Literary Devices in the Scripture

 

Ellipsis
An ellipsis is an abridging, shortening, or omitting by leaving out words that are understood to be in the sentence. In the following verses, the negative clause is minimized and the positive clause is emphasized.

You have not lied to men but to God." (Acts 5:4)
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:18)
“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval." (John 6:27).

Sarcasm
Sarcasm involves a cutting humor in which the user may actually say the opposite of what he means.

"We who are Jews by birth and not `Gentile sinners'  16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no-one will be justified. (Gal 2:15)

Satire
The nature of satire overlaps with sarcasm and hyperbole. Satire is a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn.

Matthew 23: 3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted in the market-places and to have men call them `Rabbi'.
Matthew 23:27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. (Mt 23:27)

Hyperbole
A hyperbole is an evident  and often witty exaggeration for the sake of emphasis.

Mr 10:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
2 Corinthians 11:8 I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you.
Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.

 

Play on Words, Puns
A play on words, or pun,  is a humorous use of a words in such a way as to suggest different meanings and applications such as when Jesus told the disciples.  Perhaps Jesus used such puns in verses such as:

But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." (Matthew 8:22)
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Mt 16:18)

 

 

Paradox
A paradox consists of two statements expressing an apparent contradiction and as a result challenges to think more deeply.

Mt 10:39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Mr 9:35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."
Mr 10:31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

Allusion
An allusion is an indirect reference in passing to something familiar in history.

Songs often employ allusions.   For example, "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah," makes many allusions to the wilderness experiences of Israel as we can see in the following lines:

Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but Thou art mighty- Hold me with Thy powerful hand: Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven Open now the crystal fountain Whence the healing stream doth flow;

Let the fire and cloudy pillar Lead me all my journey through: When I tread the verge of Jordan, Bid my anxious fears subside; Bear me through the swelling current, Land me safe on Canaan's side:

Hebrews 13: 2  Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.  Abraham (Ge 18), Gideon (Jdg 6) and Manoah (Jdg 13).
Lu 17:32 Remember Lot's wife!
2Cor. 5:1   Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
Other examples:  bread from heaven, living water, lamb of God, “our Passover:

Metonymy
A metonymy is a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated.  (as "crown" in "lands belonging  to the crown").  Definitions may be abridged by putting the part for the whole.

Jas 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
2Co 3:15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.

Our salvation is attributed to God, Christ, grace, the gospel, faith, confession, repentance, baptism, and faithfulness…. Any of the individual components is introduced to impress a certain factor of the whole.  For example, a  cup is used to indicate its contents,  to pray to heaven is to pray to God who is in heaven, and a family is spoken of as a house, which is a dwelling place for a family.

Prolepsis
The representation or assumption of a future act or development as if presently existing or accomplished.  The application of an adjective to a noun in anticipation of the result of the action of the verb. Sometimes two events separated by time are connected for explanatory purpose in such a way as to give the impression that they occurred at the same time.

1 Cor 10:2-4  2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food  4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
Hebrews 11:26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

 

 

Simile
A simile is a figure of speech comparing two unlike things that is often introduced by “like” or
“as.”

1 Peter 1:24 24 ¶For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,  25 but the word of the Lord stands for ever."
Luke 22: 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Parable (Didactic or Instructional Simile)
A parable is generally an extended simile, generally intended to emphasize one point.   We may mistakenly try to make applications from every item in the parable.

Metaphor
A metaphor is an abridged simile. It is a comparison omitting comparative words like as or like.   Most metaphors are easily understood, but can be warped as in the concept of transubstantiation from the verse:

Mark 14: 22  While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body." 23 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them.

How are the following terms used as metaphors in scripture? shield, a rock, a fortress, a builder, a dwelling-place, etc.
Jesus is said to be a lamb, a shepherd, a door, a vine, a cornerstone, temple, a body, a household, a bride?

Allegory
An allegory is a sustained analogy.  It is an expression in symbolic fictional figures of real people or principles.

2 Samuel 12:1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 4 "Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him." 5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity."

 

Symbol
A symbol is a representation, token or sign. It is something that stands for or suggests something else. The Scriptures are rich in symbolism and symbolic language whether it be through colors, numbers, actions, or objects

Lamp -- Word of God, Spirit of God, Spirit of man Linen (fine) -- Righteousness of the saints and Jesus' holiness, -- righteousness, and sinless humanity Manna  -- Christ our heavenly manna, divine health, food Ointment -- Unction, charisma of the Holy Spirit Pillar -- Stability, security, support Plumbline -- Divine standard Rod -- Measuring or judging Sickle -- Reaping instrument - Word of God

Staff -- Shepherd's protection Sword (2 edged) -- The Word of God by the Spirit Tent -- Pilgrim or stranger, covering Throne -- Sovereignty of God Tower -- Safety, the Lord's name Trumpet -- Voice of prophetic utterance Well -- Eternal life, salvation

 

Type
A type is a shadow whose substance (antitype) is in the future. Both the type and antitype are real persons, things, offices, or events. Here are examples of:
1 Corinthians 15: 45 So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
Persons: The first and second Adam (1 Cor. 15:45).
Things: The tabernacle and the true tabernacle (church) (Heb. 8-9).
Offices: Melchizedek and Christ (Heb. 5).
Events: Israel's deliverance and ours (1 Cor. 10:1-11).

Parallelism
Parallelism is the repeated syntactical similarities introduced for rhetorical effect, and is often used in Jewish poetry. A common device in Scripture is the parallelism in which a thought is repeated in meaning in a second line of a couplet of verses.

Luke 8:17 For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.
Matthew 10:27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.
Isaiah 5:20-21 20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.  21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.

Accommodative Language
Some Biblical language accommodates the concepts of hearers who lacked in scientific knowledge.

Re 20:8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth--Gog and Magog--to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore.
Mt 5:45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

References: http://www.christcenteredmall.com/teachings/symbolism/; http://www.freedomsring.org/ftc/chap8.html, Cecil Hook; www.encylopedia.com, “Hard Sayings of Christ by F.F., Bruce”