MATTERS THAT AFFECT STYLE

MATTERS THAT AFFECT STYLE

Virgil Warren, PhD

            Higher critics do not allow a wide enough range of style variance in New Testament authors. The items below have implication for greater variety in style.

1.   Subject matter          Complex problems tend to cause complex presentations. Certain (topic)                                subjects call for special vocabulary. What we are trying to combat  

                                       determines terminology: “faith and works” (Judaism), “fullness” (Gnosticism), priesthood (new subject). For the sake of meeting the minds of the ones we want to address, we use the vocabulary of the other in reference to our own subject so there can be a correlation of parts of thought systems, or functional equivalents. Becoming/being a Christian we might call a natural “high” because of the modern drug scene. Vocabulary generated by such circumstances will be peculiar to the circumstance (cp. “circumcision of the heart,” “fullness of the godhead,” “armor of salvation”).

2.   Amanuensis             Change in amanuensis from one letter to another may affect the (help)                                   wording  of  the  letter:  oral  vs.  written,  different   writers,  ways

                                       amanuenses are used.

3.     Pressure                   The press  of the immediate circumstances and the demands of the  

         (time)                    problem  foster  hurried  composition,  which  tends away from more

                                       reflective presentation and toward more conversational style. If Paul in prison found out someone was going somewhere, for instance, he might have written a letter more hurriedly than normal to take advantage of this way to send his communication. The more time people have to think through their presentation, the more tightly they may organize it and the more precisely they may word it.

4.   Readership                     We do not write the same way to a country church as to one in

      (audience)                modern suburbia. The cultural expectancy of an area may contribute

       (culture)                  to the stiltedness of expression.

5.   Stage of Life            Over time, people tend to adjust their vocabulary and way of speaking. Expectancy about ways of speaking may vary with the age of the speaker.

6.   Recent experiences  Sometimes what we have been doing or the people we have been          (environment)                     around   cause  us   to  pick  up  on   expressions,  vocabulary,

                                     speaking styles that are fresh and new to us. (That is the reason they impress us.) Illustration comes in the fact that no two letters are closer than Colossians and Ephesians, written at the same time. The mood shift in 2 Corinthians may result from such a thing as well.

7.   Speech habits           Authors can “get on” an expression or manner of speaking, so the

                                       term, phrase, or grammatical phenomenon may appear several times in this letter or sermon, but nowhere else (cp. “in the heavenlies” in Ephesians, to a lesser extent “God forbid” in Romans, and “I am” in John).

     Style considerations in New Testament studies affect the authorship of Ephesians (vs. the other “nine letters” of Paul), the Pastoral letters, *Hebrews, *2 Peter (vs. 1 Peter), *Revelation (vs. the other Johannine writings), synoptic studies, Acts 1-12 vs. 13-28; the genuineness of Mark 16:9-20; as well as the unity of 2 Corinthians, Philippians, and Matthew (the Great Commission, 28:18-20). (*The ancient church acknowledged stylistic questions here.) Maybe the stylistic differences did not bother the ancients as much because Greek was their mother tongue and they had a better feel for how a native speaker might vary,

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