Page 134 - A Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy

is plethora of examples of rhetorical questions Jesus used masterfully. 129 By offering astute

questions, Jesus invited his audience into his preaching and made them think, be alert, and

encounter the truth personally, so that his preaching resulted in the life-changing experience of

his audience.

Use of Other Rhetorical Devices

Jesus utilized the device of an a fortiori, meaning “all the more,” as a type of argument

“in which the conclusion follows with even greater logical necessity than the already accepted

fact or conclusion previously given.” 130 The pattern of “If…, how much more….” characterizes

Make a point of contact. 2) Hold attention and start thinking. 3) Clarify facts and clear up errors.
4) Compel his hearers to think through correctly to their own conclusion. 5) Make his questions
answer their own questions. 6) Intensify right convictions. 7) Prepare his hearers for
understanding and accepting a truth he was about to utter. 8) Appeal to conscience. 9) Bring
faith to expression and obtain confessions of faith in himself.

128
“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax
collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you
doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (Matt. 5:46-47). “Is not life more than
food, and the body more than clothing?” (Matt. 6:25). “Are you not of more value than they?”
(Matt. 6:26). “And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why
do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor
spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God
so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will
he not much more clothe you--you of little faith?” (Matt. 6:27-30). “Why do you see the speck
in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your
neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye?” (Matt. 7:3-
4). “Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the
child asks for a fish, will give a snake?” (Matt.7:9-10).

129
Stein, Method and Message, 24-5. Zuck, Teaching as Jesus, 235-276, Zuck provides
good discussion on the Jesus’ question and furnished a complete list of the questions in use.

130
Stein, Method and Message, 20.