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No.5.
Figures of Speech (contd.).
pp. 35 - 39
The third figure of speech in the group we are considering is Hypocatastasis or
Implication. Hypocatastasis is a Greek word which literally means that something is "put
down under" or wrapped up. The likeness in this case is only implied.
". . . . . dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me"
(Psa. 22: 16).
If the Psalmist had said that the assembly of the wicked were like dogs this would
have used Simile. Had he said the wicked are dogs, he would have used Metaphor. But
in this verse he wraps up, as it were, his illustration of the wicked by simply using the
word "dogs".
In the New Testament we have another example:
"Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and
of the Sadducees" (Matt. 16: 6).
Here the disciples completely misunderstood the Lord, as the context shows. "And
they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread" (verse 7).
They took His statement literally, not realizing He was using the figure Hypocatastasis.
He did not say the wrong doctrine of the Pharisees was either like leaven, or was leaven,
but strongly implied it by using the word leaven by itself, which both in the Old
Testament and New Testament is symbolic of evil. In verses 11 and 12 the disciples are
made to understand that the Lord was not referring to literal leaven, but to the doctrine of
the Pharisees and Sadducees. There is another occasion where the Lord Jesus used the
same figure of Implication and was similarly misunderstood.
"Jesus answered and said unto them (the Jews), Destroy this temple, and in three days
I will raise it up" (John 2: 19).
Once again His hearers took literally what was a figure of speech:
"Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou
rear it up in three days? But He spake of the temple of His body" (John 2: 20, 21).
Another common figure used in the Scriptures is Hendiadys or Two for One, that is,
two things are expressed, but only one thing is meant. In England we speak of a piece of
bread and butter, which is not bread and butter considered separately, but a piece of
buttered bread. We will give one or two examples from the New Testament:
"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1: 17).
While it would be perfectly true to consider grace and truth, taken by themselves, to
be resident in Christ, here the apostle John is contrasting the law, with its types and