Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

APHORISM

One of several terms for short, pithy, popular wisdom sayings. As the expression of the insights of an individual, it can be distinguished from the proverb, which is generally an unattributed expression of collective wisdom. Its authority thus depends on the prestige of that individual. In this sense the aphorism is closely related to the chreia, though the chreia generally is more explicit in its biographical interest.

Aphorisms represent one of Jesus’ characteristic modes of speech, and therefore are of special interest for historical Jesus research. While wisdom sayings typically function to support traditional values and worldviews, the aphorisms of Jesus often reflect his radical challenges to the accepted wisdom of the day (Luke 12:37; Mark 8:35 par.; 10:31 par.; Luke 9:60; Matt. 8:22).

Aphorisms are found in many forms. In the Gospels they include beatitudes (Matt. 5:3-12; Luke 6:20-23; Gos. Thom. 54, 68–69), conditional sayings (Mark 3:24-25 par.), admonitions (Luke 12:22 par.), synonymous parallelism (Mark 4:22; John 13:16), antithetical parallelism (Mark 2:17 par.; Luke 6:45), and reciprocal statements (Luke 6:37-38; 12:8-9; Matt. 10:32-33; cf. 1 Clem. 13:2).

Aphorisms are neither spoken nor transmitted in isolation. The aphorisms of Jesus were gathered into thematic collections (Matt. 7:7-11 = Luke 11:9-13, asking; Matt. 7:1-5, judging; Luke 11:42-48; Matt. 23:13-36, woes) and used to form the conclusion to “pronouncement” stories (Mark 2:17; 12:17). Recent scholars have argued that NT writers expanded aphorisms or chreiai into larger narratives by use of standard rules found in the progymnasmata (basic rhetorical handbooks).

As Jesus’ aphorisms were originally delivered and transmitted orally, the attempt to recover the exact phrasing (ipsissima verba) is dubious. It is more fruitful to speak of a stable structure (ipsissima structura) from which changes could be made. John Dominic Crossan makes the important distinction between performancial and hermeneutical variation. Performancial variation involves changes (expansions, contractions, conversion, substitution, transposition) which do not affect the basic sense of the aphorism. This would have been a natural characteristic of Jesus’ teaching as he spoke to different audiences; compare “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” (Matt. 19:30) to “So the last will be first, and the first will be last” (20:16). The version in Gos. Thom. 4, however, is a hermeneutical variation, since it provides a distinct interpretation: “For many who are first will become last, and they will become one and the same.”

Bibliography. D. E. Aune, “Oral Tradition and the Aphorisms of Jesus,” in Jesus and the Oral Gospel Tradition, ed. H. Wansbrough. JSNTSup 64 (Sheffield, 1991), 211-65; J. D. Crossan, In Fragments: The Aphorisms of Jesus (San Francisco, 1983); V. K. Robbins, “The Chreia,” in Greco-Roman Literature and the New Testament, ed. D. E. Aune. SBLSBS 21 (Atlanta, 1988), 1-23.

Martin C. Albl

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

APHORISM

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)