Page 131 - A Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy

a memorable statement.” 110 They differ with proverbs, however, in that a proverb “as popular

wisdom that is unattributed” to specific occasion or a person, whereas aphorism is “a brief saying

ascribed to a specific person and thus tied to a specific situation related to that person.” 111

Consequently, one can classify the proverbial sayings of Jesus as aphorisms. 112

There are three types of grammatical forms in Jesus’ aphorisms: “statement, question, or

imperative and two types of parallelism: “synonymous parallelism, antithetical parallelism.” 113

The grammatical forms of Jesus’ aphorisms entail more than just meaning, they also reveals the

functional intention of Jesus. Bailey and Broek furnish an excellent explanation, saying, “a

statement invites hearers to accept as true what Jesus asserts, a question seeks to engage hearers

directly in pondering his saying, and an imperative challenges them to envision and act in line

with the rhetorical force of his words.” 114

In addition to grammatical forms, parallelism affects the rhetorical strategy of aphorism.

Synonymous parallelism helps listeners to hear again what has already been told, “to feel the

impact reiterated.” 115 Antithetical parallelism intends to create tension of the two statements. 116

110 Stein, Method and Message, 17.

111
Bailey, Handbook, 99.
112
Ibid.
113
Ibid., 99-101. For example, Matt.10:24-25 for statement of aphorism, Mark 8:36-37 for
question of aphorism, Luke 13:24 for imperative of aphorism, Matt.10:27 for synonymous
parallelism, and Matt.7:17 for antithetical parallelism of aphorism.

114
Bailey, Handbook, 100. The italics was done for emphasis.
115
Ibid. For example, Matthew 10:27.

116
Luke 9:58.