The Principles Of Observation And Genre
OKAY - I want us to start off our time of study by reading some powerful 3000 year old God-breathed words that express the great passion that the writer of Psalm 119 has for God’s word.
We will take turn reading the verses that come up on the screen and I will let you all go first.
Your word, LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.
Your faithfulness continues through all generations you established the earth, and it endures.
Your laws endure to this day, for all things serve you.
If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life.
Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies.
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands give me delight.
Your statutes are always righteous; give me understanding that I may live.
I call with all my heart; answer me, LORD, and I will obey your decrees.
I call out to you; save me and I will keep your statutes.
I rise before dawn and cry for help I have put my hope in your word.
My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises. – Psalm 119
Prayer
Okay MGCC - we are in week nine in our series ‘Understanding The Bible…’ And currently we are looking at various principles of Hermeneutics (principles for understanding and interpreting the bible).
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. – 2 Timothy 2:15
sp??d??? - spu da zo
make every effort, endure, labor, be diligent, to exert oneself, to use speed, make haste
NOW – so far we have talked about…
• A.I.M. – the author’s intended meaning
• Context – and we said last week the when it comes to correctly understanding a passage of Scripture that context is what? Context is King!
NOW – we have been in this series for 9 weeks and we are going to wrap it up next week…
By looking and several more principles like, the principles of…
• Consistency
• Priority
• Caution
• Application
Everything we have talked about is online…
And I have some great resource sheets for you.
NOW – as you can see from the title this morning we are going to unpack two keys principles for understanding and interpreting the Bible… The Principle of Observation and Genre…
I. The Principle Of Observation
OBSERVATION – is a very basic and a very important principle in understanding the bible.
IN FACT – it is foundational.
BECAUSE…
The better the observation, the more accurate the interpretation
The more correct the interpretation the better the application
NOW – at it’s root observation is about not forcing your ideas onto the bible… INSTEAD – it’s about letting the bible speak for itself…
UNDERSTAND – when you start to study a passage of scripture; Don’t be in such a hurry to say, ‘here is what it means.”
Slow down, listen, think, reflect, observe…
YOU SEE – in a very real way understanding and studying the bible is a lot playing detective. SO YOU – need to grab your pen and notebook, rope off the area…
AND THEN - carefully & systematically look at the scene.
(note – this is different than reading the bible devotionally)
3 keys to good observation…
A) Beware Of Your Presuppositions
NOW – I am talking about the things you already - think, know or want to be true.
AND – the truth is everyone of us has presuppositions
WE ALL - carry baggage that gets in the way of our understanding of the text…
AND – just where do these presuppositions come from?
• Other people (pastors, teachers, parents, books…)
• Culture
• Life experience
• Our previous times studying a passage
FOR EXAMPLE -in Jesus day nearly every Jewish person had the same presuppositions about the Messiah…
THAT - He would be a powerful earthly king who would establish a Jewish world empire.
AND LISTEN – living under foreign rule for centuries, being occupied by the Roman army and living 1,000 years removed from the glory and power that they had under David and Solomon fueled much of this misunderstanding of what the bible really said about the Messiah.
AND LISTEN – this misunderstanding about what the OT said about the Messiah is the foundational reason why they murdered Jesus…
BECAUSE – He was not the Messiah that they wanted.
It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain. – Acts 28:20
B) Observe The Text Then Explain It
AND LISTEN - this is hard thing for us to do…
I MEAN – we want to rush straight to the bottom line.
Especially if we have been to that passage many times before and feel that we have pretty much figured it all out.
FOR EXAMPLE - we read Genesis 22 where Abraham sacrificed Isaac and almost immediately we want to apply it to God’s sacrifice of his son…
BUT UNDERSTAND – if we do that we are bypassing this crucial step of observation and we will probably miss something.
AND WE – are claiming to have solved the case before we even rope off the area and pull out our notebooks…
REMEMBER - we are trying to play detective…
(‘worship’ – Genesis 22:5)
He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” – Genesis 22:5
C) Ask A lot Of Questions
• Who is speaking?
• Who is being spoken to?
• When is it being spoken?
• Where is it being spoken?
• What is the occasion or circumstance?
• What is going on?
• What is the main subject of the text?
• Who are the key characters in the passage?
• What does this chapter reveal about God?
• What does it reveal about the salvation you have in Christ?
• What does it reveal about the life God desires you to live?
Look For…
• Key words
• Repeated word and phrases
• Look for commands
• Look for warnings
• Look for comparisons
• Look for contrasts
• Look for promises
Look and keep on looking…
Ask questions and keep on asking…
MGCC God commands us to do our best to handle God’s word correctly… And when we
• Take AIM
• Respect the King
• Observe the text like a detective, and
When we both understand and work within…
II. The Principle Of Genre
Now the word Genre is a French word that basically means a category or a classification.
NOW – to be honest when I first heard this word several years back, it kind of scared me.
I MEAN – what is this ‘Jean Re’ thing, it sounded a little to sophisticated for a guy like me. BUT – I am happy to say that I have since overcame that fear and today I am okay with the word Genre… AND – it’s good thing because it seems to be getting more and more play all the time
I MEAN – we constantly hear people referring to the different types of…
• ‘Music genre’ (Jazz, rap, R & B, Hip Hop, rock, country, folk)
• ‘Movie genre’ (Drama, action, comedy, sci-fi, horror)
• AND WHEN – you walk into Barnes and Nobles you see thousands of books arranged by Genre.
NOW - the 66 books of the bible are full of many different kinds of Genre…
I’m going to give you 10 of them in just a minute…
AND – some thing that we need to keep in mind is that the writers of Scripture were very aware of the different types of literature in use in their day…
AND – they choice specific ones in order to accomplish the purpose they intended. AND – not only that, but they expected their readers to understand what they wrote, in a light of the genre they choose.
For Example..
IF I - wrote you a poem, I wouldn’t intend for you to use it as a science document. On the other hand, if I wrote you a history paper, I wouldn’t want you to discount my thoughts as poetic.
UNDERSTAND – David was being very intentional when choose to write about his sin with Bathsheba, in poetic form in Psalm 51… AND AGAIN – that should not surprise you and I because we choose to communicate in different genre all the time…
QUESTION – would you use the same style of language to write;
• A grocery list
• A report at work
• A letter to an attorney
• A Valentines Day note to your spouse
• A come to Jesus letter to an employee?
AND LISTEN – each genre carries with it certain expectations…
FOR EXAMPLE – when you hear…
• “Once upon a time…” - what are you expecting
• “To all persons let it known that I William Smith of 1313 Mocking Bird Lane, Frankenberry New York, the undersigned principle, do hereby grant….” - what are you expecting
Okay here are 10 different genre that you will find in the pages of your bible…
NOW – on our resource list table I have a handout for those who are interested that talks about the Characteristics and Interpretive Rules for the different Genres.
A) The Gospels
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John which tell of the earthly life of God the Son. They record many of His miracles, teachings and encounters with people.
Matthew, Mark and Luke are called synoptic, seeing together… John is kind of out there on his own… Giving us another more personal look at Jesus…
UNDERSTAND – that each writer has a specific audience in mind.
Matthew was written for a Jewish audience.
Mark was written for a Roman audience
Luke for was written for a Greek audience,
John was written for a universal or gentile audience.
The major focus is the birth of the new covenant through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
• Look for what they reveal to us about God through Jesus (God the Son)
• Look for what they reveal about the character and establishment of the kingdom
B) The Epistles
They were written by an author to an individual person or church.
They were written to deal with specific situations in the church and were never intended to be exhaustive or systematic doctrinal statements.
Epistles are different from private letters because they were intended to be read publically.
• Try to determine the situation that prompted the letter to be written.
• Read the book in one sitting (taking notes)
• Think paragraphs don’t just look at individual verses
• Look for commands to be obeyed and principles to be applied. Epistles more than any other genre, can be applied directly to our situations since they were directed to Christian communities like ours, which are trying to live as the body of Christ.
C) Poetry (Psalms)
These passages are intended to do more than impart information they are intended to stir the heart of people.
• People are more familiar with them than any other part of the Bible with the exception of the Gospels.
• They deal with shared human emotions so each reader automatically has a connection with the text.
• Sometimes we are told the specific historical event they are connected to and this gives us a good backstory for understanding the emotions.
• Teaching doctrine is not their primary function
• It is good to read them aloud
D) Historical Narrative…
Over 40% of the OT is narrative…
UNDERSTAND – history really is His-story. And Historical Narrative shows how God acts in history
Bible narratives tell us things that happened – but not just any things. Their purpose is to show God at work in His creation and among His people. The narrative glorify Him, help us understand and appreciate Him, and give us a picture of His providence and protection. At the same time, they also provide illustrations of many other lessons important to our lives. – Gordon D Fee
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! - 1 Cor 10:11,12
Some things to keep in mind…
1) They do not normally teach a doctrine
2) They often illustrate a doctrine that is taught elsewhere in the Bible
3) They record what did happen, not necessary what should have happened
4) How do the life’s of the people in the narrative model what a relationship with God should or should not be?
5) We are not always told at the end of a narrative whether what happened was good or bad
6) All narratives are selective and incomplete (they only tell what they thing we need to know)
7) Look for values found in the people and found in God.
E) Prophecy
17 books in the Bible are prophetic books. These books were written between 760 and 460BC. The main theme in these books is God calling His people back to Him, reminding them of their covenant with them, telling them…
• how they were breaking it
• how it makes him feel and
• and also telling them about the coming of Christ and the establishment of His kingdom.
NOW – one of the main reasons people today misunderstands the books of prophecy is because of the modern definition of the word prophecy, ‘For-telling or predicting future events.’ THE - main concern of prophets were their own times. A biblical prophet was simply one who was from God and who spoke for God. Less then 2% of the writing of OT prophecy is messianic, less than 5% describes the New Covenant Age and less than 1% concerns predicting future events.
• Try to place the prophet in his historical time frame
• Look for God’s heart – sadness, anger and sarcasm in light of the broken covenant.
F) Wisdom
(Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon)
Wisdom is the discipline of applying truth to one’s life in light of experience.
So these 4 book deal with the real issues of life.
Job – pain and hardships
Proverbs – relationships
Ecclesiastes – the meaning of life
Song of Solomon – love
• they tell probable truths of how things generally work out in life. They are not promises but probabilities.
• They are often poetic and use parallelism
• Use these books as interpretive lens for life
G) Legal/Law
(Leviticus and huge chunks of Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
• This is tied to the Old or Mosaic Covenant (not ours)
• It’s primary function for Christians is to teach us about the kind of holiness God and the depth of relationship He desires to have with us.
• Some of OT Law was renewed in the New Covenant (Love God, Love your neighbor, do not murder), most was not)
• But even the laws that were not renewed… try to find the principle behind the law. What was God teaching them about Himself, about how he wanted them to live.
H) Acts
Is the historical record of the both the birth and the incredible growth of the early church.
• It shows how the early functioned and what they were devoted to giving us many times a pattern to follow.
• We see the church confronting real issues from persecution, famine, doctrine, disagreements.
• There are many great sermons recorded in this book.
I) Apocalyptic
(Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, Matthew 24, Revelation)
A very common genre in the first century
Highly figurative literature consisting of visions, dreams and symbols… that communicated a message of judgment on God’s enemies and hope for God's people in a time of tribulation…
One of the most common images is crazy stuff happening in the heavens… sun and stars falling, moon melting, darkness…etc.
All of which were signs of God’s judgment about to fall upon a nation.
• Since apocalyptic cries out in hopeless situations, it is intended to give hope for those who repent and induce fear in those who refuse
• Focus on that big picture – that God is always in control and our hope is in him.
• Revelation is best understood not as a calendar of coming events, but rather as a template to be laid over any period of suffering to help us see what is really going on.
J) Parables
I love the parables… Jesus told many of them about 35.
Some are just one verse and others are much longer.
A parable is basically and earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
Greek (parabole) – to cast a long side of.
Parables cast a powerful truth along side of a good story.
• Parables reveal difficult truths in simple language
• They are easy to remember
• Stories are easy to listen to and grab people’s attention
• They are intended to persuade people to action, to embrace a new or difficult truth or to convict them of ungodly behavior – with strong language that is often shocking.
• Most parables have one central meaning (they are not allegories where every part of the story has a specific meaning)… AND - people frequently miss that by trying to figure what the oil in the lamp of the 10 virgins represents. When the point is to be ready when the Lord comes…
• All of Jesus parables (35) are about the Kingdom telling us what it is like and how we are to live within it.
• Many times they have 3 main characters… one that represents God, one a person who is doing the right thing, and a 3rd character doing the wrong thing
• Look for the context… often there is a reason that Jesus tells a parable.
OKAY - those are the main Genre’s found in the bible…
AND AGAIN – in order to understand a passage in the bible you must consider the specific genre that it is written in…
BECAUSE - if you don’t you could entirely miss the meaning of a passage. (Like if someone tried to make one of your poems a legal document)
LET ME – give you a few examples of passages of Scripture that are often interpreted outside of the rules of their specific Genre…
Psalm 51 (written after David was confronted with his sin)
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me… - Psalm 51:1-5
NOW – those last 14 words,
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me…
Have been understood by many for centuries to teach the doctrine of original sin.
WHICH – basically teaches that if you were to go into the maternity ward of any hospital you would find rooms full of sinful new born girls and boys.
QUESTION – over 3,000 years ago when David grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and put Psalm 51 to ink.
What do you think was going through His mind?
Was it, “wow what I great opportunity for me to teach and lay the ground work for the doctrine of original sin…
OR – do you think that David simply wanted to express, ‘this how bad I felt when I became aware of my sin…’
LISTEN – I’m convinced that David intentionally choose the genre of poetry when he put Psalm 51 to paper BECAUSE – his goal was not to simply impart information about his sin, but to stir the hearts of readers for 3,000 years in such away that we to would be drawn from their sin and back to God.
NOW ANOTHER – frequent place for genre abuse is with the Proverbs.
REMEMBER – proverbs are wise sayings about the way life usually works…
THEY ARE - probabilities not promises…
Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. – Pr 16:3
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. – Pr 22:16
AGAIN – these are found in the genre of proverbs, not prophecy (thus says the Lord)…
OKAY…
I want us to take a look at one Jesus’ most famous parables, it is recorded in Luke 10.
Anyone know which one it is?
The Parable of The Good Samaritan
QUESTION – is there any context for this parable?
Did something happen that prompted Jesus to tell it?
Do you know what it was?
An expert in Jewish law asked Jesus a question.
Teacher, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
- Luke 10:25
Now Jesus does not answer it instead He looks at this expert in the law and says,
What is written in the Law? How do you read it? – Luke 10:26
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” – Luke 10:27
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” - Luke 10:28,29
QUESTION – why do you think this expert in the law wants to define the who is my neighbor?
2 words for neighbor
• Those who are my fellow countryman
• Those who are near, close by
This guy wants to love as few people as possible
Wants to keep his circle small.
And Jesus is like go ahead and keep your circle small…
BUT UNDERSTAND – your circle has to go with you wherever you go.
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” - Luke 10:30-37
