Session Three
Scripture: Selected
Date: October 11, 2008
Speaker: Sean Higgins
The genre of any given verse or book of the Bible is an important part of context (Level 5 from the previous lesson). Genres help us know what kinds of things to expect, what to look for, as well as what not to expect or look for.
For the most part, at least with most modern forms of communication, we recognize and distinguish genres immediately. Take the newspaper for example. In and of itself, a newspaper is a certain kind of literary product. We do not expect to find a comprehensive history of the United States in a daily paper. There isn’t a section of alphabetized medical terms. In a newspaper, we know we’re limited to current events.
Even within a newspaper we find different things in different places. A box score is found in what section? [Sports] The box score tells us the final score of a game and a bare-bones statistical description of each individual’s performance. But the box score does not tell the story of the game. We need to flip back a few pages for the story. No one looks to the box scores to see who was the hero and who was the goat.
In the advice column, we expect to find that someone has written about their (usually small) problem, to be answered by a lady with few other qualifications than her familiarity with etiquette and feel-good psychology, who publishes a public response. You do not read the advice column to get a particularly Christian (or Islamic or Jewish or religious) perspective. No authorities will be cited except for political correctness and good feelings.
In an obituary, we are going to find short write-ups about those who recently died. We know that obituaries typically contain the name of the spouse and any children and any siblings. We do not go to an obituary for a poem about, or by, the person. It’s not a full biography; it’s a brief paragraph of facts.
An article on the front page, we generally assume to be important, at least in the eyes of the paper’s editor. These are usually multiple paragraph stories of local, national, or international events. We don’t expect editorial opinions, we expect the facts, written for a 5th or 6th grade reading ability. We also don’t look for hidden meanings (allegories), or codes (running the text through a computer formula) in news stores. We don’t read front page stories like moral stories, for how we are supposed to live, though, they might very well illustrate how not to act if we’d prefer to stay out of jail.
Beyond the newspaper, would we ever find song lyrics in a VCR instruction booklet? Would we find algebra formulas in a Spanish textbook? My point is that we automatically recognize and distinguish different genres around us.
Genre is the (fancy) French word for “kind,” type, or classification. There are different kinds of musical genres: classical, rock, metal, pop, rap, etc. So there are different kinds of writing, like we’ve already considered in the newspaper. There are also different kinds or genres of writing in the Bible.
The purpose of studying genres is not so much to classify as to clarify. Knowing the genre we’re reading will help us know what to look for and what not to look for. Perhaps it’s similar to reading the key and time signature at the beginning of a piece of music (song sheet). The key and the tempo indicators clue us in to how the composer wanted the music to be interpreted.
For our purposes today, I’m only going to define some of the broad biblical genres.
Jesus provided a helpful starting breakdown of OT genres in Luke 24:44.
These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
He lists the Law of Moses , the Prophets , and the Psalms .
The Law , [The Torah]: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. While Jesus narrows His comment to “the Law of Moses.” we may extend this division of the OT to include all Israel’s history. So added to the Pentateuch are Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles.
The Prophets include both major and minor, so named not because of their importance, but because of their size. The Major Prophets are: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. The Minor Prophets are: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malichi.
Finally, the Psalms*, and again this division may be extended to include the writings: Job, Psalms, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, as well as the wisdom writings: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes.
A simple three-fold breakdown of OT genres would be prose, prophecy, and poetry. Within each category there are smaller divisions, such as lament and praise psalms, proverbs amid wisdom literature, and pronouncements of blessing and cursing in prophecy, etc.
The NT breaks down in to probably four broad genres.
The Gospels (more than history): Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
History : Acts
Epistles : Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2, 3 John, Jude.
Prophecy : Revelation.
As I’ve said, each one of these has some distinct principles that will help us rightly divide our copies.
Scripture was not written like an encyclopedia of alphabetized answers, nor does it provide a summary of certain subjects like a systematic theology book. God moved men to write His Word in different ways, not only to show His creativity and diversity, but also because certain truths and experiences are communicated differently through different forms. Stories grab our attention and often pull us into the character’s lives. Poetry portrays beauty in lines. Proverbs are short and sweet for easy memorization and recollection.
I’ve done a lot of reading about this particular genre recently in preparation for teaching Genesis. Some 40% of the Bible is in the narrative format and it is potentially the most misread and misapplied genre in Scripture. Because of its prevalence and its being misinterpreted, I’m going to spend a little more time on this one.
What is a narrative?
Narratives are stories, purposeful stores retelling the historical events of the past, that are intended for a given people in the present. (Fee and Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, p. 90).
They are real, space-time events.
That means narratives are NOT :
Narratives might illustrate a moral, but they are typically not originally written for that purpose. The stories record what did happen, not always what should have happened.
No Bible narrative was written specifically about you…You can never assume that God expects you to do exactly the same thing as the Bible character did or to have the same things happen to you that happened to them. (Stuart and Fee, p. 105)
Considering the levels of narrative context may help. This should help us with all the genres, but here’s what I mean when I talk about context and purpose in narratives.
The Bible is telling God’s story. In the first level of narrative context we see God at work in individual lives and persons. In the OT, those persons are always connected to God’s work in Israel, His chosen nation (second level of narrative context). But even that level falls underneath the biggest story of God redeeming a people for Himself from every tribe, tongue, and nation (the third level of narrative context).
The story of persons concerns individuals and families, with events measured in years or decades. The story of Israel concerns things on a national or corporate level and may cover decades or centuries. And those levels fall under the meta-narrative, the big story of God’s universal and eternal work that takes place over millennia.
Let’s just take one example before we briefly consider some other genres.
Take the story of Joseph being sold into slavery. That is not a story about sibling rivalry, or about the the consequences of talking smack to your older brothers, or the results of parental favoritism. Joseph being sold into slavery is about God preparing to move His people to Egypt so that they wouldn’t starve, especially Judah, through whom the Christ would come. It also sets up the Exodus, upon which God turns the attention on Himself and His faithfulness ad power to deliver His people.
Biblical narratives are not primarily about human ability or faithfulness. God is the hero on every level. So, Genesis 50:20.
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
These levels of context also help us think through Jesus’ comments about His relationship with the OT. For example, He said that the Old Testament “testifies about Me” (John 5:39), and “beginning with Moses and the prophets, He interpreted [to the disciples on the road to Emmaus] in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:22). He was speaking about the top (third, metanarrative) level. Not every individual verse or (first level) story is talking about Jesus. That’s why seeing or preaching Christ from every OT passage can be dangerous.
With narratives, consider the context of the persons/characters, of the nation, and of God’s work in redemption. Trace the scene changes and plot movement. But just like we wouldn’t read a history book to immediately find application for right now, we should be careful of doing that with OT narrative.
In this broad genre we consider songs and poetry (Psalms), wisdom literature (Proverbs and Ecclesiastes), as well as other writings (Job, Song of Solomon, and Lamentations).
Consider the Psalms . Psalms are musical poems, often written during specific events (many of which were stressful), and often intended for Israel’s corporate worship.
Because of their lyrical content, look for metaphors, look for structure (verses and a chorus and parallelism). And since music has a special way of touching the affections, recognize the example of those in discouragement who turn to remember what God had done and praise Him, even if God didn’t get them out of their situation. The Psalms communicate some of the deepest griefs and joys in Scripture.
[N]ot only is spontaneity no necessary advantage and form no necessary hindrance to deep, personal expression of feeling, but even more, formed affection often strikes deeper. Deeper into reality and deeper into the hearer. Formed grief, while not heaving to and fro with uncontrollable sobs, has a peculiar profundity. (Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, p. 147)
Proverbs are typically short, pithy, nuggets of general truth, often using common, every day life, tangible pictures to make a point. Of course, we have English proverbs as well. You can take it to the bank, that biblical proverbs always are about the wise and the foolish (with different degrees, from the naive to the scoffers), and the truly wise are those who fear the Lord (Proverbs 1:7). Workplace Bible studies on work in Proverbs may have some benefit, but the Biblical proverbs can’t be truly understood or applied outside of their religious context.
And because they are short, understand that Proverbs are generalizations, not unconditional promises. They are not exhaustive and are not without exceptions. A stitch in time doesn’t always save nine, but it is generally true. Proverbs take skill to apply, since prohibitions and imperatives are not always as clear-cut.
The major (longer) and minor (shorter) prophets are not primarily about the future. According to Stuart and Fee (p. 182) less than 2% of the OT prophecy is about the coming Christ. Less than 5% specifically describes the new-covenant age of which we still wait final fulfillment.
Prophets foremost function was “to speak for God to their own contemporaries” (ibid, p. 182). That means the historical context of writer and nation and events are as crucial as ever for interpretation. When the prophets addressed the disobedient, their prophecy focused on the “immediate, impending judgment, which can be averted if the people of God will simply return to following the LORD” (Giese, Cracking Old Testament Codes, p. 22). To the obedient, however, the very same promise of coming judgment was an encouragement that God was still in control and would vindicate the righteous in time.
Roy Zuck notes that prophecy is valuable to study because it: comforts, calms, converts, cleanses, compels, and clarifies (Basic Bible Interpretation, pp. 228-230).
It is the prophecy sections where we are most benefited by outside help for historical context. As with epistles, we try to figure out the author’s original intention to the original audience and then to see if there is application for us. Keep in mind that prophets were normally more concerned about nations than individuals. Fulfilled blessing and cursing are often tied to the promises made to Abraham, Moses, and David, as well as through the person of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes the NT writers explain additional or secondary fulfillments (sensus plenior) of prophecy originally addressed and fulfilled closer to its writing. This is very important: any secondary or additional application is a product of inspiration, not illumination. So the NT writers were moved by the Holy Spirit, we are not.
As concerns the NT genres, I think we are generally much more familiar, so I won’t spend nearly as much time going through them.
The Gospels are the person and work and work of Christ. Acts is the beginning of the Church of Christ. The epistles are instructions for the Church of Christ. And Revelation is the coming final kingdom of Christ.
Similarly, the Gospels are the basis of faith. Acts and the Epistles are the definition and doings of faith, while Revelation is the hope of faith.
In light of that, smaller genre divisions within the gospels, like individual narrative stories, genealogies, sermons, or parables, are written so that we would “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing [we] may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31). There are practical lessons that Jesus teaches, but they are all included so that we would believe.
And with the letters, we shouldn’t jump into the middle of a letter, pull out a sentence or two, and think that we’ve got the meaning nailed. We wouldn’t want a friend doing that with an email we sent. That kind of approach is like to result in serious misunderstanding.
And with Revelation, a tough genre compared to the letters, knowing what is symbolic or figurative and what isn’t is important. By its genre, apocalyptic literature is often presented in terms of visions, dreams, and cryptic, almost fantasy language (dragons, bottomless pits). But even still, John expected his readers to understand what he wrote.
[T]o interpret Scripture by Scripture must not be tilted in such a way that one must make other Scriptures the hermeneutical keys to unlock the Revelation…Any keys to interpreting the Revelation must be intrinsic to the text of Revelation itself or otherwise available to the original recipients from their own historical context. (Stuart and Fee, p. 254)
Most of the time, John explains what he’s talking about if we would let him speak for himself rather than jumping to other parts of the Bible to trace all the things lamp-stands symbolize. John provides his own keys to unlocking his book. It takes a lot of work, but knowing that he’ll tell us when something is figurative and when something isn’t (1000 years) is a big help.
Notice that all genres (in the Bible) are telling the truth (just like the box score and write-up tell the truth), just in different ways, according to different techniques.
Don’t start looking for you in the Bible too quickly.
Try reading whole letters at one sitting.
We all want to be relevant when we teach, but don’t miss the actual relevance by starting with the relevance for us.
Do some extra reading on genres when you’re preparing to teach a new one (suggested resources to come in the final session).