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Feed Yourself Lesson Eleven

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Finishing The Book Survey: Style Of Writing

"Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus," Luke 1:3, NIV

You have come a long way. In fact, you are now half done the course. Great!

As we continue looking at the Book Survey, the next thing we want to consider is the style of writing. In other words, what kind of book is it? All the Books of the Bible are Divinely inspired, but they were written in different ways. Keeping in mind the style of the book will help us understand the book better. When determining the style of a book look for its over all style. For example, Exodus is a historical book, but it does contain poetry. In the same way, Psalms is a poetic book, but it does contain historical and prophetic details.

What are the styles to look for?

Historical

Historical books are written to record events that happened. These are real things which happened to real people. The Bible is not a Book of world history, so the things which were recorded were recorded with a specific purpose.

The Chinese civilization, for example, is not mentioned in the Bible. The Bible is focused on the people and events that relate to the coming of the Messiah and the fulfillment of His mission. As we study in Covenants, for a time God had to limit His dealings with mankind. After the coming of the Holy Spirit, on the Day of Pentecost, the Gospel returned to its world-wide mandate. This will not change until the end of time.

The events focus on the Bible's grand theme of Jesus Christ and His redemption of His people. Sometimes we learn what to do from studying historical events, and sometimes we learn what not to do. Verses contained in historical books are relating what happen and should not be assumed to be justifying the action or giving us instructions to follow. For example, Matt. 25:7 records that Judas hung himself. This is a statement of fact. It is not saying he did the right thing or giving us an example to follow! There is a lot to learn from historical books, but we have to keep the historical style in mind.

Poetic

Poetic books often express emotion. Many times they use action and picture words. They use many forms of speech [as we will see later]. Psalm 18:2 states that the Lord is my Rock. Of course, we know the writer did not believe that God was a literal piece of stone. It is a picture of the strength and firmness of God. Poetic books often use such images. We have to look at context and the general teaching of Scripture to determine if it is a literal statement or a picture. Poetry books also include Job and Song of Songs which are written in the style of plays.

Read Ps. 18 write down all the poetic images you see.

Prophetic Books

Prophetic books are written to tell people what God is going to do. Prophecy is actually only speaking for God or on His behalf. It does not necessarily have to be about future events although often it is. Often prophetic books denounce the wickedness of the people [usually Israel], and declare the coming Judgment of God if there is no repentance. Sometimes they make predictions of what will happen in the distant future. Many prophetic books in the Old Testament contain passages which predict the coming of Christ and the kingdom of God which Christ established upon His resurrection. Prophetic books often use symbols and types in order to present their message, especially when dealing with the distant future [from the prophet's point-of-view]. Many people err in their understanding of prophetic books, because they try to make the symbolic language literal. They ignore the context rules you studied earlier, and they ignore common grammar rules - which we will look at later. Instead of looking at the prophetic books to see what they are saying [inductive study], they impose what they have already chosen to believe onto the book.

For example, Rev. 7:1 and 20:8 talk about the four corners of the earth. If this was a historical book we would be forced to believe in a flat earth. Since it is a prophetic book we know it is not necessarily presenting us with a literal statement but rather a picture to illustrate a truth.

Teaching Books

Teaching books are books whose main purpose is to teach the ways of God. They are usually straightforward, although there can be countless applications. All of Paul's writings are in the teaching style.

Each style is important and God choose it in each case because it was the best way He could communicate what He wanted to say. It is important for us to recognize the different styles. For example, if Genesis was a poetic book we might have a genuine reason to wonder if God created the world in six literal days, and whether Adam and Eve were real people; however, since Genesis is without a doubt a historical book, we know that God did create the world in six literal days and that Adam and Eve were real people. Genesis is a record of historical facts.

There are two more things to do in finishing up our book survey.

You will notice on the left side of your Bible Survey Outline Chart that there is a lot of blank space. This is "note" space for you. You may want to put a description of what certain chapters have in common. For example, if you did a survey on Luke you might draw a line or bracket connecting Chapters 1 & 2 and call it the birth of Christ, Chapters 3 - 6 could be connected and called Beginning Ministry, etc. Or you could connect the chapters by the places in which they happened. This is your survey, connect them any way that is of interest to you. Once section might only have one chapter in it, another section might have 5 or 6 chapters. Relax and have fun.

Use any extra space for short notes you may want to make, special key words, inspiring thoughts, further subjects you want to look into, references to other related verses, whatever...

Review the book. Look over all the information you have collected so far and write a short - one paragraph - summary of the book on the bottom of your Bible Survey Primary Chart.

WEEK ELEVEN PROJECT

1. Continue with the Book you choose two weeks ago [Ephesians, James, or 1 John].

Day One: Read through your chosen book again and write down the literary style on the Bible Survey Primary Chart.

Day Two: Read over all the information you have collected so far and write a short summary on the book on the bottom of your Bible Survey Primary Chart.

Day Three: Decide how you want to group your chapters and then connect them with a line or bracket and title each group.

Days Four - Seven: Divide your book into four sections. Each day read one section and write down any ideas that come to you from that section [Devotional Reading].

2. Continue with your daily reading program.

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Reference Works Used In This Course:

Bible Study Methods by Mrs. Shirley Davis

The International Inductive Study Bible by Harvest House Publishers

Effective Bible Study by Howard F. Vos, Zondervan

How To Understand Your Bible by T. Norton Sterrett, IVP

How To Study Your Bible by Kay Arthur, Harvest House

Return to Feed Yourself Lessons.

Please note: We no longer have the commenting feature [maybe again in the future]. Joshua Institute students who have questions or comments on their courses can use the contact button and mention the course name and lesson number in the email. Thank you. Glenn

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