The Bible is not one book; it’s an entire library. And in that library, there are many different types of books: history, biography, poetry, music, philosophy, novel, letters—the list goes on. When reading the Bible, it’s very important to understand the type of material you are reading so you can interpret it properly. For our purposes, we’re going to divide the Bible into three types: narrative (stories), poetry, and discourse. This month I want to focus on narrative: how do we read Bible stories?
Narrative is the biggest category of Biblical material: it makes up 43% of the Bible. The majority of Biblical stories are found in the Old Testament History books (Genesis through Esther) and the Gospels (Matthew-Acts). In my opinion, the key to properly interpreting Bible stories is: remember that Bible stories are history, not fables. They tell us what really happened, warts and all. If you keep this in mind, it will help you avoid two common pitfalls:
1. Do not assume that you are supposed to copy the behavior of Bible characters.
The Bible gives us a historical account of flawed people, often without passing judgment on their actions. You cannot assume that characters in the Bible are doing the right thing. For instance, was Gideon right to ask for a sign from God (Judges 6)? Was Jephthah right to sacrifice his daughter to God (Judges 11)? Was Ezra right to order the Jews to divorce their wives (Ezra 9-10)? The Bible doesn’t say whether they were right; it just tells us what they did.
2. Do not assume that every story is there to show you the “rules” of how God works.
The Bible shows us that God is consistent, but he does make exceptions—and he doesn’t always tell us what those exceptions are. Take, for instance, the thief on the cross. If you talk about what is required for salvation long enough, someone will eventually bring up the thief on the cross to prove that you don’t need to do anything but confess faith in Jesus in order to be saved. There are two problems with this argument: number 1, the Bible does not tell us whether that story shows us the rule, or Jesus was making an exception (the story does take place under exceptional circumstances). Number 2, the thief on the cross doesn’t confess faith in Jesus. All he does is rebuke the other thief and ask Jesus to remember him in his kingdom. That makes the thief an exception to everyone’s interpretation of the plan of salvation. Perhaps we have the story of the thief because it’s a meaningful historical event, not because it teaches us a doctrine of salvation.
3. Don’t expect Bible stories to spoon-feed you the answers.
The purpose of the Bible is to point us toward Jesus. We do not worship a book, we worship the God that book tells us about. The purpose of Bible stories is not to spoon-feed you the answers the way Aesop’s fables do. Their purpose is to introduce you to God by telling you the history of his relationship with human beings. If you remember, last month I said that the purpose of the Bible is meditation. By thinking about these stories, by chewing on them, talking about them, wrestling with the parts we don’t understand, we meditate on the word. You may never come to a satisfying answer about whether Jephthah was right to kill his daughter—but the wrestling, the struggle will drive you closer to God. And ultimately, it is God who satisfies, not the Bible.
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