No Harm - An Important Litotes
Posted by: ba <ba@...>
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Straight to the Cross
COLUMN: Thankful
No Harm - An Important Litotes
by A. A. Neale
Nosiree, I didn't commit a grammatical error in
the title. A litotes* is a figure of speech, and a
common one at that. It is, according to a Webster
clone, an "understatement for effect", especially
when expressed by a negative to the contrary. In
plainer words, you use a negative when you mean a
positive.
An example: You say, "I have not a few regrets."
You mean, "I have many regrets."
Another example: You say, "That's not bad." You
mean, "That's good!"
A third example, and I'll get to my point. You
say, "He's no dummy." You mean, "He's
intelligent."
The Bible uses litotes as well, as we might
expect.
We know that when the angel says to Mary that
"with God nothing will be impossible" (Lk. 1:37,
NKJV), he means to say that with God all things
are possible.
Paul calls his hometown of Tarsus "no
insignificant city" (Acts 21:39, NASB), meaning
quite an important city.
To the Galatians, Paul says, "You have not injured
me at all" (4:12, NJKV), and he wanted them to
understand, "You treated me very well."
So this contrary understatement shows up not
infrequently (oops! another litotes, there) in the
Bible.
I suspect Romans 13:10 brings us another case.
"Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love
is the fulfillment of the law."
Paul had a reason for putting this in the
negative. He has just cited several of the ten
commandments, "Thou shalt not." So Paul continues
the idea of the negative when he sums up. But the
studied apostle knows that the commandments just
cited aren't mere "don't-do" orders. They go
beyond the prohibitions to how one is to love
neighbor as self.
So his "do-no-harm" affirmation is understatement.
Between him and his readers, everybody understands
that love does much more than refrain from
injuring others.
There are plenty of people who will tell you God
must like them because they don't steal, murder,
rape, or set fire to the neighbor's poodle. Aren't
they wonderful people? (Especially the last
class.)
Love is a positive. Love not only does no harm to
one's neighbor, but actively promotes his good.
Love searches for ways to serve, is on 24/7 guard
duty for opportunities to do a fellow right. Love
is good will in action.
But you didn't need a litotes to tell you that,
now did you?
__________
*Most people pronounce it LIGHT-uh-tease.
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