Page 145 - A Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy

The third figure of speech is synecdoche. In synecdoche, the speaker “substitutes a part

for the whole, or whole for the part.” 180 For example, “For the days are surely coming when

they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never

nursed’” (Luke 23:29).

Fourth, Jesus used the figure of metonymy. 181 A metonymy names a thing “by one of its

attributes or accompaniments.” When Jesus said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom

of God to the other cities also” (Luke 4:43), he meant to preach to the people living in them.

The fifth figure of speech is personification. In personification, the speaker endows

things with personality for the sake of rhetorical effect, as employed in Matt. 6:3, “But when you

give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

Sixth, Jesus often used the figure of apostrophe. 182 This figure “addresses the absent as

present.” An example of it is Matt. 11: 21, saying “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you,

Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would

have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”

The seventh figure Jesus often used is irony. 183 Irony is a unique literary device that

intends a meaning “opposite of what the words say,” as is apparent in Jesus’ utterance, “You

have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!” (Mark

7:9).

180
Zuck, Teaching as Jesus, 195.
181 Matt. 10:34, 11:21, 11:23, 12:25, 22:37, Mark 3;25, Luke 10:13, 10:15.

182 Matt. 23:37, Luke 13:34.

183
Matt. 16:2-3, Mark 2:17, 3:4, 3:6, 7:9, Luke 10:29-37, 13:33, 16:1-13, 18:9-14.