Theological Term of the Week

literary genres of the Bible
Categories of writing found in Scripture, each characterized by a particular form, style, or content.

• From The Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics:

  Article XIII

  WE AFFIRM  that awareness of the literary categories, formal and stylistic, of the various parts of Scripture is essential for proper exegesis, and hence we value genre criticism as one of the many disciplines of biblical study.

  WE DENY  that generic categories which negate historicity may rightly be imposed on biblical narratives which present themselves as factual.

  The awareness of what kind of literature one is interpreting is essential to a correct understanding of the text. A correct genre judgment should be made to ensure correct understanding. A parable, for example, should not be treated like a chronicle, nor should poetry be interpreted as though it were a straightforward narrative. Each passage has its own genre, and the interpreter should be cognizant of the specific kind of literature it is as he attempts to interpret it. Without genre recognition an interpreter can be misled in his understanding of the passage. For example, when the prophet speaks of “trees clapping their hands” (Isa. 55:12) one could assume a kind of animism unless he recognized that this is poetry and not prose.

  The Denial is directed at an illegitimate use of genre criticism by some who deny the truth of passages which are presented as factual. Some, for instance, take Adam to be a myth, whereas in Scripture he is presented as a real person. Others take Jonah to be an allegory when he is presented as a historical person and so referred to by Christ (Mat. 12:40-42). This Denial is an appropriate and timely warning not to use genre criticism as a cloak for rejecting the truth of Scripture.

  Article XIV

  WE AFFIRM  that the biblical record of events, discourses and sayings, though presented in a variety of appropriate literary forms, corresponds to historical fact.

  WE DENY  that any event, discourse or saying reported in Scripture was invented by the biblical writers or by the traditions they incorporated.

  This article combines the emphases of Articles VI and XIII. While acknowledging the legitimacy of literary forms, this article insists that any record of events presented in Scripture must correspond to historical fact. That is, no reported event, discourse, or saying should be considered imaginary.

  The Denial is even more clear than the Affirmation. It stresses that any discourse, saying, or event reported in Scripture must actually have occurred. This means that any hermeneutic or form of biblical criticism which claims that something was invented by the author must be rejected. This does not mean that a parable must be understood to represent historical facts, since a parable does not (by its very genre) purport to report an event or saying but simply to illustrate a point.

• A list of literary genres found frequently in the Bible, followed by examples of each, taken from 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible  by Robert Plummer 

1. Historical Narrative — Genesis, Mark
2. Geneology — 1 Chronicles 1-9, Matthew 1:1-17
3. Exaggeration/Hyperbole — Matthew 5:29-30, 23-24
4. Prophecy — Isaiah; Malachi
5. Poetry — Joel, Amos (also prophecy)
6. Covenant — Genesis 17:1-4; Joshua 24:1-28
7. Proverbs/Wisdom Literature — Proverbs, Job
8. Psalms and Songs — Exodus 15:1-18; Psalms
9. Letters — 1 Corinthians; 2 Peter
10. Apocalypse —Daniel, Revelation

Learn more:

1. The Literary Study Bible: An Anthology with Diverse Genres
2. Prepare International: Understanding the Literary Type or Genre of the Books of the Bible
3. Robert Plummer: Both Familiar and Foreign Genres
4. Justin Taylor: Why Context and Genre Are Keys to Interpretation
5. Dennis Bratcher: The Genre of New Testament Letter and Epistles

Related terms:

• biblical hermeneutics
• exegesis
• textual criticism

Filed under Scripture.

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Theological Term of the Week

KJV Onlyism
A movement that teaches (erroneously) that the King James Version of the Bible is itself inerrant and the only true Word of God in the English language; also called King James Onlyism.

• From The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy:

  Since God has nowhere promised an inerrant transmission of Scripture, it is necessary to affirm that only the autographic text of the original documents was inspired and to maintain the need of textual criticism as a means of detecting any slips that may have crept into the text in the course of its transmission. The verdict of this science, however, is that the Hebrew and Greek text appear to be amazingly well preserved, so that we are amply justified in affirming, with the Westminster Confession, a singular providence of God in this matter and in declaring that the authority of Scripture is in no way jeopardized by the fact that the copies we possess are not entirely error-free.

  Similarly, no translation is or can be perfect, and all translations are an additional step away from the autographa. Yet the verdict of linguistic science is that English-speaking Christians, at least, are exceedingly well served in these days with a host of excellent translations and have no cause for hesitating to conclude that the true Word of God is within their reach. Indeed, in view of the frequent repetition in Scripture of the main matters with which it deals and also of the Holy Spirit’s constant witness to and through the Word, no serious translation of Holy Scripture will so destroy its meaning as to render it unable to make its reader “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15).

  A. It is required of them that would worthily (that is, suitably) partake of the Lord’s Supper, that they examine themselves, of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s body; of their faith to feed upon Him; of their repentance, love, and new obedience: lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves.

• From 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible  by Robert Plummer:

The best Bible translations are based on the most reliable ancient manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments…. The King James Version (KJV) is not highly recommended because it is not based on the best manuscripts and because the seventeenth-century English is hard for most modern people to understand. … While it was an excellent work for its day, the KJV has been surpassed by many modern translations in both readability and faithfulness to the original manuscripts. Some people wrongly and often passionately claim the KJV is a superior translation of the Bible. The historical and linguistic facts do not support this claim. 

Learn more:

1. GotQuestions.org: What is the KJV Only movement?
2. Dan Wallace: Why I Do Not Think the King James Version Is the Best Translation Available Today
3. Jeff Spry: The King James Only Controversy (pdf)
4. Fred Butler: Confessions of a KJV Only Advocate, plus a whole page of mp3s and articles.
5. James White: King James Only Controversy
6. Bill Combs: Beginning of the KJV Only Movement, Dean Burgon: Father of the KJV-Only Movement, Dean Burgon and the Revised Version, The KJV-Only Movement Comes to America, The Modern KJV-Only Movement, Is Only the King James Version the Word of God?, and Is the King James Version the Final Authority?
7. James White: What’s the Big Deal with King James Onlyism (series of YouTube videos), Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

Related terms:

• autographs
• inerrancy of scripture
• infallibility of scripture
• inspiration of scripture
• manuscripts
• perspicuity of scripture
• textual criticism

Filed under Defective Theology.

Do you have a term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.

Theological Term of the Week

Lord’s Supper
One of the two sacraments (or ordinances) that Jesus commanded his church to observe; a ceremonial meal instituted by Christ to commemorate his death on the cross and celebrate “the new covenant relationship with God through Christ’s death”;1also called Communion, the Eucharist.

• From scripture: 
  

  And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves.  For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22:17-20 ESV)

• From Keach’s Catechism:

  Q. 107. What is the Lord’s Supper?

  A. The Lord’s Supper is a holy ordinance, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ’s appointment, His death is showed forth, and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporeal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of His body and blood, with all His benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.

  Q. 108. What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord’s Supper?

  A. It is required of them that would worthily (that is, suitably) partake of the Lord’s Supper, that they examine themselves, of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s body; of their faith to feed upon Him; of their repentance, love, and new obedience: lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves.

• From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof, a list of the things signified in the Lord’s Supper:

 a. It is a symbolical representation of the Lord’s death, 1 Cor. 11:26. The central fact of redemption, prefigured in the sacrifices of the Old Testament, is clearly set forth by means of the significant symbols of the New Testament sacrament. The words of the institution, “broken for you” and “shed for many”, point to the fact that the death of Christ is a sacrificial one for the benefit, and even in the place, of His people.

b. It also symbolizes the believer’s participation in the crucified Christ. In the celebration of the Lord’s Supper the participants not merely look at the summons, but receive them and feed upon them. Figuratively speaking, they “eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood,” John 6:53, that is, they symbolically appropriate the benefits secured by the sacrificial death of Christ.

c. It represents, not only the death of Christ as the object of faith, and the act of faith which unites the believer to Christ, but also the effect of this act as giving life, strength, and joy, to the soul. This is implied in the emblems used. Just as bread and wine nourish and invigorate the bodily life of man, so Christ sustains and quickens the life of the soul. Believers are regularly represented in Scripture as having their life, and strength, and happiness, in Christ.

d. Finally, the sacrament also symbolizes the union of believers with one another. As members of the mystical body of Jesus Christ, constituting a spiritual unity, they eat of the same bread and drink of the same wine, I Cor. 10:17; 12:13. Receiving the elements, the one from the other, they exercise intimate communion with one another.

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Communion
2. Blue Letter Bible: What is the Lord’s Supper?
3. D. Patrick Ramsey: What Is Communion?
4. William Smith: The Significance of the Supper
5. Sam Storms: What Happens in the Eucharist? Part 1, Part 2
6. Mike Riccardi: Thinking through the Lord’s Supper
7. Charles Hodge: An Overview of the Lord’s Supper
8. B. B. Warfield: The Fundamental Significance of the Lord’s Supper
9. John Knox: A Summary, According to the Scriptures, of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
10. Wayne Grudem: The Lord’s Supper (mp3)
11. S. Lewis Johnson: Paul and the Lord’s Supper, Part 1, Part 2 (mp3s and transcripts)

Related terms:

• credobaptism
• paedobaptism

Filed under Ecclesiology.

1From Concise Theology by J. I. Packer.

Do you have a term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.