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

aijscrokerdhv", and these false teachers are teaching for the sake of aijscroiv
kevrdoi, then there is no way that the latter group can ever legitimately serve in
God’s oi\ko~. They are disqualified. The language implies a warning to the
believers. It is as if the apostle is saying, “Watch out. They are out to exploit
you!” Clearly, he cannot be speaking to Titus. Those who stand to benefit from
these caveats are the believers.
In verse 12, the apostle intensifies his strategy of vilifying the illegitimate
teachers. His rhetorical strategy involves the use of alienating or exclusive
language and appeal to an external source of authority. Paul’s use of “them-
us” serves to alienate the believers from the illegitimate teachers. It also
harnesses the notion of community and belonging. Here, he uses it negatively
with reference to the illegitimate teachers. The repetition of the third person,
plural, of the pronoun aujtov~ (ejx aujtw`n i[dio" aujtw`n profhvth") emphasises
the notion of “them” and “us”. More importantly, however, the repetition of the
pronoun functions to corroborate the accusation that is expressed in the form
of that infamous quote. Thus, here we have information about the false
teachers from the proverbial horse’s mouth; here is an inside story.
Paul’s rhetorical strategy furthermore involves an appeal to an external
authority. The quote, Krh`te" ajei; yeu`stai, kaka; qhriva, gastevre" ajrgaiv,
effectively points the attention of the hearers away from Paul. It is as if Paul is
saying: “Don’t be surprised. I’m not sucking these things out of my thumb.
Here’s what is said about them by someone who knows them. Here is what
you know is true about them”. The citation suggests a known source,
insinuating that this is public knowledge. One could read into this citation a
mild or implicit rebuke towards the congregation. They should have known
these things. However, if there is a rebuke, it is softened by the earlier use of
the “them-us” language.
The quote demonstrates another instance of emphatic clustering. More
specifically, we have here an example of asyndetic emphatic clustering.
Together with verse 10, it ties this section into a neat unit and maintains the
vilification of the false teachers. The vocabulary employed is significant.
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