Understanding God's Word: The Explicit and Implicit Meanings of Literary Context

Understanding God's Word--Third of Three Blogs

It seems that “literal meaning” is the term of choice when describing the key to comprehending God’s intended meaning. However, this disposition comes from a lack of understanding of how the biblical authors chose to communicate. Yahweh’s writers engaged multiple literary styles to convey God’s message. In short, understanding the overarching literary genres in the Bible is essential to our exegesis. Poetry, epistles, and narrative represent only three main categories, but these are a great starting point for the layperson.

In Grasping God’s Word, Scott Duvall and Daniel Hays explain, “But we think that the term literal is a bit too fuzzy. The Bible, as we mentioned earlier, is full of figures of speech and symbolic language. The determination of meaning has to take this into account. Such figures and symbols reflect a nonliteral usage of language. For this reason, we prefer the term literary meaning. Literary meaning refers to the meaning the authors have placed in the text. It reflects the type of literature used, the context, the historical background, the grammar, word meanings—basically everything we have been studying. This literary meaning does not preempt or replace spiritual meaning.” [1]

Grasping Implicit Meaning is Key

Perhaps poetry is more difficult for people in the West than other parts of the world. Americans tend to favor writing that is more explicit in meaning. Sometimes, meaning is lost when we don’t understand devices like alliteration, metaphors, assonance, etc. Hebrew poetry is littered with such devices, as seen in the Psalms. So, why did authors in the Bible use these devices? Tools such as metaphors can communicate meaning when literal expressions fall short. Literary devices “drive the point home.”

Historically, most Americans are more comfortable reading the Epistles than the Old Testament. And that makes sense! The authors speak more explicitly in the epistles; the texts are plainly stated. Of course, our culture is used to reading these types of communications (emails, for example). Conversely, the Old Testament is largely a narrative (among other genres) that demands the evaluation of implicit meanings or meanings that are not plainly stated.

Consequently, I have often wondered why I've heard vastly more preaching

from Paul’s epistles than from any other part of the Bible. The four Gospels and Old Testament rarely receive expository preaching sessions based on my fifty years of attending church. At least one book I have recently read suggests that it is easier to preach the epistles because the meaning in the genre is explicit. On the other hand, narratives, as presented in the four gospels, present more implicit messages.

Implications

Implications are conclusions that are made based on things not explicitly stated. Biblical implications are often derived from patterns exhibited in Scripture. In The Hermeneutics of the Biblical Writers, Abner Chou gives an excellent illustration of Jesus pointing to an implication. Chou uses the example of one critic's accusation that Jesus’ logic is misguided in His use of Exodus 3:6 in Luke 20:34-38. Jesus states,

“The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. For they cannot even die anymore because they are like angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed in the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB. Now He is not the God of the dead but of the living; for all live to Him.”

Chou explains that the critic of Scripture presupposes that Jesus “uses” the text to provide a direct proclamation of a resurrection. The critic in question states that the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob cannot possibly be linked to resurrection. However, as Chou points out, Christ is dealing with implications. In short, the Lord is speaking to significance and not meaning. One implication is that God is the God of the living; the patriarchs are not dead and gone. Another requirement is to look at Genesis to discover that the phrase "God of,” as in God of Abraham, is a covenant declaration. While this is an example of a personal covenant with a patriarch, it conveys that God is a God of promises.[2]

Comprehension is Impossible without the Holy Spirit

It should be stated that literary contexts and their implicit meanings do not suggest that Christians will come to different conclusions from God’s word. On the contrary, God’s intended meaning delivers a uniform and consistent message to all believers. To paraphrase Duvall and Hays, meaning is derived from the author, is held within context, and does not change. Specifically, “Meaning is something we can validate. It is tied to the text and the author's intent, not to the reader. Therefore, the meaning of the text is the same for all Christians. It is not subjective and does not change from reader to reader."[3]

However, not everyone will hear and comprehend God’s word. The role of the Holy Spirit in reading the Bible is paramount. This is why those not formally educated can sometimes understand and embrace God’s intended meaning more than those formally trained in biblical studies and exegesis. If a person does not possess the Holy Spirit, reading comprehension and pedagogy will not make up the gap.

In the end, may we all strive to understand the literary context each biblical author chose to engage in to deliver God’s intended meaning. Scripture is not a black box, but delving into its immense depths requires a lifetime of striving to engage the Lord's intended meaning. The more we seek to understand, the more we realize spiritual blessings.

[1] Duvall, Scott, and Hays, Daniel. Grasping God's Word (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 211. Kindle.

[2] Chou, Abner. The Hermeneutics of the Biblical Writers: Learning to Interpret Scripture from the Prophets and Apostles (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2018), 41-43.

[3] Duvall and Hays, Grasping God's Word, 198. Kindle.

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Mark 4:9-12

And He was saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. And He was saying to them, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN .”

1 Corinthians 2:9-13

 ...but just as it is written,

“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”

For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

1 Corinthians 2:14-16

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.