Forms of the Bible

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Literary forms encompass anything that touches on how a writer has expressed the content. Most sections in the Bible are structured like a narrative, while poetry is the second most common form. Despite the myriad literary forms, the Bible is arranged under the cohesive framework of a story. It begins with the creation of the world and ends with the consummation of history and recreation of the world. The plot conflict is a prolonged spiritual battle between good and evil. The central character is God.

Genesis 1-3 is written as a story of origins (an ancient genre). The books of Moses are structured like a suzerainty treaty. Hero stories (Abraham, David, etc) and epics (the Exodus, the historical chronicles) are prolific in both Testaments. Tragedies include The Fall and the life of King Saul. The Gospels are expanded hero stories with an unparalleled hero in Jesus, and they work in a wealth of genres into their narrative: parables, drama or dialogue, sermons or orations, sayings or proverbs, annunciation and nativity, calling or vocation stories, recognition stories, witness stories, pronouncement stories, miracle stories, and passion stories.

Poetry is the second most prominent literary genre, identifiable by verse form and presence of a poetic idiom or style. Psalms are lyric poems that can be broken into laments/complaints and praise psalms. Additional subtypes are identified by content: nature poems, worship psalms (songs of Zion), penitential psalms, historical psalms, royal psalms, meditative psalms, encomium, imprecatory psalms, and epithalamion.

(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. The Bible as Literature by Leland Ryken, Page 99-100, 126-141, 150-151)

Biblical Narrative

Narrative is the dominant form of the Bible. It is a series of events, with many interspersed passages that interpret the meaning of the events. The overall shape of the Bible also follows the beginning-middle-end pattern of a story. The central character is God, and the story itself is salvation history - the story of God's acts of creation, providence, judgment, and redemption.

(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. The Bible as Literature by Leland Ryken, Page 128)

Biblical Poetry

The verse form of biblical poetry is parallelism. Four main types appear in Scripture: synonymous parallelism, antithetical parallelism, climactic parallelism, and synthetic parallelism or growing parallelism. Psalm, Song of Solomon, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job are all poetic, while lyric forms like Deborah's song are embedded throughout the rest of the books. Jesus' discourses are imagistic, metaphoric, hyperbolic, impassioned, and filled with paradoxes, and the movement of their clauses is replete with parallelism, making Him one of the most famous poets. The Epistles are also poetic, and Revelation relies on the poetic staples of image, symbol, and allusion.

(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. The Bible as Literature by Leland Ryken, Page 137-143)

Biblical Drama

No book is written for stage performance, but the dramatic impulse pervades the Bible. The incidence of directly quoted speeches in the Bible is without parallel in ancient literature and unprecedented until the modern novel. The dramatized scene built out of dialogue between characters in a definite setting is by far the most common mode of biblical narrative. Prophetic books are cosmic dramas on a world stage, and Revelation is so filled with elaborately described scenes and dialogues that it seems influenced by the conventions of Greek drama. Job alone is structured like a drama.

(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. The Bible as Literature by Leland Ryken, Page 143)

Biblical Proverb

Proverbs and Ecclesiastes consist wholly of proverbs, but Jesus' discourses rely heavily on proverbs as well. The Epistles contain aphorisms, James employs the techniques of wisdom literature, and the stories of the Bible impart their share of proverbs.

They often use a particularized situation to stand for a broader principle of life. And if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there is will life. (Ecclesiastes 11:3) points to the principle of finality that characterizes many events in life.

(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. The Bible as Literature by Leland Ryken, Page 144-145)

Biblical Satire

Satire is throughout the Bible in the exposure of character flaws, the Wisdom Literature against human failings like greed, laziness, self-indulgence, and folly. It is concentrated in the Prophets, though.

(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. The Bible as Literature by Leland Ryken, Page 146)

Biblical Epistle

The New Testament Epistles are modifications of the conventional letters of the classical world. They contain an opening (sender, addressee, greeting), a body, and a closing (greetings and final wishes). The New Testament also adds a thanksgiving (a prayer for spiritual welfare and remembrance or commendation of the spiritual riches of the addressee) and a paraenesis (a list of exhortations, virtues, vices, commands, or proverbs).

The Epistles contain figurative language such as imagery, metaphor, and paradox. The sentences and clauses are influenced by parallelism so deeply they can be arranged as poetry. Proverbs and aphorisms are continually present. Less frequently are dramatic apostrophes, rhetorical questions, personifications, question-and-answer constructions, and antitheses.

Romans, Ephesians, and Hebrews are systematic theological treatises.

(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. The Bible as Literature by Leland Ryken, Page 147-148)

Biblical Oratory

Oratory consists of formal, stylized speeches addressed to a specific audience, usually on a noteworthy occasion. They are usually embedded in other material. Deuteronomy as a whole is an oration as Moses' farewell address to the nation of Israel, but speeches permeate the Bible, including the many speeches in Job, The Prophets, and Jesus' discourses.

(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. The Bible as Literature by Leland Ryken, Page 148)

Biblical Visionary Writing

Visionary literature employs visual scenes, speeches, dialogues, brief narratives, prayers, hymns, and symbolism, and they are organized as a dream or vision. Dreams are momentary pictures, fleeting impressions, characters and scenes that play their brief part then drop out of sight, and abrupt jumps from one action to another. The strange images point to something else, so ask visionary writing, "Of what historical event or what theological fact is this a picture?"

(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. The Bible as Literature by Leland Ryken, Page 149-150)

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