Written by Daniel M. Doriani |
Monday, September 5, 2022
In a sense, the Bible is one long narrative. It tells the story of creation, fall, and redemption. Shortly after Eve and Adam sinned, God activates his plan to restore humanity. The whole Bible fits within that narrative. Within the grand narrative, substories abound in the epochs of biblical history. There is a unity to the narrative of the patriarchs, the exodus, the kings, Israel’s exile and return, and the Gospel accounts.

A Likely Story
“Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter. They lived with their mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of a very big fir tree.”
“There was once a fisherman who lived with his wife in a poor little hut by the sea . . .”
“Once upon a time there lived a very rich king whose name was Midas . . .”
Lines such as these tell us that a story is coming. When one starts with “Once upon a time,” we expect a children’s story. When we hear that Peter is naughty, a child suspects that he will find trouble, and then escape—since the drawing is so cute, he must survive—and learn a lesson. In fact, Peter does disobey his mother. He goes to Mr. McGregor’s garden, where he munches lettuces and beans until he nearly collides with Mr. McGregor, who almost catches him. After a desperate flight, Peter sees the gate, dashes for it, and escapes. Exhausted, Peter goes to bed with nothing but chamomile tea, while his good sisters enjoy bread, milk, and blackberries.
Simple as they are, the adventures of Peter Rabbit follow the most common structure for drama, from Mark Twain to Shakespeare, from science fiction to the Bible. In that structure, readers meet a hero (Peter) in settings (Mr. McGregor’s garden) that bring adventure (stealing food), followed by tension (the chase). It reaches a climax (almost captured) and a resolution (escape). Finally, the story offers comments that help readers interpret it as it unwinds. When Peter limps home and goes to bed without supper, it suggests that rebellion does not pay.
Broadly speaking, the Bible has two literary forms, narrative and discourse. Narratives are stories or dramas. About one-third of the Bible is narrative. With few exceptions, such as Jesus’ parables, biblical narratives are historical. They describe and interpret what happened in space and time to the people who appear in the account. Narrative is the most common literary form or genre in the Bible, with more pages than law, prophecy, letters, or visions. In this book, we collect all other genres of the Bible under the term discourse. Discourse includes laws, letters, prophecies, proverbs, psalms, speeches, prayers, and visions. Within the CAPTOR format (context, analysis, problems, themes, obligations, reflection), we now move to the first part of analysis. Chapter 6 explains how we analyze biblical discourse. This chapter describes the way that we analyze narratives.
In a sense, the Bible is one long narrative. It tells the story of creation, fall, and redemption. Shortly after Eve and Adam sinned, God activates his plan to restore humanity. The whole Bible fits within that narrative. Within the grand narrative, substories abound in the epochs of biblical history. There is a unity to the narrative of the patriarchs, the exodus, the kings, Israel’s exile and return, and the Gospel accounts. At a granular level, we have individual narratives, such as the history of Samson and Delilah. We usually study the Bible at that level, yet we must always locate individual narratives in the context of God’s wider plan.
Narratives are history, yet they don’t just report what happened. They convey moral lessons, but they are more than morality tales. Biblical narratives describe and explain God’s redemptive acts, as they lead to their climax, the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Biblical authors use various methods to engage readers and enable them to see events as God does. They repeat crucial ideas. They preview the future, so that readers will know where events are leading. They allude to the past, so that readers can observe God’s consistent ways with his people. They present characters with whom we can identify. They leave some things unexplained, so that readers will get involved in the task of interpretation. In these ways and others, authors use stories to teach about God, humanity, and their relationships. It is no overstatement to say that God is the main character in every narrative and that what he does is the main theme (Ps. 66:5; Luke 24:24–27). Whenever we forget this, we court moralism.
Types of Narrative
All narratives report events and tell stories, but they have more than one pattern, so let’s label them. The most common types of narrative are reports, speech stories, and dramas. By distinguishing them, we interpret them better.
Reports are brief records of events such as battles (for example, David’s defeat of the Ammonites in 2 Samuel 10) or building projects (for example, Solomon’s temple and palace in 1 Kings 6–9). Reports also describe dreams and the reigns of minor kings. They present facts or simple events and typically lack dramatic tension. Although they may not reveal much by themselves, reports often develop or allude to important themes.
Reports are brief records of events such as battles (for example, David’s defeat of the Ammonites in 2 Samuel 10) or building projects (for example, Solomon’s temple and palace in 1 Kings 6–9). Reports also describe dreams and the reigns of minor kings. They present facts or simple events and typically lack dramatic tension. Although they may not reveal much by themselves, reports often develop or allude to important themes.
Principle 1: To discover the point of a report, examine several reports together.
Speech stories primarily report what someone said in a historical setting. In a speech story, words matter most.
Principle 2: In speech stories, the main event is the speech, not the events surrounding it.
Dramas, the longest and most complex type of narrative in the Bible, are the focus of this chapter. Apart from parables, dramas are historical events, not mere stories, and we appreciate the evidence of their accuracy. Our faith rests on the assurances that God actually accomplished his plan of redemption (1 Cor. 15:14–17). Biblical dramas do not, therefore, follow the patterns of literary dramas because someone massaged them to make them fit. Rather, God structured the world so that certain elements are present in stories that are worth telling. If biblical dramas have the same structure as fiction, it is because art imitates life, not because the Bible imitates art.
Principle 3: When you find the crisis and resolution of a drama, you usually find the main point, too.
Excerpt taken from Chapter 5: Analyzing Narratives, Getting the Message: A Plan for Interpreting and Applying the Bible, Revised and Expanded by Daniel M. Doriani. A new edition will be released on September 7, 2022 by P&R Publishing. Used with permission.
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You don’t have to buy a fire pit, but you must find ways to invest in your kids; to teach them diligently as you sit and as you walk and when you lie down. Remember, you have 936 Saturdays. Unless you are reading this today with 9 year old, in which case you have half that many. Time is fleeting. You have opportunities and responsibilities, but you don’t have forever.

The days are long, but the years are short.
These are wise words that were spoken to Angela and I when our kids were younger. Our oldest son turned fifteen last week, and I was reminded again of the sage wisdom. Some days as a parent seem to last a month. And yet, as holidays roll arounds or birthdays are celebrated, we all find ourselves sounding more and more like our parents, “they sure do grow up fast.”
My days are numbered with my kids. From birth to eighteen (when we sort of hope they will begin to leave the nest), I have about 936 weekends. 936 Saturdays. 936 Sundays. Actually, I don’t even have all of those. Of the 936 Saturdays that my kids will spend on this earth during their first 18 years, many of them will be spent away from me. I may travel, they might go to a friend’s house or visit with grandparents.
My 936 gets cut down to 836 or 736. If you happen to be a family separated by divorce, you may only have your kids half of those days. Maybe your number is 400 or 425.
Depressed yet?
I hope not. I’m not writing to depress anyone, just to remind you all that the days may be long, but the years are short. Because the years are short, it is imperative that we invest all we can in the years that we have.
In our family, one of our efforts at investment is to get away from screens regularly and spend time enjoying each other. That means we love walks and sports. It also means that we have to double-down on entertainment ideas that keep us away from the television.
That’s why we bought a fire pit.
Angela and I wanted to create an excuse to be outside together. But, we also are realistic. Sometimes, our kids find us boring and sometimes getting them away from screens is a fight.
But, kids don’t find fire boring.
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Because Adam sinned, we are born with a sinful nature, we are guilty before God, all our thinking and doing is tainted by sin, we are already under the sentence of death, and we unable to do anything whatsoever to save ourselves. Sin and death is the consequence of Adam’s fall. If we don’t grasp this harsh reality, we cannot possibly appreciate the good news of the gospel, and the grace and mercy bestowed upon us by the second Adam, the Lord Jesus.

Most Americans operate on the sincere but misguided assumption that deep down inside people are basically good. When we compare ourselves to others, we might be able to measure up pretty well. Sure, there are some who we might begrudgingly admit are better people than we are, but still, we usually do pretty well in most of our self-comparison tests made against others.
The problem with assuming that people are basically good is that it completely ignores the fact that ours is a fallen race, under the just condemnation from God, awaiting the well-deserved sentence of death and eternal punishment. The reality is that on judgment day God is not going to compare me to someone else, who is a fallen sinner like I am. Instead, God will measure me against the standard of his law (specifically, the Ten Commandments), which is holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12). And when God measures me using the standard of his law, it will become all too clear that like everyone else descended from Adam, I cannot meet God’s standard of absolute and complete obedience to his commandments. I am a sinner. I am guilty before God. I am under the sentence of death.
For most folks, this dilemma immediately raises the question of fairness. Is it fair for God to judge me against a standard I cannot possibly meet? The answer would be “no,” if we were to look at this question in a vacuum without any biblical context. The Bible teaches that Adam was not only the first human (from whom all humans are biologically descended), but that Adam was created holy, without sin, and with the ability to obey God’s commands. Adam was placed in Eden for a time of probation under the covenant of works with its condition, “do this (not eat from the forbidden tree) and live,” or “eat from the tree and die.” Adam chose the latter, bringing down the covenant curse of death upon the entire human race. Many people agree with Ben Franklin’s famous adage that the only two things in life which are inevitable are death and taxes, both of which I might add, stem from human sin. Yet, the fact remains, death is not natural to the human race. Death is the consequence of the fall of Adam.
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