This series is designed to help people better understand the Bible and how it speaks to us. Read the series Introduction post to learn how this series is designed to help you.

This is our third post about context. The first one introduced the general topic of context, and the second talked specifically about Historical / Cultural Context. Now, it’s time to talk about Literary Context and how it helps us understand the Biblical writer’s Authorial Intent.

Note: The aim of this post is to introduce you to the concept of Literary Context, not to give you an in-depth walkthrough of how to track literary context.

A Quick Review

There are two main categories under the umbrella of ‘context’. The first is Historical Context, and the second is Literary Context.

Historical Context examines the historical and cultural details of the Bible (places, people, timing of previous events, and the cultural setting and milieu of different writings).

Literary Context examines the literary aspects of the Bible and how they help us understand the writer’s intended meaning (Authorial Intent).

Literary Details Of The Bible

Within this written communication, the Biblical writers were trying to communicate specific things God inspired them to write. The details of how and why they wrote help us better understand what they wrote.

In this post, I want to pique your interest in Literary Context by introducing you to three literary concepts I have found to be very helpful in understanding the text: meta narrative, genre and flow of thought.

Meta Narrative

The term meta narrative refers to the overarching narrative from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 (the entire Bible). It presents a 50,000 foot view of God’s creation, humanity’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden, God’s redemptive history, and God’s plan for ultimate restoration. The Bible is comprised of 66 individual books written over 1500ish years; yet, the books combine to form one overarching story (the meta narrative). The individual chapters and books weave together and propel this big picture narrative forward from beginning to end.

As we read, therefore, we want to be aware of this meta narrative; we want to observe how the passage we’re reading now relates to the information that comes both before and after it. A great question to ask while reading is “how does this passage / book propel the Biblical narrative forward?”

A Quick Aside: You become more familiar with the meta narrative as you read the Bible in chunks over and over again (something we will discuss in a future post). Learn more through our Bible In A Year Youtube series that traces the meta narrative so you can get a better feel for how the individual books of the Bible weave together.

Genre

Genre is the sleeping giant of Bible reading/study. People do not generally realize how important and powerful it is to consider the various genres of the Bible. The 66 books of the Bible are written in many different genres: narrative, law, poetry, wisdom, prophecy, epistle and apocalyptic. Each of the these genres abides by different rules. Consider the writing style of a textbook vs. Shakespeare. They are completely different. They convey meaning differently.

We must learn how the various Biblical genres convey meaning so we don’t incorrectly assume the writer is saying something he isn’t. I refer to this principle as reading by the rules. We don’t impose the rules of Shakespeare onto a textbook. Not only will the textbook not make sense, but you may conclude that the author meant “X” when he actually meant “Y.”

Flow Of Thought

If genre is the sleeping giant, then flow of thought is the invisible door that takes you to Narnia. Understanding flow of thought and getting good at identifying it can be difficult to comprehend—I know it was for me. If the Biblical writers are presenting God’s special revelation (Inspiration), and they wrote with a specific purpose and point of view (Authorial Intent), then it makes perfect sense that what they wrote follows a plan for communicating what they wanted to communicate. This is flow of thought.

While present in every book of the Bible, flow of thought is most easily recognized in the epistles of the New Testament (Romans – Jude). This would be a great place for you to begin working through this concept. Every NT epistle has a well defined flow of thought, and it operates both at the chapter and book level. The content of Paul’s letters, for example, progressively builds upon itself. Point 1 leads to Point 2, which leads to Point 3 etc. This is one reason why Paul uses so many conjunctions (therefore, so that, finally, and, but, etc.). Developing an understanding of flow of thought throughout an epistle helps us understand how the content of that epistle relates to itself, and this allows us to better see how it is supposed to develop and play out in our lives.

Wrapping Up

The Bible is God’s Word, as such it deserves to be understood correctly.¹ Literary Context is a tool that helps us achieve this because it teaches us to learn, observe, and abide within the rules that govern all written communication. It allows us to understand a writer’s figurative language vs literal language. By studying it, we are exposed to a new depth of understanding, one that makes us aware of how all the pieces of our relationship with God work together. 

Happy Bibleing!

Footnotes

1. It is our opinion that the “correct” interpretation of Scripture is the one that aligns with the writer’s Authorial Intent. ↩︎