01.09c. Various Figures of the Bible (4)
SEC. 64. SYNECDOCHE.--This word is from the Greek sunechdeechesthai, meaning to receive jointly. But the meaning now given to the trope is not easily traced from the origin of the word. It is usually spoken of as a figure of speech by which we speak of the whole by a part, or a part by using a term denoting the whole. But while this is the main feature of this trope, it by no means exhausts it.
(1.) The whole is put for a part.--"By which means, the world that then was, being overflowed by water, perished." There are many evidences that the flood did not overflow all lands in all countries at the same time.
"For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of insurrections among all the Jews throughout the world" (Acts 24:5).
Now, after making all due allowance for the fact that Tertullus was a lawyer and had a case to gain, still the assertion that Paul was moving insurrections throughout the world is too large, except by the figure of synecdoche, that allows the whole to be put for the part. In Luk 2:1, it is affirmed that from Cæsar Augustus there went out a decree that all the world should be enrolled. This could not have embraced more than the Roman provinces.
Rom 1:8 : The faith of the brethren was spoken of throughout the world. In Acts 19:27, it is stated that not only Asia, but the world, worshiped Diana. By this figure the kingdom of Christ is spoken of many times, when but a single feature of that kingdom is meant. The parables spoken in Mat 13:1-58 are inexplicable on any other hypothesis.
"The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man that sowed good seed in his field." Some have gone to work to show some analogy between the kingdom as a whole and a man sowing in the field. But this is to fail of the purpose of the parable. The kingdom is not represented by a man, nor by the seed, nor by any other feature of the whole parable, but by all of them, and more, too. The truth is, the word kingdom is used in this limited sense--the whole being stated, whereas a part only was intended. The Saviour’s purpose, in all these parables and similes, was to remove certain errors from their minds respecting the coming of His kingdom. They thought that it would come like all the kingdoms they knew anything about, and therefore with spears and bows and battering-rams. He wished to teach them that it was not that kind of kingdom, and that it could not gain its victories in that way. Its success was to depend upon truth, planted in the hearts of the people; and when it would grow, then would it bear fruit. So you see that the man who was to sow the seed was just one feature in that institution. By the figure of synecdoche the word kingdom is employed, whereas there is only the one element meant.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed." It would be the extreme of folly to undertake to find the analogy between the kingdom of Christ as a whole, and a grain of mustard. One feature of the kingdom is illustrated by it--it has a small beginning and a grand result. Again we have the word kingdom employed, only to give one thought with respect to it.
"The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened." Again there is but one point of analogy--that of a gradual enlarging from a small beginning to a grand final result. Hence the word kingdom is employed for the one idea of a quiet but certain gain, till the influence shall reach the ends of the earth.
"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in the field." In one particular only is it like a treasure--it has great value. So with the pearl of great price: while the similitude of the "net and the fishes" gives the feature of the judgment. Take every parable-illustration of the kingdom of heaven, and it is the use of the synecdoche--the word kingdom being used, whereas there is but a single feature of that institution intended.
"Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should lay his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence" (Mat 19:13-15).
They brought these children to Jesus for a blessing, and He gave it to them, for it belonged to them. Here it is evident that the word kingdom is used to indicate the blessings to be conferred by the king. They had not sinned, and in that sinless condition they had a right to these blessings. Indeed, this verse has been rendered by the best authority in the country, "To such as these belongs the kingdom."
"For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom 14:17). No one thinks that Paul had in his mind the kingdom as an entirety. He is not talking about the king, and the subjects, and the laws, and the officers and territory, and the throne for the king, nor of the judgment and the punishment that shall follow those who have been disobedient, but of the one great feature of holy living and peace in the service of God. Some of them were making this service to consist in forms and ceremonies and nice distinctions about meats, but He wished to have a larger view of the service of God and its blessedness than that; so he employs the word kingdom for the one thought.
Under this figure, Lazarus (Luk 16:23) is put for the spirit of Lazarus. The angels carried him to Abraham’s bosom, and yet the body of the poor man was lying at the gate of the rich man, and the dogs were his attendants. In John 19:42; John 20:2, we have this figure used for the body. "There laid they Jesus"--that is, the body of Jesus. And Mary came and told the apostles that they had taken away her Lord. But in the twelfth verse the distinction is clearly made; she stooped down and saw two angels sitting, one at the head and the other at the foot, where the body of Jesus had lain. So in Luk 24:3 : "And they entered in, and found not the body o: the Lord Jesus."
(2.) A part put for the whole.--Sometimes the spirit is spoken of as a possession. Christ gave up the Spirit to the Father, and Stephen commended his spirit to the Lord Jesus. The Master said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." In this he might be understood to mean that the man was the being, and the spirit a mere dweller, or some feature of his mentality. In Rom 1:9, Paul says that "I serve in my spirit, in the gospel." Here Paul is one thing and the spirit another, or a mere possession. When Paul was in Athens, "his spirit was provoked within him, as he beheld the city full of idols." But sometimes the other form is found, and the mental man is spoken of to indicate the whole man. In Gen 46:27, "All the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten." The word soul here, as in many places in the Bible, stands for person. One entity is named, but the whole person is intended. In other places, however, the outer and inner man are spoken of as the two great features of the man. In the whole of the seventh chapter of the Roman letter, Paul is showing the struggle that was going on between the spirit that consented to that which was good, and the flesh that demanded that which was not good. So in Gal 5:16-24, the same struggle for the mastery is indicated. In 2Co 4:16, Paul says that, "Though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day." Here is a something mentioned as the real self, having an outward man and an inward man, both of which are the property of this imaginary self.
"And I think it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ signifies unto me. Yea, I will give diligence that at every time ye may be able after my decease to call these things to remembrance" (2Pe 1:13-15).
Here the apostle speaks of himself living in a tent, or tabernacle, which is soon to be laid aside. Putting this tabernacle aside is explained to be death, or decease; hence, living in this tabernacle was living in the body. The body, then, was the tabernacle, and the inner man, or the spirit, was the real man. But in 1Th 5:23, and Heb 4:12, there are indicated three entities in the man--spirit, soul, and body. It is, then, very evident that, in many passages, a part is put for the whole. This is many times the case with the salvation of sinners. The whole number of conditions are indicated by the use of one. Generally the first one is mentioned--that of faith--because without it nothing else could follow. Men were to call on the name of the Lord, in order to be saved (Rom 10:17); they must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31); they must repent of their sins (Acts 17:30); they must be baptized in the name of the Lord (Acts 22:16). But it is common to have one of these mentioned, without any statement as to the presence of any other.
(3.) Time is put for a part of time.--All the way through the Scriptures the Oriental form of expression is found, in this respect.
"Of them shall ye take your bondmen for ever" (Lev 25:46)
Whatever construction may be put upon this passage, they have long ceased to take bondmen from the strangers around them.
"And my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant" (Gen 17:13). In Gen 13:15, God promised the land of Canaan to Abram and his seed forever. In Num 25:13, to Phinehas was promised an everlasting priesthood. It failed a long time ago. Sometimes men have been staggered at the discovery of this fact, and have almost reached the conclusion that these statements were never made by the God of heaven at all. Others have concluded that wherever eternity or everlasting occurs, only limited duration is intended. But this will not do, for it limits the blessedness of the righteous, and the years of God himself. He is the same, and His years shall not fail; from everlasting to everlasting He is God. It will not do to rush from one extreme to another. This is the truth in the case, forever exhausts the period to which it belongs. If it was said to a king, "live forever," it meant a long life, and yet the life of a man. If it referred to a nation, it was to extend till that nation would be scattered and the nationality be destroyed. If we could know that it related to time, we could be sure that it would exhaust the period. But if it reach beyond the precincts of time, there then being no limit, it must have all the meaning that can attach to the word. Hence, because a word is sometimes used in a figurative sense, it does not follow that it is always to be so understood.
(4.) The plural is put for the singular.--The ark that carried Noah across the flood rested on the mountains of Ararat (Gen 8:4). It could not have rested on more than one. To one accustomed to their style of speech there would be nothing strange in the expression. There were three ranges of hills, or mountains, and in one of these ranges the ark rested.
"And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt" (Gen 19:29). But Lot only dwelt in one city--Sodom.
"Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should give children suck?" (Gen 21:7).
She never had but one child, and no other was ever promised. In Gen 46:7, when Jacob was going into Egypt, it is indicated that he took "his sons, and his sons’ sons with him; his daughters, and his sons’ daughters." But Jacob never had more than one daughter--Dinah--that was defiled by Shechem.
"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls" (Jer 6:16).
Here the paths denote that which is right in the sight of the Lord, and therefore could not have been different. This path meant the good way in which they were to walk. This may account for the singular being used by one apostle and the plural by another, when describing the same thing. Matthew and Mark usually differ in this respect. Matthew has two men possessed by demons in Gadara; Mark tells of but one. Mark tells of one blind beggar at Jericho that wished to be healed; Matthew has two. Mark describes the ride into Jerusalem to be on a colt whereon man never sat; Matthew has an ass and a colt. Mark and Matthew both say that they who were crucified with Jesus reproached him; while Luke declares that one defended his claims by rebuking the other (Luk 23:39-43). To say that they reproached Him when only one did it, would not have been out of harmony with general custom at that time. A number are frequently said to have done a thing, when it is certain that but one of the number did it. This may be all there was in the remark of Paul to the serjeants (Acts 16:35, Acts 16:37), "They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men that are Romans." We know that Paul was a Roman citizen; but that Silas was, could hardly be sustained by this text.
(5.) The singular is put for the plural.--This is commonly understood when the statement is a general one. When God ordained marriage, it was not for the one man and woman in
the garden--it was not for them that it was said, "Therefore shall a man forsake father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife"--for it meant all men; so that marriage was instituted for the race.
"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and let fowl fly above the earth" (Gen 1:20). The moving creature and the fowl do not mean one of each, but the whole family of each. In Exo 8:17; Exo 13:15, we have the plagues of Egypt that came upon man and beast. While the words man and beast do not mean all men and all beasts, they do mean all those that were exposed in Egypt, belonging to the dominion of Pharaoh. The term is singular, but the meaning is plural.
"I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously:
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea" (Exo 15:1).
"Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the ordinance of the Lord" (Jer 8:7).
Here a number of things are spoken of in the singular, while the whole number is intended: the stork, the turtle, the crane, stand for all such.
"The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib" (Isa 1:3).
All oxen, and all asses, is the meaning. Lev 11:29 tells of some unclean animals, such as the weasel, the lizard, and the mouse. In Deu 7:20, God promised to send the hornet, and drive out the inhabitants; and in Jos 24:12, they are reminded that God had sent the hornet, and had driven out the people in that way. Of course it was not any one hornet that did that work. He is to be regarded as a numerous hornet! This is, perhaps, the proper interpretation of Gen 6:16, respecting the light in the ark, which God appointed.
(6.) A definite is put for an indefinite number.
"That she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins" (Isa 40:2). The word double stands for plenty.
"Render unto her even as she rendered, and double unto her the double according to her works" (Rev 18:6). That is, she must be punished sufficiently.
"God hath spoken once,
Twice have I heard this" (Psa 62:11).
"Howbeit in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue" (1Co 14:19). In this he is understood to mean that he would prefer to use a very few words that would instruct the people than a great number that would not do any good. Elkanah said to Hannah (1Sa 1:8), "Am I not better to thee than ten sons?"--that is, than a whole family of sons?
"A rebuke entereth deeper into one that hath understanding
Than an hundred stripes into a fool" (Pro 17:10). That is, than any number of stripes.
"If a man beget an hundred children" (Ecc 6:3). A great number.
"For the child shall die an hundred years old, and the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed" (Isa 65:20). This is a strong figure for the blessings that would be for them when they should return from their captivity in Babylon.
One thousand stands for a higher number, and yet indefinite, many times.
"And showing mercy unto thousands, of them that love me and keep my commandments" (Exo 20:6).
Here the thousands include the whole number of those that love the Lord, and keep His word.
"The Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times so many more as ye are" (Deu 1:11). That is, increase your number very greatly.
"He can not answer him one of a thousand" (Job 9:3).
"For every beast of the forest is mine,
And the cattle upon a thousand hills" (Psa 50:10).
Ten thousand stands for a very great number, but sometimes as indefinite as the others.
"And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, unto the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel" (Num 10:36).
"A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him" (Dan 7:10).
"And the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands" (Rev 5:10).
Every one understands by these expressions a very great number, but no one thinks of the number being accurately made out. The words hour, day, year, are employed with the same latitude. Jesus said to the disciples the night before the crucifixion, "Could ye not watch with me one hour?"--that is, just a little while.
Numbers, among the ancients, were very loosely kept. All the antediluvian patriarchs seem to have died on their birthdays, for they were so many years old. The same is true of the men who lived on this side of the flood. And yet we do not think but what they lived months and days, more or less, just as the people do now.
If we take the ordinals among the Greeks, first, second, third, etc., they are always to be relied upon; but if we have the indication in the use of the cardinals, one, two, three, etc, we may feel sure that it is not as we would say it. Jesus says that He was to be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights; and again, that He would rise again on the third day. As we speak, this could not be true. See John 2:19; Mark 8:31; Mat 16:21. And by reading 1Ki 12:5-12, both styles of record will be found.
(7.) A general name is put for a particular name.--"All flesh" stands for all human beings. Psa 145:21. "And let all flesh bless his holy name, for ever and ever."
"And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The voice of one saying, Cry. And one said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass" (Isa 40:5-6).
"Because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" (Rom 3:20).
"And preach the gospel to the whole creation" (Mark 16:15).
It is not meant to preach the gospel to the animal creation, but to the human family. The word creature stands here, for the human race, only. In the time of Abraham it was said that "the Canaanite was then in the land" (Gen 12:6). But this is the general for a large number of tribes into which the descendants of the fourth son of Ham had been divided. It is not certain that the races of giants--the Anakim, the Avim, the Emmim, the Horim, the Rephaim, the Zuzim, or the Zamzummim--were descendants from this line or not; but the probabilities are that they were. At any rate, the Canaanite includes the Amorites (between Hebron and the salt sea, that afterwards spread to the east side of the Jordan, and occupied the country from the river Arnon on the south, to the north line of Bashan); the Arkites (at Arka, opposite the northern part of Lebanon); the Arvadites (around Arad); the Girgashites (around the sea of Tiberius); the Hamathites (around Hamath, in the extreme north of the land); the Hittites (around Hebron); the Hivites (about the foot of Hermon); the Jebusites (about Jerusalem); the Perizzites (in Samaria); the Sinites (south of Arka); the Zerarites (south of Arad); and probably the Zidonians (at Zidon).
It is quite common, in all ages of the world, to speak of the smaller tribes by mentioning the larger, which contained the smaller.
(8.) Sometimes a special name or word is put for a general.
"He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth;
He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in asunder;
He burneth the chariots in the fire" (Psa 46:9). That is to say, God is the great peace-maker, and he accomplishes the work by the destruction of the means of warfare. So bread is used in the place of food in general.
"Command that these stones become bread" (Mat 4:3).
"Give us this day our daily bread" (Mat 6:11). That is, our daily food. Many times the word meat is used in the same sense. These special names are employed because they are leading, and therefore indicate the whole line of food in general. In Dan 12:2, many is put for all mankind, for, though the thought to be conveyed is the restoration of Israel from Babylon, yet the scene is laid on the general resurrection of the dead. Hence the "Many that sleep in the dust of the earth" meant all that sleep in the dust of the earth. (2Co 2:6). In Mark 16:16, "He that believeth" stands for all who believe, etc. In Psa 1:1 : "Blessed is the man" blessed are all men who walk as indicated in that place. In like manner we have father, mother, brother, sister, daughter, son, etc., used for relatives that are more distant. They are the particular things used for the general. Consult Gen 1:21; Gen 17:4; Gen 24:38-40; Gen 29:12; Gen 28:9; Gen 3:20; Jdg 5:7; Rom 16:13; Deu 15:7; Deu 23:19; Ruth 4:3; Mark 3:35; Jos 7:19; Mat 1:6. It will be found in the genealogy of Matthew, that there are skips where even the form of begat is used. We are ready to excuse Luke, in adopting the Septuagint in giving the line of Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David; and yet from the birth of Boaz to the birth of David, there is scarcely less than four hundred and fifty years of time, which would demand that each father mentioned should have been about one hundred and fifty years old when his son was born. And yet men were not as long lived then as now. David was an old and worn out man at seventy, and Solomon reaches the end of life under sixty. It is better to concede that there are vacancies in the account, and that they did not choose to fill them, and have used the terms in a larger sense, giving the specific for the general, as in Rom 1:16. In many other places the word Gentile occurs for all heathen.
SEC. 65. PROVERB.--This seems to come from the Latin proverbium, from pro, before, or for, and verbum a word. A sentence condensed into a word, or its smallest form. Webster says of it:
"1. An old and common saying; a phrase which is often repeated; especially a sentence which briefly and forcibly expresses some practical truth, or the result of experience and observation; a maxim; a saw.
"’The proverb is true, that light gains make heavy purses; for light gains come often, great gains now and then.’--BACON.
"2. Hence a striking or paradoxical assertion; an enigma.
"’His disciples said unto him, Lo! now speakest thou plainly, and thou usest no proverb.’--WYCLIFFE’S BIBLE, 1551.
"3. A byword; an expression of contempt.
"Thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations" (Deu 28:37). A proverb, then, may be regarded as a short, pithy sentence, containing a complete and valuable thought. Its value may be judged of (1) by its prominence and value of truth; (2) its brevity; (3) its elegance and beauty.
It is constructed of several different figures of speech, and when they are employed the rules that relate to their interpretation should be used. As they were in the habit of calling nearly all figures parables, several times in the New Testament the word parable is used where, according to our forms of speech, we would say proverb. Once before we mentioned Luk 4:23 (See Parable), and also the parable of the fig tree (Mat 24:32) is a proverb: When the fig tree puts forth leaves, the summer is nigh.
Here are a few model parables.
"Out of the wicked cometh forth wickedness" (1Sa 24:13).
"It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).
"The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth" (Eze 3:22). The form of that was good enough, but God found fault with it on the ground that it was not true (Eze 3:23).
They used another that looked well enough, but was faulty on the same account.
"The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge" (Eze 18:2).
Sometimes they spoke of proverbs as dark sayings (John 16:25, John 16:29).
These sayings, or "words of mine" (Mat 7:24), might be called proverbs. Indeed, the Sermon on the Mount is almost made up of terse, forceful sentences, each one of which contains a great volume of truth. From 1Ki 4:32; Ecc 12:9, Solomon seems to have spoken many proverbs which have not been reported to us. The whole book of Proverbs should be studied, in order to be familiar with this form of speech.
It was used by the ancients, as by us, for the purpose of making the truth appear with greater force, and to be remembered longer. "The legs of the lame are not equal." "Consistency thou art a jewel." "He laughs best who laughs last." Ahab, king of Israel, is the author of a very fine proverb. It was in answer to Benhadad, king of Syria: "Let not him that girdeth on his armor boast himself as he that putteth it off" (1Ki 20:11).
"It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to her wallowing in the mire." (2Pe 2:22). That illustrates those who are low in their disposition and practices, and have turned to be Christians, and then permit their old desires and customs to control them. A proverb may be enlarged into a parable, simply by the use of a story which will contain the thought that would otherwise be put into a brief sentence. The parable of the good Samaritan (Luk 10:25-37), might be made into a proverb: "To be neighbor, is to show kindness." And while that truth might be as potent to one who wished it, yet it would not enforce itself on the mind as well as in the parable form in which the Saviour put it.
SEC. 66. IRONY.--From the Greek eironeia, dissimulation; as a figure, it means to dissemble in speech--to say one thing, while another is meant. Webster says of this word:
"A kind of ridicule which exposes the errors or faults of others by seeming to adopt, approve, or defend them; apparent assent to a proposition given, with such a tone, or under such circumstances, that opposite opinions or feelings are implied."
Irony can be detected (1) by a statement made by the author: he sometimes says that certain things were said in mockery. (2) It is sometimes apparent from the tone or accent, or the manner of the speaker. (3) Sometimes it will be recognized by the character of the address: if the speaker has been dealing in that kind of dissimulation for the purpose of ridicule, it will be the easier detected. (4) The extravagance of praise, when we know both the subject and the author, will enable us to note the intent. (5) When the language was used orally, and has been printed, there may be nothing in the form of words to denote that it was an ironical speech; but if we can get the opinion of those who were present, it will assist us; for they would be able to discover in the tone or the accent what has been lost to us by distance and time. The Scriptures contain many examples of irony, but, with the rules we have given already for its detection, we will cite but a few, for the real meaning in any case is not difficult.
"And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is musing, or he is gone aside, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked" (1Ki 18:27).
"And when he was come to the king, the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go up, and prosper; and the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou speak unto me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord? And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd: and the Lord said, These have no master; let them return every man to his house in peace. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?" (1Ki 22:15-18).
There is nothing in the form of this address that would enable us to discern the irony in it. But Ahab knew the man, and perhaps detected in the tone and accent of the speech the ironical under-current.
"No doubt but ye are the people,
And wisdom shall die with you" (Job 12:2). The wisdom these men supposed they possessed, but did not possess, made it necessary that the patriarch should deal in a very rugged language to bring them to their senses.
"Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress" (Jdg 10:14).
"Already are ye filled, already ye are become rich, ye have reigned without us: yea and I would that ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. For, I think, God hath set forth us the apostles last of all, as men doomed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye have glory, but we have dishonour Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place; and we toil, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things, even until now" (1Co 4:8-13). The wisdom that this church supposed they possessed, but did not possess, made it necessary that the apostle should deal in very rugged language to bring them to their senses.
"But others mocking said, They are filled with new wine" (Acts 2:13). Of course they meant to be understood as saying that they were drunk; but being full of sweet wine would not make them drunk. They meant what we now mean when we say of a man that "he is happy," or that he "he is full of milk." They say one thing, but mean another.