (1:11), this cannot be maintained about sound doctrine. The repetition of ajnqrwvpo" serves the additional purpose of facilitating coherence throughout the letter or facilitating inter- sectional coherence. Thus, in v. 8 the apostle has successfully highlighted the distinctiveness of sound doctrine. Sound doctrine is commended by the apostolic affirmation in the sentence pisto;" oJ lovgo". The results of sound doctrine can be seen by the good works which those who believe in God will be careful to perform. Finally, the good works will benefit the community at large. Through repetition of key words, the apostle facilitates implicit contrasts with the opposition from earlier sections of the letter. The highly positive presentation of sound doctrine is the main rhetorical intent of verse 8. In the next section, the contrast between sound and false doctrine is perpetuated, but this time through an intensely negative portrayal of the opposition. The primary rhetorical intent in 3:9-11 is the perpetuation of the contrast between sound and false doctrine. This section is replete with rhetorical techniques employed to achieve the rhetorical objective, namely to encourage the audience to reject false doctrine. However, most commentators reveal an etymological preoccupation with the vocabulary in this and other sentences, although they sometimes cite some helpful extra–biblical occurrences of the words (Simpson, 1954:117-118; Quinn, 1990:244-248). However, as a result of this focus they do not pay much attention to the other stylistic features present in this section. Mounce (2000:453) and Knight (1992:353-354), for example, categorise mwra;" de; zhthvsei" kai; genealogiva" kai; e[rei" kai; mavca" nomika;" as merely a list of “errors to avoid”. There are exceptions, like Collins (2002:368) and Quinn (1990:245), who draw attention to the polysyndeton in this sentence. Unfortunately, they do not explain its function in the sentence. This will now be addressed. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 155
Verse 9 opens with the adversative dev followed by four references to the false teaching, each separated by the conjunction kaiv. Mounce (2000:453) correctly identifies the function of the adversative conjunction, namely to “establish … contrast”. He unfortunately limits the contrast exclusively to this chapter, whereas it is best understood to perpetuate the contrast that runs consistently throughout the letter. In all fairness to him, there is definitely a contrast in the immediate context, but it exceeds the context, as the analysis of this section will show, and as the repetition of key vocabulary in verse 8 has demonstrated. The rhetorical technique employed in this verse is polysyndeton. The four descriptions of the false teaching are separated by three conjunctions: mwra;" (dev) zhthvsei" kai; genealogiva" kai; e[rei" kai; mavca" nomika;". The polysyndeton emphasises the false teaching. The rhetorical objective behind it is the vilification of the false teaching. The terms are largely negative, almost mocking. The false teaching must not be confronted, instead Titus must “steer clear” from or “avoid” (periivŸstaso) it. The imperative indicates that the problem is not endemic to the congregation. It was not something to get rid of; rather it was to be avoided. Rhetorically, and as far as Paul is concerned, false doctrine is invalid, unnecessary, not worthy of Titus’ consideration or time. It is, by implication, an utter waste of time. This is therefore, a clear instance of vilification. Here, it is the false teaching itself that is vilified rather than its promoters (cf. 1:10-16). The polysyndeton accentuates the worthlessness and futility of the false teaching. The reason given in the second half of this verse reinforces the uselessness of the teaching: eijsi;n ga;r ajnwfelei`" kai; mavtaioi. The polarity between sound and false doctrine is accentuated by opposing terms used to describe both. In 8:1, sound doctrine was affirmed to be pisto;" oJ lovgo". Verse 9 concludes with a judgment on false doctrine being ajnwfelei`" kai; mavtaioi. The latter expression constitutes an apostolic denunciation of the false teaching. This denunciation could be seen as an additional evidence for the distinctiveness of sound doctrine. Rhetorically, therefore, anyone who embraces false teaching would be affirming that which the apostle has judged to be “worthless and unprofitable”. It would place such a person in the very awkward position PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 156
Page 1 and 2:
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
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This section is suffused with the r
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and trustworthiness. This choice of
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“By whose authority are you imple
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“shared knowledge”. The qualiti
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espectively within the same sentenc
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dichotomy at the front end of this
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church. Implicit contrasting is als
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aijscrokerdhv", and these false tea
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The second part of verse 13 contain
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different groups. He relentlessly p
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implicit contrasting. The negative
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marker is the use of the plural of
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instruction in this regard. “Heal
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almost desirable. Thus, legitimate
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The subject is the older women. Thi
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negatively upon the oJ lovgo" tou`
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2.2.5.6 The behaviour of slaves In
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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 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: two groups is accentuated and the d
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
Page 173 and 174: apostles and lay leaders appointed
Page 175 and 176: In unit 7 (3:1-2), the relationship
Page 177 and 178: The second objective is to highligh
Page 179 and 180: These four objectives may be summar
Page 181 and 182: expected manner can look forward to
Page 183 and 184: f. Arguments based on the use of vi
Page 185 and 186: m. Example. For example, in 3:4-7 G
Page 187 and 188: ehaviour expected of older men. In
Page 189 and 190: BIBLIOGRAPHY Aageson, J. W. (1997).
Page 191 and 192: Everts, J. M. (1993). Hope Dictiona
Page 193 and 194: Lea, D. and H. P. Griffin (1992). 1
Page 195 and 196: Sumney, J. L. (1996). “A Reading
Page 197 and 198: ABSTRACT This study has been conduc
Page 199 and 200: In Section 3 the results of the stu
Page 201 and 202: amanuensishipotese en die allonieme
Page 203 and 204: 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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