The Genres of Scripture part 2

Playing Catchup

Typology

referring to patterns or examples

Referring to the fact that God orders events and individual lives to prefigure what is yet to come.

A biblical type is an actual person or event that God ordered in order to use them to point beyond him or itself.

Consider how Paul shows that Adam was a type of Christ - Romans 5:14.

Romans 5:14 ESV

14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

Paul is asserting that God set all this up. - Rom 5:15-17.

Romans 5:15–17 ESV

15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Just as Adam represented the human race, and so brought the whole race into condemnation through his act of disobedience, Christ the second Adam, stood as a federal representative as well. Unlike the first Adam however, Christ obeyed the Father and His obedience now brings life and forgiveness for those who place their faith in Him.

So what Paul is doing is more than drawing a comparison between Adam and Christ. He is arguing for a historical correspondence in which the type, Adam, points forward to and finds its redemptive fulfillment in the antitype, Christ. The former helps us to understand and defines for us the work and meaning of the latter.

The Psalms

A collection of Hebrew prayers

Distinctives

Poetry

The nature of Hebrew poetry involves some form of parallelism . One common form is called synonymous parallelism, where the second line repeats or reinforces the first line. The two lines together express the poet’s meaning.

Psalm 19:1–2 ESV

1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

The plain meaning here is that God is revealed in His creation, especially in the heavenly bodies. The four lines of these verses are not trying to say four different things, but speak of one glorious reality.

The Psalms are musical poems. This emphasizes the point that the Psalms cannot be read in the same way as an epistle or narrative.

Psalms are intended to appeal to the emotions, to evoke feelings and to stimulate a response that goes beyond the understanding of facts.

This is not to suggest that the Psalms do not contain doctrine, but that the presentation of the doctrine is intended to not only connect with our minds but with our hearts as well.

While we need to be aware that we are reading Hebrew poetry as we read the Psalms, we should guard against reading too much into every word, looking for special meanings in every phrase where the author intended none.

The vocabulary of poetry is purposefully metaphorical, that is figurative.

So Psalm 114:4 tells us that mountains skip like rams. It’s a description of the miracles that accompanied the Exodus.

Types of Psalms

Laments

Individual & Corporate laments help to express struggles, suffering, or disappointment to the Lord. (Psalm 22, 42, 44, 80)

Psalms of lament express deep and honest distress that people felt with fervor.

Thanksgiving

Express joy to the Lord in response to something going well or because circumstances are good (Psalm 65, 67, 75, 92, 116)

Hymns of Praise

Focus on praising God for who He is and His greatness. He is praised as Creator, protector, benefactor and as the Lord of history. (Psalm 8, 100, 103)

Salvation History

Focus on the history of God’s saving works among the people of Israel, especially His deliverance of them from bondage in Egypt and His creation of them as a people. (Psalm 78, 105, 106, 135, 136)

Wisdom Psalms

Praises the merits of wisdom and the wise life - similar to Proverbs. (Psalm 36, 37, 49, 73, 112, 127, 128, 133)

Imprecatory Psalms

Expresses anger about others and injustice to God. They call on God to bring judgement according to His promises and character. (see parts of Psalm 12, 35, 58, 59, 69, 70, 83, 109, 137, 140)

Some Take-aways

It must be remembered that the Psalms are a guide to worship, so worshippers of God can use the Psalms as a means of expression of our thoughts and feelings in a context of worship of God.

The Psalms help us understand how we can relate honestly to God. They provide examples of honest expressions of joy, gratitude, sadness, anger, disappointment and other emotions.

The psalms demonstrate the importance of reflection and meditation. They provide guidance for our prayer lives and focused meditation upon what God has done for us.

Wisdom

Ecclesiastes, Proverbs and Job

Caution

Be sue to get the whole message

Getting snapshots of wisdom without regard for the context in which they appear can lead to misapplication.

Ecclesiastes 3:2 ESV

2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

teaching about the futility of life… no matter how good our lives are, we will die. This is not teaching, as is often believed, that God protectively picks out our lifespan for us.

Understand the terms

The terms and categories found in wisdom literature must be accurately defined to properly understand and apply these texts.

Proverbs 14:7 ESV

7 Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge.

Not teaching that we should not associate with people who we perceive to be less educated than us or somehow intellectually compromised. “Fool” means infidel - it refers to an unbeliever who lives life according to selfish, indulgent whims. This proverb is teaching that if we are seeking wisdom, we will not find it from an unbeliever.

Follow the line of argument

If we do not understand the entire line of argument, we will attempt to live according to an incorrect interpretation.

Job 15:20 ESV

20 The wicked man writhes in pain all his days, through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.

We might conclude that this is teaching that evil people cannot really be happy.

This verse is part of a speech by Job’s comforter Eliphaz, who was trying to convince Job that the reason he was suffering was that he had been evil.

Later in the book, God vindicates the words of Job and condemns the words of Eliphaz, but unless we follow the whole argument, we cannot know that.

Interpreting Proverbs

Proverbs are not guarantees for success

Proverbs state a wise way to approach life, but do not guarantee a desired outcome. Ecclesiastes and Job remind us that there is very little that is automatic about the good and bad events that may take place in our lives.

Proverbs must be read as a collection

The more in isolation one reads a proverb, the less clear its interpretation may be.

Proverbs are often grouped together in various ways, so that one jumps from topic to topic in reading through them.

Proverbs 21:22 ESV

22 A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.

the point is that wisdom can be stronger than even military might. This is a hyperbolic statement. It’s like the modern proverbs that says, the pen is mightier than the sword. This is not a command, but a symbolic portrayal of the power of wisdom. But here’s the key to arriving to this understanding: Only when one relates this proverb to the many other proverbs that praise the usefulness and effectiveness of wisdom (e.g., Prov. 1:1-6, chapters 2-3, 8; 22:17-29), does one get its message. Bottom line: overall context is crucial in the interpretation.

Proverbs are worded to be memorable not to be taken as true all the time

No proverb is so perfectly worded that it can stand up to the unreasonable demand that it apply in every situation at every time.

Proverbs 22:6 ESV

6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

This is a statement of wisdom that it meant to be retained and stimulate a commitment intentional child rearing. It is not a guarantee that all children who are trained in the way they should go will certainly not depart from that training.

Revelation

A combination of genres

Apocalypse

Primary genre for this book

Concerned about coming judgement and salvation

Apocalyptic literature has a particular written form and structure. John is told to write what he has seen (1:19), whereas the prophets were told to speak what they were told.

Often the substance of apocalyptic literature is presented in the form of visions or dreams and the language is cryptic and symbolic.

The images of apocalyptic literature are often foreign to our experience. A beast with seven heads and ten horns, a woman clothed with the sun, locusts with scorpion tails and human heads.

Prophecy

John refers to Revelation as this prophecy (1:3; 22:18-19) and says that the testimony of Jesus for which he and the churches are suffering is the spirit of prophecy (19:10).

John had a sense that the end is best understood in an already/not yet perspective. In our age, much around us is passing away, and the cross and resurrection of Christ brought in righteousness, peace and the Spirit (already). But there is an age to come which will consummate at the return of Christ. There will be completed righteousness, full peace, no sickness or death (not yet). The tension of this reality is present in the book of revelation.

So, again considering John’s words in

Revelation 19:10 (ESV)

10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

This probably means that the message of Jesus, attested by Him and to which John and the churches bear witness, is the clear evidence that the prophetic Spirit had come.

So Revelation is a combination of apocalyptic and prophetic elements. On the one hand, the book is cast in the apocalyptic mold and has most of the literary characteristics (born out of persecution, speaks about the end with the triumph of Christ and His church and uses cryptic language, symbols etc.)

On the other hand, this is also clearly prophecy. It was a word from God to the present situation (for the churches). Remember, prophecy is not exclusively fore-telling the future. It is also speaking God’s message in the present.

But revelation is also

Epistle

Revelation 1:4–7 ESV

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

Revelation 22:21 ESV

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

The significance of this is that,

As with all epistles, there is an occasional aspect to Revelation. It was occasioned, at least in part by the needs of the specific churches to which it is addressed. Historical context is therefore key to understanding this book.

Interpretive Principles

Authorial Intent

the primary meaning of Revelation is what John intended it to mean, which in turn must also have been something his readers could have understood it to mean.

John original audience would have had an advantage in understanding Josh because of their familiarity of the historical context.

Original Intent

Since Revelation is prophetic, we must be open to the possibility of a meaning inspired by the Holy Spirit, but not fully understood by the author or the readers. This meaning is discerned and confirmed by the rule of faith (allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture).

Imagery & Visions

The chief source of the ideas that have gone into the composition of Revelation is the Old Testament.

When John himself interprets his images, these interpreted images must be held firmly and must serve as a starting point for our understanding of them.

Revelation 1:12–18 ESV

12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

The Son of Man is Christ who alone was dead and then alive forever more.

Revelation 1:20 ESV

20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

The seven lampstands are the seven churches

Visions must be seen as whole

Revelation 6:12–14 ESV

12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

Similar to parables, the whole vision is conveying something. The details are either for dramatic effect or to add to the picture as a whole for the reader.

So, the sun turning black like sackcloth or stars falling like late figs probably don’t meany anything per say, but they contribute to the whole vision of the earthquake.

Pictures of the future

The pictures express a reality, but how the details of how that reality will be fulfilled is not always made clear. For example, when the first four trumpets proclaim calamities on nature as a part of God’s judgement, how that will be fulfilled exactly may not be as clear as some assume.

Certainty of God’s judgement should not be confused with timing (“soon-ness”). After Satan was defeated by Christ’s death and resurrection and is cast down to the earth to wreak havoc on the church, he knows that his time is short. “Short” however, does not necessarily mean very soon. Will there come a time when Satan will be bound forever? Yes. In light of eternity, is that time coming soon. Yes. How soon is soon? No one knows, because our perspective is limited.

The pictures that were intended to be understood as future should still be taken so.

Revelation 11:15–19 ESV

15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. 18 The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” 19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

We should affirm this as yet to be fulfilled, but its fulfillment will be in God’s timing and according to His way.