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

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Verse 10 immediately takes up and builds upon the hostility introduced in the latter part of verse 9. The apostle unleashes his verbal artillery upon the aberrant ones through a technique I call emphatic clustering. He groups together three words to launch his vilification campaign, namely ajnupovtakto~, mataiolovgo~ and frenapavth~. This linguistic triplet, combined with the adjective pa`~, intensifies the hostile sentiment that this section intends to create. It furthermore serves as justification for the apostolic directives that this correspondence conveys. Structurally, it cordons off this section and magnifies the denigration to follow. The vilification procedure is facilitated by several additional techniques, such as implicit contrasting. That which is contrasted is not made obvious within a sentence. In other words, the author gives no linguistic clues that a contrast is being made. Instead, the author provides the information in such a manner that the hearer or reader, almost intuitively, “sees” the glaring contrasts within the larger discourse unit. For example, the description of the opposition in this section is implicitly contrasted with the positive character requirements associated with the office of the overseer mentioned earlier. The negative attitude of the opposition towards the word (1:9), is made plausible by the pejorative description of their character, which manifests firstly as insubordination (ajnupovtakto~). This noun was used earlier with reference to the children of elders (1:6). This is an example of repetition. The effect is to evoke strong disapproval from the congregation for childish behaviour on the part of the opposition. Unruly behaviour demands strong disciplinary retaliation. The noun mataiolovgo~ follows rapidly upon the first and is suggestive of the apostolic view of the aberrant teaching. It is vain, empty, and lacking substance. In fact, the false teachers are the personification of what they teach. They themselves are empty and vain. The final noun in this cluster, frenapavth~, describes the opposition as deceivers or impostors. In other words, they are unauthorised, invalid and hence unqualified to minister to the PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 79
church. Implicit contrasting is also operative here. Thus, compared to everyone mentioned in the previous two sections, this group of impostors does not match the profile. While the group may be substantial, the apostle appears to single out a Jewish faction within the larger group, through the adjectival phrase mavlista oiJ ejk th`" peritomh`". Johnson (1996:227, 228) suggests that this expression might refer to Gentile Cretans who have come to embrace Judaism through the influence of Jewish teachers. If this is so, the resemblance to Galatians would be, in his words, “all the more striking” (Johnson, 1996:228). The effect upon the hearers is nothing short of riveting: If this is what the apostle says about these people, how dare some believers (perhaps) think amicably about them? At this very point, the congregants are forced to pick sides. The tone of the letter has been positive up to the first half of verse 9: Paul, Titus, the elders elect. It will, however, from here onwards become calculatedly negative. Verse 11 offers additional justification for the severe treatment of this insubordinate faction. The reasoning relates firstly to the effect of their “ministry” among the believers. It is considered absolutely essential that these people be silenced or muzzled (ejpistomivzein). Paul and the elders, however, are allowed to speak to or teach the believers (1:3, 9). The impact of the activities of the illegitimate teachers, is that it subverts or overturns whole households or families (oi{tine" o{lou" oi[kou" ajnatrevpousin). The emphasis upon the negative effect on the family institution, constititutes a further element in the vilification campaign against these people. The reference to households (oi[koi) can either indicate house churches or families. Paul’s vilification here is based on the family or kinship theme. This calls to mind related ideas that were introduced in the previous two sections. For example, in 1:4, God is referred to as qeov~ pathvr while Titus is called Paul’s tevknon. The language is relational and familial. This kind of relationship is characterised by order and submission. The notion of family also features prominently in the criteria for elders. In 1:6, the elder is expected to PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 80
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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
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 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: dichotomy at the front end of this
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
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
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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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