Wednesday in the Word

what the Bible means and how we know

  • Home
  • Bible Studies
    • New Testament Bible Studies
    • Old Testament Bible Studies
    • Topical Bible Studies
    • What is the Gospel?
  • Study Help
    • Bible Study 101: Learn to Study the Bible
    • Bible Maps, Charts & Tools
    • Study Resources by Book of the Bible
    • Bible Study 201: Learn to teach the Bible
    • Quotations: where Scripture quotes Scripture
  • Topics
    • Theology
    • Faith & Life
    • Family
    • Women’s Ministry Resources
    • Most Popular
    • Podcast Browser
  • What is WitW?
    • Meet Krisan
    • What We Believe
    • Looking Back
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Passages / Parables of Jesus / Understanding Parables

Understanding Parables

September 7, 2012 By Krisan Marotta

https://media.blubrry.com/wednesday_in_the_word_with/p/www.wednesdayintheword.com/wp-content/uploads/sermons/WITW-20120905-KM.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:29 — 9.6MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | Pandora | Email | RSS | More

parables-740

Suppose I want to tell you what happened on September 11, 2001 in New York City. I could say:

“Two planes crashed into two tall buildings and knocked them down.”

Every word is true and factually correct. I have explained the event. Or I could say:

“Terrorists hijacked two commercial airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center towers, killing everyone on board and 1000s of unsuspecting office workers.”

This statement is also factually true, but it is more fully told. I have identified the culprits, the victims and some of the significance of the events. But we could go farther.  Or I could say:

“On September 11, 2001, the walls of freedom were torn down, Americans felt they looked into the face of terror and people wept in the streets.”

My third statement is also a true statement, but it assumes you know the facts in the first two statements and attempts to explain the significance and the meaning of the tragedy. My third statement calls for a response.  The parables of Jesus are more like my third statement. They teach through dramatic conflict and call for a response.

In Western tradition, serious theology is almost always done by carefully constructed logical sequences of ideas. Typically, the more educated the theologian, the more abstract the ideas become and the more difficult for the average person to understand.  The same is not true in Hebrew thought. We often find the gospels and the words of Jesus difficult because he frequently spoke in concepts, metaphors and pictures, not theological concepts.

Parables are serious theology. But they are metaphorical theology. They teach through metaphor, simile, and dramatic action rather than through logic or reasoning.   As bible students we need to learn to handle them properly.

Understanding Parables from Krisan Marotta

For more detail and explanation, please listen to the podcast.

Next: Parable of the Sower & the Seed, Matthew 13:1-23

Series: The Parables of Jesus: Pictures of the Kingdom

Understanding the Genre:

  • Apocalyptic Literature
  • Epistles
  • Gospels
  • Hebrew Poetry
  • Narratives
  • Prophecy

(Visited 615 times, 3 visits today)

Related posts:

  1. Parables of Jesus: Pictures of the Kingdom
  2. Parables of Jesus
  3. List of the Parables of Jesus
  4. Understanding prophecy
  5. Understanding the Gospels

Filed Under: Parables of Jesus, Passages Tagged With: allegory, analogy, Bible Study, Parables

Find the podcast on:


  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • Google Play

  • iTunes Podcasts

  • Pinterest

  • SoundCloud

  • Spotify

  • Amazon

  • Stitcher

  • TuneIn

  • iHeart

  • Email

  • RSS Feed

Wednesday in the Word is the podcast about what the Bible means and how we know.

Contact us

Categories

© 2011 by Krisan Marotta. Site by Author Media.