Stages in the Development of Expository Messages
New Concepts
Context
Lexicon
Concordance
Bible dictionary and encyclopedia
Mechanical layout
Diagramming
Paraphrase of a passage
It is difficult to think. It is more difficult to think about thinking. It is most difficult to talk about thinking about thinking. Yet that stands as the basic task of homiletics. Homileticians observe how preachers work and attempt to get inside their heads to discover what goes on there as they prepare to preach. Then they must describe the process clearly enough to make sense to a student. The assignment borders on the impossible.
Whom should homileticians study? Certainly not every preacher. There are duffers in the pulpit as well as on the golf course. To discover how to do something well, we usually study those who are effective in what they do. Yet well-known pulpiteers who write “how I do it” books reveal as many variations in procedure as there are authors. More baffling perhaps are the non-methods supposedly used by some effective preachers. These ministers who “speak from a full heart” or “share” sometimes insist that while they have abandoned the rules, their sermons still hit the target. Such preaching has to be reckoned with. As professional skills go, sermon construction ranks among the most inexact when compared, say, with cooking spaghetti, removing an appendix, or flying an airplane.
How do we evaluate the assortment of approaches or explain the apparent effectiveness of sermons that appear to have behind them no method at all? More to the point, how do we derive procedures from all of this that others may follow?
For one thing, we are concerned with expository preaching, and ministers whose preaching is shaped by the Bible possess more in common than preachers in general. In addition, expositors who claim they follow no rules usually have not analyzed how they study. Whatever we do regularly becomes our method even if we have come to it intuitively, and few effective expositors are as devoid of method as they sometimes claim. Furthermore, to analyze how to do something well, we are drawn to those who do it well consistently, not those who do it well by chance now and then. Clear, relevant biblical exposition does not take place Sunday after Sunday by either intuition or accident. Good expositors have methods for their study.
Two conclusions emerge from the fact that expositors go about their work in different ways. First, detailed instruction about how to think may sometimes get in the way of the process. The damage instruction can do is reflected in the story of a lawyer and a physician who regularly played golf together. They were evenly matched and enjoyed a keen sense of rivalry. Then one spring the lawyer’s game improved so much that the doctor was losing regularly. The doctor’s attempts to better his own game were unsuccessful, but then he came up with an idea. At a bookstore he bought three how-to-play-golf manuals and sent them to the lawyer for a birthday present. It wasn’t long before they were evenly matched again.
Second, thinking is a dynamic process. Effective biblical preaching requires insight, imagination, and spiritual sensitivity—none of which comes from merely following directions. When a discussion on how to prepare an expository sermon resembles instructions on how to build a doghouse, something has gone wrong. Building the expository sermon comes nearer to erecting cathedrals than hammering together animal shelters. But even cathedral builders have their way of doing things. While it requires a lifetime with the Scriptures and with people to do mature exposition, the apprentice needs specific help on how to begin. Knowing how others work in the Bible can be welcome assistance. To this counsel we must each bring our own mind, spirit, and experience, and out of repeated practice in the strenuous work of thinking, we must develop our own way of working. But an awareness of how others approach the task produces confidence and contributes to a more efficient use of time and energy.
Throughout the discussion on how to develop an expository sermon, therefore, it should be kept in mind that while the stages for preparation are treated in sequence, they sometimes mix. For example, the logical time to prepare an introduction comes when the development of the entire sermon has become clear. Experienced preachers, though, sometimes stumble across a workable lead for an introduction early in their preparation. They take it whenever they can get it, though they may wait until near the end of their work to fit it to the sermon.
What, then, are the stages in the preparation of the expository sermon?
Stage 1 Choose the passage to be preached.
An old recipe for a rabbit stew starts out, “First catch the rabbit.” That puts first things first. Without the rabbit there is no dish. The obvious first questions confronting us are: What shall I talk about? From what passage of Scripture should I draw my sermon?
These questions need not be faced on a Monday morning six days before the sermon delivery. A conscientious ministry in the Scriptures depends on thoughtful planning for the entire year. Those who use the lectionary have passages chosen for them. The decision they must make is which particular passage from the Old or the New Testament they will focus on. Those who are not in the traditions that use a lectionary can save time by preparing a preaching calendar. Sometime before their year begins, they force themselves to decide Sunday by Sunday, service by service, what passage they will preach.
While all Scripture is profitable, not every Scripture possesses equal profit for a congregation at a particular time. Preachers’ insight and concern will be reflected in the biblical truths they offer to their people. In their ministry expositors serve as builders of bridges as they endeavor to span the gulf between the Word of God and the concerns of men and women. To do this they must be as familiar with the needs of their churches as they are with the content of their Bibles. While they relate the Scriptures to their people’s lives in individual sermons, they know the importance of a preaching calendar that chooses broad topics or passages of Scripture that speak to the needs of their particular congregation.
Thought Units
Often we will work our way chapter by chapter, verse by verse, through different books of the Bible. In making our calendar, therefore, we will read through the books several times and then divide them into portions that we will expound in particular sermons. In doing this we should select the passages based on the natural literary divisions of the material. We will not count out ten or twelve verses to a sermon as though each verse could be handled as a separate thought. Instead, we will search for the biblical writer’s ideas. For example, in the New Testament letters the texts will usually be selected by paragraph divisions, because paragraphs delineate the building blocks of thought. As expositors we will usually choose one or more of these paragraphs to expound, depending on how they relate to one another and thus to one of the author’s major ideas.
Of course, no divine hand fashioned those paragraph divisions. The indentations in our translations reflect the decisions of editors who have attempted to mark out shifts of thought in the original. Consequently, paragraph divisions in one translation may differ from those in another. As a general rule older translations tend toward longer, heavier paragraphs than do our more modern translations, which emphasize readability and eye appeal. Even the Hebrew and Greek texts reflect editorial variations in the paragraph divisions. Yet all efforts at paragraphing are based on the development and transition of thought. Diligent expositors will examine the paragraph breakdowns in both the original texts and the English translations, select the divisions of the material that seem to be the most logical, and use them as the basis of their expositions.
If we are working within narrative sections, however, we will more likely deal with a literary unit larger than a paragraph or two. For example, when exploring an episode such as David’s adultery with Bathsheba, we would violate the story were we to preach it a paragraph at a time. Instead, we would probably base the sermon on the entire eleventh chapter of 2 Samuel and at least part of the twelfth, because this entire section of 2 Samuel records David’s sin and its devastating consequences.
In poetic literature such as the Psalms, a paragraph roughly equals the stanza or strophe of a poem. While at times we may choose to expound only a single stanza, normally we will treat the entire psalm. In selecting passages for the expository sermon, therefore, a general principle to follow is this: Base the sermon on a literary unit of biblical thought.
Working in the book of Proverbs, however, presents a special challenge to this rule. While the opening nine chapters can be divided into units of thought that are relatively easy to identify, the sayings found in chapters 10 through 31 seem to be a collection of pithy, seemingly unconnected sentences. Preaching on the proverbs one after the other, however, will turn the sermon into buckshot. Because of this, messages preached from Proverbs usually handle the sayings by topics. Several are taken from different chapters and put together in a logical or psychological sequence that forms the units of thought for the sermon. Derek Kidner suggests eight of these subject studies in his brief commentary on the book.1
We should note, however, that recent commentators on Proverbs note linguistic connections between the proverbs in the Hebrew text that suggest the proverbs may not be as random as they might first appear.2
Topical Exposition
As expositors we may normally work our way through entire biblical books or extended passages in Scripture. Yet at some time or another during the year, we will preach on topics. Sermons preached at Easter and at Christmas require special topical treatment. In addition, we may preach on theological topics such as the Trinity, reconciliation, worship, God’s concern for the poor, or the authority of the Scriptures. In dealing with a Christian doctrine, we may begin our study of the Scriptures with the help of an analytical concordance or a topical Bible. The index in books on theology can direct us to discussions of the subject and passages of Scripture on which the doctrine is based.
At times we may also want to speak to personal concerns, such as guilt, grief, forgiveness, loneliness, jealousy, marriage, and divorce. Preaching on personal problems, sometimes called life-situation preaching, poses a particular difficulty. How do we find the passage or passages to preach? If we have a broad knowledge of the Scriptures, we will be aware of passages that deal with people with those problems. We will know the temptation of Adam, the jealousy of Cain, the guilty conscience of Jacob, the depression of Elijah, or the teaching of Jesus about the need to confront and to forgive someone who has offended us. If we do not have that broad grasp of Scripture, a concordance may supply workable leads. In addition, books wrestling with moral and ethical issues from a Christian perspective may not only analyze the problem but also suggest biblical material to be considered. In topical exposition, therefore, we begin with a subject or a problem and then look for a passage or passages that relate to it.
Topical exposition faces two problems. First, the topic we are considering may be dealt with in several passages of Scripture. Each of the individual passages, therefore, must be examined in its context. Isolating a single passage on which to base a teaching may ignore tensions built into the biblical record. Usually, topical exposition takes more study than exposition based on a single passage.
An additional problem in topical exposition is that we may read something into the scriptural account in order to read something significant out of it. Starting with personal problems poses the particular danger of misusing the Scriptures. If the difficulty of starting with the Bible is that we may never get to the twenty-first century, then the trap of starting with the twenty-first century is that we may deal dishonestly with the Bible. In our eagerness to say something helpful to hurting people, we may end up saying what the Bible is not saying at all. We can use texts of Scripture that we feel support what we want to say without considering the intent of the biblical author or the context of the verses. Those who want to address the felt needs of their people are to be commended for their desire to be relevant. At the same time, there is no greater betrayal of our calling than putting words in God’s mouth.
However we select the passage, we must allow it to speak for itself. Often a passage will not say what we expected it to say. We may resort to “proof texts” for favorite doctrines by completely ignoring the context in which these texts lie. We may be tempted to transform biblical authors into modern psychologists by saying in a sermon what they never intended. Topical exposition differs from the so-called topical sermon, therefore, in that the thought of the Scripture shapes all that is said in defining and developing the topic.
Sermon Length
Another factor we must consider in choosing what to preach is time. We must preach our sermons in a limited number of minutes. Few congregations being offered well-prepared and attractively presented biblical truth will sit before their pastor with stopwatches in their hands. Yet, if we’re honest, we will not take time not granted to us. We must tailor our sermons to our time, and the cutting should be done in the study rather than in the pulpit.
If you are in a congregation that allows only twelve to fifteen minutes for the sermon, you may still do exposition. You are limited, of course, in the length of the passage you can present and the detail with which you develop it. You will be limited, perhaps, to the major idea of the section, and in a few strokes, show the congregation how that idea comes from the passage and applies to life.
Even if you are allowed forty-five minutes for your sermons, you must still make choices. You can seldom tell your people all you have discovered about a passage, nor should you try. Whether you have fifteen minutes or an hour, therefore, you must choose what to include or exclude in a particular sermon. Through experience you can discover the length of a passage you may treat in detail. You also sense when you must settle for a bird’s-eye view of a passage rather than a worm’s-eye analysis. Both the units of thought and the time allowed to cover them, therefore, must be considered when you select a passage to be preached.
Stage 2 Study your passage and gather your notes.
Our task begins with studying the passage and recording our findings. There are several things we should consider.
The Context
Having selected the passage, we must first examine it in its context. The passage does not exist in isolation. As individual verses rest within a paragraph, the paragraphs are part of a chapter, and the chapters are part of the book. If you were reading any other book, you would not open it to page 50, read a paragraph, and from that, assume that you could speak with some authority about the author’s meaning. The author may be giving you the argument of an opponent, not his own. At the very least you would want to read the whole chapter to discover how this one paragraph fits within the larger section. If you really want to understand your paragraph, you would also ask questions about how the chapter that contains your paragraph fits within the entire book. The old saw still has a sharp edge: “The text without the context is a pretext.”
For this reason, we begin our study of a biblical passage by relating it to the broader literary unit of which it is a part. Usually this demands that we read the book several times and in different translations. Even if we have skills in reading Hebrew or Greek, we usually find it easier to map out the broad developments of an author’s thought by reading it in English. Scores of different versions are available, ranging from literal, word-for-word translations like those in interlinears (where English words are placed under the Hebrew or Greek text) to versions that present the Scriptures in contemporary language.
Different translations serve us in different ways. We can gain an impression of the sharpness and vitality of the original Hebrew or Greek by reading different kinds of translations. For example, as a study Bible we may use the New American Standard Bible, which stays close to the original text but may sound stiff and wooden when read in public. The New King James Version is also closer to the original texts. Others who like to be faithful to the past prefer the King James Version. Other translations and paraphrases catch the dynamic equivalent of the original text and reflect the ideas of the biblical author, for example, Eugene Peterson’s The Message, J. B. Phillips’s paraphrase of the New Testament, or the New Living Translation. A translation that searches for the middle ground between allegiance to the Hebrew or Greek and a sensitive feeling for style is the New International Version. By using these translations and others, we can understand the broad context of the passage.
Setting our passage within its wider framework, therefore, simply gives the Bible the same chance we give the author of a novel. We want to fit our paragraph into its wider unit of thought. We do not have to find this framework by ourselves. Introductions to the Old or the New Testament and introductory sections of commentaries usually discuss why a book was written and outline its contents. While commentators sometimes disagree on these matters, we can consider their frameworks as we read through the Scripture for ourselves.
Not only should our passage be placed within the broader unity of the book, but it must also be related to its immediate context. More clues to meaning come from a study of the surrounding context than from an examination of details within a passage. To understand a paragraph or a subsection, we must explain how it develops out of what precedes it and relates to what follows it. Would it make any difference if this particular passage were not there? What purpose does this passage serve in the book? To understand 1 Corinthians 13, for instance, we must understand that it is part of a larger unit dealing with spiritual gifts in chapters 12–14. These chapters must be considered together to interpret the contrast of love with spiritual gifts in chapter 13. In addition, earlier chapters of the Corinthian letter reveal the spiritual condition of the readers and make us reflect on how love would apply in their situation.
As you read the passage in different translations, do so with a pen in hand. Write out as precisely as possible the problems you have in understanding the passage. Write them all down—make yourself state them. If different translations disagree significantly, note that. It usually means that the translators look at the passage from different points of view. Try to state the differences. It’s possible that what confuses you is unfamiliar background or unknown figures of speech. You may not follow the author’s thought because it is tightly reasoned. Asking the right questions becomes an essential step in finding the right answers.
Remember that you’re looking for the author’s ideas. Begin by stating in rough fashion what you think the writer is talking about—that is, his subject. Then try to determine what major assertion(s) the biblical writer is making about the subject, that is, the complement(s).
If you cannot state a subject at this point, what is hindering you from doing so?
It’s one thing not to know but another thing not to know what you don’t know. Uncovering the questions you have and writing them down can help you get at the author’s subject.
Having placed the passage within its context, you must now examine its details. In the Epistles and in parts of the Gospels, this means examining the vocabulary and the grammatical structure of the passage. In narrative passages you will look for statements by the author that explain what is taking place. For example, in 2 Samuel 11, the historian reports on the sin of David without judgment. Only at the end of the chapter does he comment that “what David did displeased the Lord.” Where there are no editorial comments, you must ask questions like, “Why did the biblical author include this episode?” or “Are there details in the passage that, at first, seem extraneous?” The authors of the Old Testament are superb storytellers, but they are also theologians. They are not simply giving us stories to tell our children at bedtime; they are telling us their stories to give us truth about God.
It’s amazing how much of the Bible you can learn by simply reading it in English, but some knowledge of the original languages does give you an advantage. Reading a passage in Hebrew or Greek is like watching TV in high definition. It adds vividness and precision to the picture. You need not be an expert in the Hebrew or Greek languages to use them with benefit, and almost anyone can use some of the available linguistic tools. Accuracy, as well as integrity, demands that we develop every possible skill to keep us from declaring in the name of God what the Holy Spirit never intended to convey.
Up to this point we have been looking at the biblical text itself, both in English and possibly in the original languages, to try to determine the overall idea of the passage by asking questions to clarify what we do not understand. Now we can use tools to help us dig into the passage. At least seven different aids are available to help us as we examine our text.
Lexicons
A lexicon serves as a kind of dictionary for the original languages. By using a lexicon we can find definitions of a word as it is used in Hebrew or Greek. But it is more than a dictionary: along with the definition of a word, it gives us root meanings, identification of some grammatical forms, a list of passages where the word occurs, classification of its uses in its various contexts, and some illustrations that help give color to the word.
Concordances
While lexicons, like dictionaries, define words, sometimes it is essential to study a word in the passages where it occurs. To determine the meaning of words through usage, we use a concordance.
Grammars
But meaning does not come from words alone. Words must be understood as they are used in phrases, clauses, sentences, and paragraphs. A study of syntax examines how words combine to render meaning, and grammars assist us in that study. Not only does a grammar offer general help in describing how words are formed and put together in sentences, but those with an index to Scripture often give insight into particular passages being studied.
Word-Study Books
Much of the work of evaluating how biblical writers use words has been done for us by scholars. Word-study books provide us with insights into words used throughout the Old and New Testaments, and because words are stupid things until placed in a context, these books deal with their grammatical use when appropriate.
Bible Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Unlike most English dictionaries, Bible dictionaries offer more than a definition of a word. They give us brief discussions of people, events, and backgrounds of the biblical material. Many of your questions about when or where a book was written, its readers, and its author will be answered by a good Bible dictionary or encyclopedia. Because different reference works display different strengths, an examination of the same subject in several different encyclopedias and dictionaries enables you to achieve both balance and completeness. In addition, through the use of bibliographies found at the end of each article, you can pursue a topic in even greater depth.
Commentaries
As you teach the Scriptures, you need teachers to teach you. Through commentaries, scholars serve the church. They offer a wealth of information about the meaning of words, backgrounds of passages, and the argument of a writer. As a general rule, it is wiser (and cheaper!) to select the best volumes on individual Bible books from several different series. It is also helpful to consult an assortment of commentaries on a passage and weigh what they say against each other in determining the meaning of the biblical author. For your basic study you will want to consult commentaries based on the original languages and not only on the English text. Several bibliographies exist to guide you in your selection of a library.
For your initial study you will be helped by consulting commentaries based on the original languages. Volumes in the International Critical Commentary series or the Word Biblical Commentary series are examples of this category. These are often quite technical and require some knowledge of the original languages, but they wrestle with the meaning of the text.
You will also want to consult expositional commentaries. They are much more English-friendly, but be sure to select those written by authors who work from the original languages. InterVarsity’s Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series or Zondervan’s Expositor’s Bible Commentary series would be typical of this group.
You will find additional help in commentaries that focus on application, such as the NIV Application Commentaries on both the Old and the New Testaments or the IVP New Testament Commentaries. These volumes also deal with exegesis and exposition, but sometimes not at the same depth as the critical or expositional commentaries.
There are many books and tapes of sermons preached by well-known preachers. Although these may give you some ideas of how to approach or apply your sermon, they should not be used early in your preparation. You will be tempted to rely too heavily on them and therefore short-circuit your own study of the text.
Bibliographies
An excellent resource for building your library is the Commentary and Reference Survey compiled by John Glynn (10th ed., Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2007). Glynn offers helpful advice for building a “bare-bones” personal reference library. He suggests books and computer programs for three different groups: informed laypeople, Bible college and seminary students, and pastors. In addition to recommending reference books for your personal library, Glynn evaluates 750 commentary series and individual commentaries for single books of the Bible. He bases his judgments on published bibliographies and surveys, reviews in theological journals, and recommendations from recognized scholars. Glynn’s survey answers the question, “What volumes should I purchase to get the best books for my bucks?”
Two other useful library tools are published by Baker Academic: Old Testament Commentary Survey by Tremper Longman, and New Testament Commentary Survey by D. A. Carson.
Seminary bookstores can also help you to build a basic library or suggest the best commentaries on individual books of the Bible. Some seminaries have bibliographies compiled by their faculty of the best volumes to purchase. A library is indispensable for anyone doing serious Bible study. A collection of basic study books and some good commentaries will cost about as much as a year’s tuition at many colleges or seminaries, but if selected with care, their value will last a lifetime.
Other Tools
Today we benefit by having computers that make study aids easily accessible on CD-ROM or the internet. They put an entire library at our fingertips, including the Greek and Hebrew text, English translations of the Bible, concordances, commentaries (both ancient and modern), and word-study aids, all keyed to particular passages. Even more impressive, these programs are highly interactive and allow us to move back and forth between the biblical text and the tools of scholarship.
In my own study, I use a legal-size pad to record the results of my research. For passages covering only a few verses, I devote a separate page to each verse. For larger sections of text, for example, in the stories of the Old Testament, I may devote a page to an entire paragraph. I will have separate sheets for notes about the idea and its development, possible illustrations, and possible leads on introductions and applications. Admittedly, this is the confession of a dinosaur. Many ministers use a computer to keep track of all this information. However you do it, you need a place to record your findings.
In studying the details of the passage and placing it in its context, we are already moving into the next stage.
Stage 3 As you study the passage, relate the parts to one another to determine the exegetical idea and its development.
Our linguistic and grammatical analyses must never become an end in themselves but rather should lead to a clearer understanding of the passage as a whole. The process resembles an hourglass that moves from synthesis to analysis and back to synthesis. Initially we read the passage and its context in English to understand the author’s meaning. Then through analysis we test our initial impressions through an examination of the details. After that we come to a final statement of the subject and complement in the light of that study.
Throughout the process you will ask, “Exactly what is the biblical writer talking about?” When you have a possible subject, go back through the passage and relate the subject to the details.
The Subject
The initial statement of a subject will often be too broad. To narrow it, try testing your subject with a series of definitive questions. A bit of verse tells us what those questions are:
I had six faithful friends,
They taught me all I knew,
Their names are How and What and Why,
When and Where and Who.
Remember, your subject can always be stated in the form of a question. Applying these six questions to your proposed subject, therefore, will help you be more exact. Take as a case in point James 1:5–8:
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (NASB)
Our initial response to this paragraph might be that James is talking about wisdom. While wisdom emerges as a major element in the passage, it is much too broad a subject because James does not discuss what wisdom is, why we need it, or when we need it. Looking at the passage more closely, we find he is talking about “how to obtain wisdom,” a more precise statement of the subject. An awareness of the immediate context, however, enables us to limit the subject even further. The preceding paragraph, verses 2–4, demonstrates that joy is the proper response to trials, and our paragraph extends that discussion. Therefore, a more complete subject for James 1:5–8 would be “how to obtain wisdom in the midst of trials.” All the details in the paragraph, directly or indirectly, relate to that subject. When a proposed subject accurately describes what the author is talking about, it illuminates the details of the passage; and the subject, in turn, will be illuminated by the details.
The Complement
Having isolated the subject, you must now determine the complement, or complements, that complete the subject and make it into an idea. In doing this you must become aware of the structure of the passage and distinguish between its major and supporting assertions. Often the complement becomes immediately obvious once you have stated the subject. In James 1:5–8 the complement to the subject “how to obtain wisdom in the midst of trials” is “ask God for it in faith.” The complete statement of the idea, then, merely joins the subject with the complement: “Wisdom in trials is obtained by asking God for it in faith.” Everything else in the paragraph supports or elaborates that idea.
Particularly in passages found in the letters of the New Testament, the biblical writers often weave tightly reasoned arguments. The ideas may be uncovered through the use of a mechanical layout. Such a layout points up the relationship of the dependent clauses to the independent clauses. Diagramming, a more demanding method for unraveling structure, determines the relationship of individual words within sentences. A mechanical layout or diagram may be based on either the original text or an English translation. Either a diagram or a mechanical layout brings analysis and synthesis together so that the major idea of a passage is separated from its supporting material.
While the letters in the New Testament make a fundamental contribution to Christian theology, they constitute only one of many literary forms found in the Bible. The Scriptures contain many types of literature such as parables, poetry, proverbs, prayers, speeches, allegories, history, laws, contracts, biography, drama, apocalypse, and stories. To find the idea in any of them, we must be aware of the kind of literature we are reading and the conventions that are unique to it. We do not interpret poems as we do legal contracts. A parable differs significantly from a historical narrative or a love song. When working in narrative literature, we seldom have to work through a maze of complex grammatical relationships, but instead we derive the author’s meaning from a broad study of several paragraphs.
A series of different questions must be raised when trying to understand a story. A sampling of those questions might be the following:
Much of the Old Testament is poetic in form. In reading translations that print poetry as poetry and not as prose, we discover that poetry is the most-used literary form in Old Testament literature. Even sections we ordinarily think of as prose (history, prophecy, Wisdom literature) contain large amounts of poetry. Poets do not usually tell stories but instead express feelings and reflections about life. In Hebrew literature poets communicate through parallelism that repeats, contrasts, or adds to the previous thoughts, and they use figurative language that may not be true to fact but is true to feelings. Images and figures of speech give more life and force to speech because they join experience to fact. When farmers observe that “the land needs rain,” they are true to fact, but if they say that “the earth thirsts for rain,” they are true to both fact and feeling. Poets major in structures and language to add force and depth to what they are saying. Therefore, interpreting poetry raises its own set of questions:
In whatever genre of literature you study, you will not only try to determine the writer’s idea, but you will also want to discern how the idea is developed in the passage. Take your statement of the idea (subject joined to complement) and run it back over the passage. Can you explain how the parts fit your idea? The author may not develop a psalm in a logical order, but there may be a psychological relationship. Have you identified that? The storyteller tells the story, but if there are details in the narrative that don’t seem to contribute to the story, ask yourself why. The Bible is great literature. It speaks to our minds and to our emotions. As great literature it does not deal in unnecessary trivia. The authors want us to get and to feel what they are writing about. When they include details, they do so for a purpose. If you have uncovered the author’s idea, then the different parts of the passage should illuminate it. It is often in the parts that we don’t immediately understand that some of the best insights can be found.
One device you may find helpful is to paraphrase the passage in your own words. Be exact in thought, and carefully state the relationships you see within the text whether the biblical writer explicitly states them or not. As you write, you may have to alter the statement of your exegetical idea to fit the parts of the passage. Don’t bend the passage to fit your statement of the idea.
At this point, as a result of your study, you should be able to do two things: first, to state the idea of the passage in a single sentence that combines your subject and complement; and second, to state how the parts of the passage relate to the idea.
This is sweaty, difficult work, but it has to be done.
DEFINITIONS
Bible dictionary and encyclopedia—contain articles on a wide variety of biblical subjects, including background of Bible books and biographies of biblical characters.
Concordance—helps determine the meaning of words through usage.
Context—the wider framework in which a passage occurs. It can be as narrow as a paragraph or chapter, but it ultimately includes the larger argument of the book.
Diagramming—shows the relationship of individual words within sentences as well as the relationship of the clauses.
Lexicon—provides definitions, root meanings, identification of some grammatical forms, a list of passages in which a word occurs, classifications of the use of a word in its various contexts, and some illustrations that help give color to a word.
Mechanical layout—shows the relationship of the dependent and independent clauses in a paragraph.
Paraphrase of a passage—states the progression of ideas in a passage in contemporary language.
FOR FURTHER READING
Different types (genres) of literature require different mind-sets to appreciate them. You don’t read a legal document in the same way you read a novel or a poem or a letter from your insurance company. Make time to read How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth, 3rd ed. by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003). It is an easy-to-understand guide to help you ask the right questions in your endeavor to interpret and apply the Scriptures accurately.
There are ten helpful chapters on preaching the different sections and the different genres of Scripture in The Handbook of Contemporary Preaching (Nashville: Broadman, 1992) that may also help you tackle the different types of literature in the Bible.
A major genre in the Bible is narrative. A very practical treatment of how to study Old Testament narrative is by Steve Mathewson (The Art of Preaching Old Testament Narrative [Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002]). Mathewson is sympathetic to readers who may be trying to find their way through the biblical stories. At the same time, he gives helpful guidelines for those who already know the basics and want to learn more.
If you’re willing to struggle a bit, then tackle Robert Alter’s book The Art of Biblical Narrative (New York: Basic Books, 1981). He approaches the stories of the Old Testament from the perspective of a literary critic. His book is based on the Hebrew text; nevertheless, thoughtful readers who do not know Hebrew can still profit from reading it. Alter has also written The Art of Biblical Poetry (New York: Basic Books, 1987), which does for poetry what his first book does for narrative.
Another helpful book, written by friends of mine, fleshes out the principles of this chapter. It is The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching, edited by Keith Willhite and Scott Gibson (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998). In one chapter Bruce Waltke deals with how a study of poetics can unlock the central thought of broader passages in the Proverbs. He uses Proverbs 26:1–12 as a test case. In another chapter Paul Borden spells out in detail how a preacher finds and communicates the great idea in a biblical story.
Another insightful discussion of the literary forms in Scripture is offered by Leland Ryken in A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993). Ryken, who loves great literature, reminds us that while the Bible differs from other books, it must be read like other books. It should be approached not simply as a textbook on theology but as literature.
Questions and activities for this chapter can be found in the student exercises section at the back of the book.
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1. Derek Kidner, The Proverbs: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1969).
2. See, for example, Bruce Waltke’s exposition of Prov. 26:1–12 in The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching, eds. Keith Willhite and Scott Gibson; or idem., “Proverbs 10:1–16: A Coherent Collection?,” in Reading and Hearing the Word from Text to Sermon: Essays in Honor of John H. Stek, ed. Arie C. Leder (Grand Rapids: Calvin Theological Seminary and CRC Publications, 1998).