We continue our series marking the Year of the Bible as Richard Cleaves presents his perspective on the variety of styles we can find within the Bible, the book of books.
Introduction
The Bible is used in different ways across the traditions of worship in our churches. For some, it provides the heart from which other elements of worship and learning can flow; for others, it plays a much fuller role in the time of worship. Whatever your experience, this insight into the styles of writings might provide a little more detail to help your understanding of the types of writing we find within the pages of the Bible. It is in two parts: Old Testament and New Testament. The word ‘testament’ suggests the ‘covenant’ or ‘committed relationship’ God has with the cosmos, with humanity, with individuals and with us.
Old Testament
The Old Testament is the story of the people of God as they journey in relationship with him. It tells of fulfilment and despair, love and betrayal, law and right living. The covenant made between God and God’s people is made clear.
Law, Prophets and Writings
The Old Testament is made up of Law, Prophets and Writings. Genesis to Deuteronomy makes up the Law. There are larger than life stories that tell of the beginnings of things but that also speak to the world of today in every generation, and there are true to life stories that help us to understand who we are and how we relate to each other. There are also law codes about behaviour and society, ritual, worship and holiness. You might look at Exodus chapter 20 for an example of the kinds of laws found in these writings and consider whether the law of the Old Testament can apply to us today.
As prophetic writings, Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings are ‘history with a message’. Their stories, miracles, and message are intended to shape the kingdom. For example, have a read of 1 Samuel chapter 3 and consider for yourself what the message of the passage is.
The writings include history and stories in Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, together with Esther and Ruth that ask ‘who are we’? You might like to read Ruth chapter 1 to find out how Ruth took on the identity of her new family to understand who she was.
The five books of Psalms include hymns and prayers, of praise, lament and anger, some personal, some national. Have a look at Psalm 34, an alphabetical psalm. It has 22 verses (23 in the Hebrew), each beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in the regular order.
Proverbs uses poems and proverbs to explore the wisdom needed to live life in the real world. Ecclesiastes uses philosophy and Job and the Song of Songs use drama to grapple with the implications of that kind of wisdom in a cruel world and in a world of loving relationships. Have a read of Proverbs 22 and consider the wisdom it offers for the real world of today.
New Testament
The New Testament contains four Gospels (one of which has a second volume in Acts), twenty-one letters and the Book of Revelation.
Gospels
The Gospels are ‘lives’ like the ‘lives’ of Joseph, Moses and others in the Old Testament, and ‘lives’ written in the Greek and Roman world. Mark describes Jesus’ actions, culminating in his peaceful entry to Jerusalem. Matthew sees Jesus as a new ‘Law’ giver with five great collections of teaching. Luke begins in the style of prophetic and poetic Old Testament writing and goes on to structure his account of Jesus around his journey to Jerusalem and the journey he makes through his followers to Rome. Acts includes the preaching of the Early Church. John echoes some of the wisdom writing and speaks into the more philosophical vein of his own world, focusing on the significance of a few of the things Jesus did.
Letters
The letters are real letters, written by real people to real people. Paul’s letters start with an opening greeting and prayer, go on to explore Christian thinking, and then seek to put that thinking into practice, before finishing with personal greetings and a prayer. Hebrews has a different feel to it and seems almost to be like a sequence of sermons: first the theory then the application. The remaining seven letters are written almost as circular letters to Christians anywhere.
Revelation contains larger than life stories of the end times that are told in order to challenge, reassure and inspire people facing opposition and persecution in every generation.
So next time you open the Bible, don’t think of it as a book, but reflect on the style of writing of the particular book you are reading and it might just help you to understand what it has to say.
Rev. Dr Richard Cleaves is Minister of Highbury Congregational Church in Cheltenham and New Testament Tutor for the integrated training course of the Congregational Church.
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