(Part 1)

JBTM Jim Shaddix
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literature characterized by historical narrative, poetry, wisdom and prophecy. In the New
Testament we also have some historical narrative literature, but it is accompanied by the
Gospels and the Epistles, as well as apocalyptic material. In every text of Scripture we study
and preach, we must first give consideration to its respective form to determine “How does
it mean?” before we dive into its content to determine “What did it mean?” 26 In other words,
the form of literary genre establishes the ground rules with which we engage the contextual
evidence needed to rightly understand the meaning of any given text of Scripture. Kevin
Vanhoozer writes, “What writing pulls asunder—author, context, text, reader—genre joins
together.” 27 Literary genre is the indispensable antecedent to all the other pieces that go into
interpreting a text correctly.
To expand on this idea further, it is helpful to think of our approach to literary genre in
the Bible as a game. Each different kind of game has its own set of rules. Robert Stein explains
it this way:
Think for a moment of a European soccer fan attending his first (American) football and
basketball games. In football the offensive and defensive players can use their hands topush
their opponents. In basketball and soccer they cannot. In basketball players cannot kick the
ball, but they can hold it with their hands. In soccer the reverse is true. In football everyone can
hold the ball with his hands but only one person can kick it. In soccer everyone can kick the
ball but only one person can hold it. Unless we understand the rules under which the game is
played, what is taking place is bound to be confusing.
In a similar way, there are different “game” rules involved in the interpretation of the
different kinds of biblical literature. The author has “played his game,” that is, has sought to
convey his meaning, under the rules covering the particular literary form he has used. Unless
we know those rules, we will almost certainly misinterpret his meaning. 28
So for the expositor to interpret and preach a text of Scripture accurately, he has to play
by the same rules as the author of his text. And the genre of the text is the way we know by
what rules the author is playing. In this way, literary genre serves as a kind of covenant of
communication, a binding agreement between author and reader (and preacher) about how
to communicate. 29
This covenant is serious business when it comes to accurately reflecting God’s voice. To
ignore literary genre in the Bible is to violate our covenant with the biblical author and with
the Holy Spirit who inspired his message. Scott Duvall and Daniel Hays point out,
26
Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 229.
27
Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning in This Text? The Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary
Knowledge (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), 339.
28
Robert H. Stein, A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible: Playing by the Rules (Grand Rapids: Baker,
1994), 75– 76.
29
Ibid.