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There are over two hundred figures of speech. The Greeks and Romans reduced them to
an exact science. If anyone asks how they can be recognized, two facts must be borne in
mind:
(1)
When rules of grammar are departed from.
(2)
When a statement is contrary to known fact, or the revealed truth of the Scriptures.
No one has a right to assert a passage is figurative unless he can point to the figure and
give reasons for its usage. Figurative language is not a convenience that can be turned to
an argument in order to escape the literal implication of a passage. Let us take three
well-known figures which are linked together:
(1)
Simile or Resemblance.
(2)
Metaphor or Representation.
(3)
Hypocatastasis or Implication.
(1) Simile is comparison stated; one thing is said to be like or as something else, e.g.
"All we like sheep have gone astray" (Isa. 53: 6). "One day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (II Pet. 3: 8).
"All flesh is as grass" (I Pet. 1: 24).
There are hundreds of examples of this figure in the Bible.
(2) Metaphor or Representation. This is comparison substituted. The figure lies in
the verb "to be", while the nouns on either side are literal.
"All flesh is grass" (Isa. 40: 6).
Metaphor is from the Greek metaphero "to carry across". The likeness is carried
across, the verb "to be" then having the meaning of "represent". We may point to a
photograph and say: "This is my father". What we really mean is the photograph is a
representation of our father. Or, pointing to a map, we can say: "This is Great Britain",
meaning this map represents Great Britain, or is a likeness of Great Britain. The figure
Metaphor resides entirely in the verb "to be": "Ye are the salt of the earth" (Matt. 5: 13);
"the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches" (Rev. 1: 20); "He that soweth the
good seed is the Son of Man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of
the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one" (Matt. 13: 37, 38). In
each case the verb "to be" could be rendered "represents", and so we have likeness by
representation.
Metaphor is a distinct figure of speech and not a covering term for all figures.
Sometimes great issues hang upon the recognition of a figure and false doctrines can be
built upon the failure to distinguish them. "This (broken bread) is My Body"
(Matt. 26: 26). The Roman Catholic insists that the consecrated bread is literally
Christ's body. But in the Greek the grammar is deliberately broken to arrest attention and
to show that the figure Metaphor is being used. "This" is made to agree with the word
"body" instead of its antecedent, the word "bread", and so through failure to recognize
the figure, the deception of the Roman Mass has been perpetuated through the centuries,
misleading millions and holding them in bondage.