Syllepsis lets one word relate to two ideas at once, sometimes grammatically to one and logically to another.
Syllepsis lets one word relate to two ideas at once, sometimes grammatically to one and logically to another.
Syllepsis is a figure in which a single word or construction serves more than one term or idea, with the relation fitting each term in a different grammatical, semantic, or rhetorical way.
These examples show how Syllepsis functions in biblical language, rhetoric, poetry, prophecy, narrative, or theological imagery.
let the dead bury their own dead
The word dead operates in two related senses: spiritually dead and physically dead.
that which is born of the flesh is flesh
Flesh is used in related but not identical senses, moving from source to nature.
not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel
Israel is used in more than one covenantal sense within one compact statement.
on this rock I will build my church
Rock language carries a layered relation to confession, revelation, and foundation; classification overlaps with metaphor.
he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live
Death and life operate with physical and eschatological senses in one sentence.
dead to sin and alive to God
Death and life are used in spiritual union language rather than ordinary physical sense.
through the law I died to the law
Law is used with different relations: as instrument of conviction and as former covenantal jurisdiction.
those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it
Worldly use and worldly possession are held together under one expression.
made him to be sin... become the righteousness of God
Sin and righteousness function in representative and forensic senses, not simple moral quality alone.
I count everything as loss
Loss language gathers differing kinds of former advantage under one evaluative term.
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