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

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While having much to commend, the work unfortunately has several shortcomings: It does not really investigate persuasion in the letter; it is exegetical rather than rhetorically oriented; and it does not provide a comprehensive rhetorical treatment of the letter. Compared to that of Classen, this study focuses specifically on the issue of persuasion, is much more comprehensive, and is, furthermore, based on a totally different rhetorical approach. Of course, these claims are open for evaluation by other scholars. Furthermore, I trust that the detailed rhetorical analysis presented in Section 2, also provided new insights with regard to the details of the rhetorical strategy in particular sections in the Letter to Titus, both in terms of the way in which the dominant rhetorical strategy of a particular section could be described, as well as the discussion of the detailed issues relating to this. These will not be repeated here. Instead, the focus will now fall on the overall rhetorical strategy in the letter. This can be approached from different angles: On the one hand, the step-by-step development of the overall argument should be summarised. Based on the analysis provided in Section 2, the broad persuasive strategy in the letter (in terms of the changes in dominant rhetorical strategy) can now be outlined as follows: 1. Titus 1:1-4: Adapting the salutation to emphasise the divine basis of legitimate ministry 2: Titus 1:5-9: Outlining the criteria for legitimate local leadership 3: Titus 1:10-16: Discrediting the illegitimate teachers 4: Titus 2:1: Distinguishing Titus as a minister of sound doctrine on the basis of apostolic authorisation 5: Titus 2:2-10: Persuading the Cretans that personal conduct compliant with sound doctrine is compulsory and should characterise all believers 6: Titus 2:11-15: Emphasising the divine basis of obedience to sound doctrine PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 167
7: Titus 3:1-2: Persuading the Cretans of the compulsory treatment of all unbelievers in a manner consistent with sound doctrine 8: Titus 3:3: Evoking disgust with past sinful behaviour in order to reinforce behaviour in the present that complies with sound doctrine 9: Titus 3:4-7: Persuading the Cretans that displaying good works to those considered undeserving demonstrates conformity to the divine example 10: Titus 3:8-11: Reinforcing the differences between sound and illegitimate doctrine in order to encourage compliance to the former and rejection of the latter 11: Titus 3:12-15: Adapting the conclusion to reemphasise the notion of legitimate ministry The above outline evinces certain thematic repetitions or emphases. For example, the opening and closing units both emphasise legitimate teaching. Units 5 and 7 raise the issue of compliant behaviour while units 1, 6 and 9 evince a distinctly theological character. It raises the question, whether these apparent thematic commonalities are deliberate creations, part of the author's overall rhetorical strategy or whether they are incidental, a random expression of unrelated ideas. More importantly, is the question whether any coherent pattern suggestive of an overall rhetorical strategy is discernible from these summaries. In response to the latter question, I suggest that a deliberate overall rhetorical strategy can be indicated in the letter. The three theological sections (Units 1, 6 and 9), each made up of one long sentence, are complimented by three sections, that describe or relate to certain behaviour. The complimentary sections include 1:5-16, 2:1-10 and 3:1-3 respectively. Within their respective contexts, the three theological sections are programmatic for identifying a step-by-step development of Paul's overall rhetorical strategy in the letter. Let us first consider the overall rhetorical objective. The apostle opens the letter giving a very clear indication of his mandate as a servant and an apostle (1:1), namely that he serves in this capacity kata; pivstin ejklektw`n qeou` kai; PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 168
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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
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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
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to God and this paves the way for t
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This explains the use of inclusive
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Furthermore, through the direct rep
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what grace is instructing the belie
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Paul demonstrates that he is himsel
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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
Page 165 and 166: turn, requires the presence of soun
Page 167 and 168: closing greeting to the Cretans inv
Page 169: SECTION 3 CONCLUSION In Section 1,
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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