Evidently, this was the word of the day Sunday.
I have to admit, I have a fondness for the word. I cannot remember the first time I heard or read the word. But it became an immediate favorite.
Synecdoche – “A figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa”
Some examples:
“Atlanta beat Baltimore yesterday.” Meaning – the Atlanta, Georgia professional baseball team beat the Baltimore, Maryland professional baseball team.
“Let’s play some baseball.” Included in the idea of playing baseball is a bat, a ball, gloves, bases, a field, players on two teams, etc.
Now, isn’t it a lot easier to use the figure of speech where a part of something can stand for the whole thing? Do you see why I love the synecdoche? Lazy person that I am.
The Bible uses this figure of speech a great deal. So, rather than going through all of the details of a person’s coming to Christ and living for Him, the Bible will call them “believers”. Sometimes they are called disciples. A few times, “the way”.
To say a person believed, does not mean they only did one thing. The word is a synecdoche which stands for all the things a true believer would typically do.