“How much more… shall your Father do!”

        There are a few literary constructions in the Scriptures that I’ve noted over the years, but I never knew they had a name. They take the general form, “If you…how much more…” A few examples:

§   “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:11

§  “If, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” Romans 5:10 [also 5:9, 5:15, 5:17]

§  “If their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!” Romans 11:12

§  “If their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” Romans 11:15

More “How much mores”
1 Sam.23:3	Ezek.15:5
2 Sam.4:11	Mat.6:30
Job 4:19	Luke 11:13
Prov.11:31	1 Cor.6:3
Song 4:10	2 Cor.3:11

   In all, my computer tells me, there are as many as fifty such uses throughout Old and New Testaments. The technical term for this grammatical construction is “a fortiori”. Webster’s dictionary tells us that the term is New Latin, literally, “from the stronger (argument)”. The explanation is “with greater reason or more convincing force— used in drawing a conclusion that is inferred to be even more certain than another.”

        Look at the first example above, Matthew 7:11. If my son asks for fish, will I give him a snake? Not a chance! How much surer is the fact that if we ask something from God, He will give us His best.

        An Old Testament example is Deuteronomy 31:27. Here Moses charges the people with being rebellious and stiff-necked while he is alive. When he dies it is a sure thing that they will get worse!

        Many of the characters in Scripture used this construction; David, Job, Solomon, Ezekiel, the Lord, Paul, and the writer to the Hebrews. One of the greatest pictures of the power and beauty of Christ’s sacrifice is Hebrews 9:14. “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer” made the offerers ceremonially clean. “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences…”

HOW MUCH MORE!