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

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The basis upon which these other teachers came to exercise influence over the church is not clear. There seems to have been an indiscriminate tolerance, if not acceptance, by the church of these persons as well as of their teachings. Paul’s purpose, in this section therefore, seems to be to provide objective evaluation criteria for the establishment of legitimate or authorised leadership in the Cretan church. In the salutation, Paul alluded to the purpose of legitimate ministry, namely the maintenance of the character of God’s people as ejklektoiv qeou`. Starting with himself, Paul showed that even he had to comply with certain criteria through the use of the nouns dou`lo" and ajpovstolo". Now, in verses 6-9, he is developing the notion that serving the church of God is not the domain of individual preference. There are conditions to be met. Since compliance criteria are acceptable in secular business, how much more among the ejklektoiv qeou'? Those who serve in the church ought to serve the interests of God rather than their own interests. The overseer is after all called a qeou' oijkonovmo" (1:7). Note how Paul, in his capacity as the dou`lo" qeou' (1:1) serving the ejklektoiv qeou' (1:1), now prescribes the criteria for those whom he refers to as the qeou' oijkonovmoi (1:7). The consistent pattern emerging from these few verses makes all who minister in the church, accountable to God (qeov~). Paul’s objective is clear, namely to provide observable or measurable criteria by which to ensure legitimate leadership in the church. Mappes (2003:214) suggests that the qualitications for elders serve as a polemic against the false teachers. Some, like Dibelius and Conzelmann (1972:158) have pointed out the resemblance between the lists in the Pastorals and first century character codes. The stipulated criteria would also serve to explain or defend Titus’ selection of some and not others. In other words, these standards effectively clear Titus’ actions from potential charges of arbitrariness or subjectivity. More importantly though, is the rhetorical significance of the list. In a recent work, Tolmie (2005:216, 217) categorised similar lists in Galatians as constituting PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 73
“shared knowledge”. The qualities cited in verses 6-9 are not exclusive to the Christian context. Extra-biblical evidence corroborates that such norms were considered reasonable by the broader society of first century Hellenistic culture (Dibelius and Conzelmann, 1972:158). If secular Cretan society therefore endorsed these standards, it would be very hard to defend the behavioural conduct of leaders that do not comply with these shared or common standards. Rhetorically, this has the positive effect of rendering Paul’s prescriptions reasonable, since his audience would be familiar with these criteria. Negatively, it would be almost impossible to justify tolerating anyone whose actions contradict the societal norm. Those responsible to minister to the ejklektoiv qeou' ought to be examples of the power of the truth (1:1). Their lives and conduct must give evidence of the reliability of the promises of God. The first to manifest eujsevbeia are the leaders. Faith in God, or the eujsevbeia ejpÆ ejlpivdi zwh`" aijwnivou (1:1, 2), is neither cerebral nor merely confessional (cf. 1:16). Instead, it is practical and observable. Scholars, who overeagerly emphasise the similarity these character requirements share with secular lists, downplay the powerful statement made here concerning the gospel or the truth (1:1). Those appointed become the direct antitheses of the illegitimate teachers. That men of this calibre can even be found in such a context, is an incredible testimony to the power of God’s word. In other words, the manifestation of the divine promise is not an abstract event. It changes lives; produces the kind of men described in 1:6-9. To whom is this written? Both Titus and the Cretans are the intended audience of these lists. However, Titus is only a secondary recipient. He perhaps needs only a reminder. The primary recipients are the Cretans. The sheer detail provided in this section suggests a didactic function. There can be no mistaking that anyone hearing the content of this letter would leave with an almost graphic image of the legitimate leader. Doubtless, there would be those followers of the illegitimate teachers who would now be empowered with PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 74
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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
Page 25 and 26: 1.1.2.4 Conclusion The various theo
Page 27 and 28: Excursus: Cumulative-complimentary
Page 29 and 30: Lumping or clustering apparent oppo
Page 31 and 32: these letters on a more individual
Page 33 and 34: Furthermore, the name Jesus Christ
Page 35 and 36: C. 1. qeou` and swthvr depend on do
Page 37 and 38: accentuate the unmistakable role of
Page 39 and 40: order to prove issues of authorship
Page 41 and 42: Miller (1997:124) is particularly u
Page 43 and 44: Next, Van Neste goes on to show how
Page 45 and 46: There have been some recent excepti
Page 47 and 48: The first part of the analysis is e
Page 49 and 50: offer any translations in this rega
Page 51 and 52: novel. To the best of my knowledge,
Page 53 and 54: ather than as a supplement to the T
Page 55 and 56: Accordingly, the research hypothesi
Page 57 and 58: •Step 3: Where deemed necessary,
Page 59 and 60: The rhetorical situation correspond
Page 61 and 62: 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: “By whose authority are you imple
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 and 122: the apostle adopts to persuade his
Page 123 and 124: Most commentators treat ejxousivai
Page 125 and 126: person. Interestingly, both instanc
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2.2.8 Titus 3:3: Evoking disgust wi
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purpose while Mounce (2000:446) bel
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negative. Paranomasia and the metap
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conformity to the divine example. I
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as traditional, with verse 3 as an
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aptism effected by the Holy Spirit
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exclusively or that this constitute
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through self-vilification in the op
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crhstovth" and filanqrwpiva of God
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ejpoihvsamen hJmei`" (works) ajlla;
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these titles. The future appearance
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The certainty and completeness of t
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The next two words in v. 7 are exam
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their salvation by God. The divine
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discourse. In this regard, consider
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two groups is accentuated and the d
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Verse 9 opens with the adversative
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awareness of the insidiousness of f
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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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