Metaphors referring to family life played an important role in the formation of the New Testament and the early church. This article explores one aspect of the use of family metaphors, namely, the image of a father, used metaphorically by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:14–21 to assert his apostolic authority in the church in Corinth.
One of people's favourite linguistic tools is figurative language (metaphors). A striking metaphor used in the Bible is that of marriage. The biblical authors use it as a metaphor to express God’s relation to his people.
Chapter 11 considers the identity of the church, the bride of Christ, in the bigger story of God’s dealings with man and creation. Hamilton takes a look at a few metaphors that Jesus and the apostles used to indicate the church’s identity.
Hermeneutics should not be divorced from the study of language in general. The Bible is written in human language by men who used the language conventions of the day. This essay focuses on the way in which figures of speech and figurative language function in texts.
