So far in this study we have looked at the origins of the Bible, the various translations of the Bible and this week we are going to look at the various types of literature in the bible.
The Bible is not, from one perspective, truly a single book: it is a library. The books of the Bible exist in many different genres (remember that word from High School!!) – (genre simply means type) of literature. There are many different types of literature in the Bible. For example, there are historical narratives; collections of hymns, proverbs, letters, etc….. and within each of those books there are a wide variety of forms (short stories, poems, parables, proverbs, sermons, and laws). I know what you are asking…….OK, so what? Why do we need to know what type of genre and form a particular piece of scripture is? The reason is because it could affect our interpretation. If something is considered as wisdom literature and not historical narrative then we know that the sequence of events or the events themselves are not as important as the teaching that is being conveyed. If we know a particular text is historical narrative then we know the story that is being told, actually happened and is not merely symbolic to prove a point.
Understanding this and knowing the difference can significantly help us in understanding what we are reading. So this week and next we are going to cover the following genres of the bible: Epistles, Narratives, Gospels, Prophetic, Parables, Law, Psalms and Wisdom literature.
So let’s look first at the genre of Epistles. An epistle is simply a fancy name for one of the letters of the New Testament. For example: Romans, Galatians, I & II Corinthians, Colossians, etc are all examples of epistles. These were letters written by a particular author for a particular audience in a particular situation. So to fully understand what is happening in the letter, we need to understand as much as possible about the context in which it was written. What is the purpose of the author in writing the letter? What behavior needed to be corrected or doctrinal error that needed to be set right? Why does the author go about it the way that he does?
For example, in the Corinthian response letters, Paul is responding to things he has learned about the Corinthian church from two different sources. First, he has received a report from members of Chloe’s household (1 Cor 1:11) about some of the things that were happening in the church in Corinth. Second, the Corinthian church themselves sent Paul a letter asking him various questions (see 1 Cor 7) about topics such as food sacrificed to idols, the veiling of women, spiritual gifts, etc. Therefore, Paul’s reason for writing to them was to respond to this information that he had received. One of those responses has to do with the many divisions within the Corinthian church such as separation at the Lord’s Table to elevating certain spiritual gifts over others. These divisions were not just divisions within the church but reflected a culture that was highly intellectual and prided themselves on elevating their line of thought over another. One of the major events in those days was intellectual debates they held within the city. Orators from all around would come into Corinth and debate one another on particular topics. Each orator would use a particular style of argument or persuasion to win others to his side. Then the people would cheer for those they liked much like we cheer for our favorite football team today. Many times it did not matter the content of the argument as much as the style the orator used. People would pick their favorite style and root for them. This spilled over into the church and created divisions among Christians. If you look at 1 Corinthians 1, Paul says “What I mean is this: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another ‘I follow Apollos’; another ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ’….. What Paul is referring to is the time period after he left Corinth and Apollos followed him as the preacher of the church. Now each man had his own speaking style but the church, as their cultural norm, began to compare Paul and Apollos and the way in which they preached the Gospel. From this, factions were created of those who preferred Paul and those who preferred Apollos. Whereas Paul responds, “Is Christ divided?” They were all preaching Christ, so what does it matter which style is used. In fact, Paul says in 1 Cor 2:4, "My message were not with wise and persuasive words..." This is the essence of the epistles. A particular place, a particular situation, in a particular culture to which a particular response is given. It is from this response that we can begin to build a theological base for our beliefs and actions today. Take this situation in Corinth, for example, the same thing happens today. When one pastor leaves a church and another comes in people will naturally compare the new pastor to the old and choose a side in which to stand. But when we look at the words of Paul, we can simply ask “Is Christ divided?”
Now narratives are a totally different story. In fact, narratives are a story. Narrative literature are stories retelling the historical events of the past in order to give meaning and direction for a given people in the present. This differs, however, than typical narrative stories in modern literature because all of the individual stories work together to tell God’s story and his work throughout history. Hundreds of individual stories from hundreds of different locations including thousands of different people all work together to show God’s redemptive work throughout creation.
Narratives are not allegorical stories with hidden meanings. While there many be aspects of a story that are hard to understand, the basic assumption is that they really happened. For example, Moses going up and down Mount Sinai in Exodus 19-34 is not an allegory of the descent and ascent of the soul to God as some would infer. But it is the retelling of Moses actually going up and down the mountain. While there are other types of literature that have allegorical meaning, it is important to know (and impacts our interpretation) that it is not contained within historical narratives.
Another concern when it comes to narratives is that we cannot insert a meaning into the text that was not intended when it was written. This concept applies to all of scripture, A TEXT CANNOT MEAN SOMETHING TODAY THAT IT DID NOT MEAN TO THE ORIGINAL AUDIENCE. Much harm has been done in teaching scripture because we want to insert our meaning into the text when the author never intended for it to mean that.
Some helpful hints when reading a narrative, find the basic components of the story. Who is the narrator and what is their role in the story? What is the scene? Where does the story take place? Who are the characters? What is the dialogue between the characters and between the narrator and the reader? What is the plot of the story?
Examples of narrative texts would be: Genesis, Joshua, Judges, I & II Samuel, I & II Kings, I & I Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jonah (some people would debate this, however, I believe that Jonah is a historical story), the Gospels, Acts, and so on.
I hope that begins to give you a little insight as to the different types of literature in scripture. Next week we will tackle a couple more forms.
In His Grip
Kevin
