Literary Nuances
After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. 2 When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. 3 There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. 4 Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. 5 These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, 6 but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.
7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. 9 And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. 10 But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” 11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. 12 And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.
Domes of Veliko Tarnovo Cathedral | Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria | April 2024
I am not known for my flowery prose. I do like a good turn of phrase on occasion. I am not averse to literary elegance. But I don’t consider that to be the strength of my writing. Nor do I lean on eloquence to carry the weight of any argument I might make. I’m much more concerned about conveying the truth accurately.
I’ve noticed that Luke has much the same approach. He conveys the truth with little literary embellishment. But once in a while a locution creeps in that catches my eye. In this case it’s, “they… were not a little comforted.” This echos several other times in Acts that Luke uses this sort of phrase:
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Acts 12:18 (ESV): “Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.”
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Acts 14:28 (ESV): “And they remained no little time with the disciples.”
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Acts 15:2 (ESV): “And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.”
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Acts 19:23 (ESV): “About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way.”
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Acts 27:20 (ESV): “When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.”
These expressions in the negative convey an intensity that is not overstated, and leaves us to imagine how good or bad it was. It reveals Luke’s aversion toward exaggeration. He won’t make a big deal where there is none. These are examples of litotes, a rhetorical device where understatement is used to emphasize a point by stating a negative to affirm a positive.
There is no little implication to the truths that Luke reports: about the growth of the kingdom, the challenges the disciples faced, and the patience of Paul and the others to deal with the challenges and conflicts they faced. There is no little need for us to learn from their example and to put no little trust in God and his promises in Jesus Christ.
David Bahn - Reflections 