The Richness of the Didactic Language of Jesus in the Ethical Parables of the Gospel of St. Matthew

Abstract

This paper is a linguistic exploration in the language of didacticism employed by Jesus Christ in his teaching of ethics as contained in one of the synoptic gospels, St. Matthew. With the aid of eclectic linguistic analytical method, the paper looks at ethics as the focal theme of Jesus’ teaching and establishes the fact that in the treatment of ethics, Jesus employed varied ornamental linguistic devices such as condensed language, exclamations, allusions, dramatic language, repetition, affirmative language, rhetorical questions, juxtaposition, similes and pragmatic use of the preposition’but’. The usage of the features is found to be very effective, appropriate, down-to-earth, appealing and longer lasting in the hearts and memory of the audience as well as readers and scholars of the Bible over the ages. Each device matches the ethical point being taught by Jesus. The paper concludes that apart from being the saviour of the whole world, Jesus was and ‘is still’ essentially the teacher with the profoundly unequal power of didacticism that is rich and unsurpassable, with unprecedented infinite linguistic repertoire.

KEYWORDS: Language, Didacticism, Parables, Ethics