Biblical Discourse

This past Sunday in Sunday School, I finished teaching a 3-week broad study of the Biblical genres of Scripture. We spent the first week thinking about the stories of the Bible or Biblical narrative. Week 2 was a short study of Hebrew Poetry. In week 3, we spent time thinking about Biblical discourse.

Biblical discourse is the genre of the Bible that is not story or poetry.  Biblical discourse or prose is anything in the Bible that is not a story about characters and conflict or a song and poem. Biblical discourse can be speeches, Law, letters, sermons, or genealogies. Biblical discourse makes up roughly 24% of the Bible. Biblical discourse is in almost every single book of the Bible (with a few exceptions like Psalm). Biblical discourse exists to teach the reader, inform the reader, persuade the reader, comfort the reader, or challenge and warn the reader. It can be found in the teachings of Jesus, 10 Commandments of Moses, Proverbs of Solomon, speeches of Isaiah, and letters of Paul.

When considering how to apply discourse, we discussed 3 important pieces that a reader must consider. First we have to consider who is speaking or giving the discourse. It most cases the discourse is from a human being to another human being, but it is really a word from the Lord. Discourse can be given through Moses, David, Jesus, or Paul. But in each case, it is God speaking to God's people, giving them a word they need in that moment.

Second, when considering applying discourse, we have to consider the audience or the person/people receiving the word from the Lord. Sometimes it is a group of people that are receiving the discourse. Sometimes is a whole church that is receiving the Word. Sometimes it is all of God's people receiving the word from the Lord. And sometimes it is an individual, in a specific situation that is receiving the Word. Understanding the audience helps us understand the application and keeps us as a modern reader from misinterpreting it.

Finally, when considering applying discourse, the setting of the discourse is important. Is the speech being given in the desert to God's wandering people? Is the discourse being given to God's people disobeying in the Promised Land. Is the discourse in Israel to God's people under Roman rule? Or is the discourse being given to a Gentile people scattered all over the known world? Knowing the setting of the discourse helps in application.

The last piece for discourse that I taught this past week was how the application works or more importantly the weight of the application. We realized as a class that the Law of God (10 Commandments) are not optional. When we read the 10 Commandments and God's Law, this discourse must be obeyed and if it is not, sin is a result. We then flipped over to the book of Ephesians and read through Paul's discourse of persuasion in chapters 4-6. Understanding that the discourse of Exodus 20 is not optional, we then thought about the force and weight that Ephesians 4-6 must also carry. We concluded that discourse, all discourse, has the same force and weight to it. If the discourse can apply to the reader (not a specific person in a specific situation) then it must carry the same weight as all of God's Law. All discourse is truly God's Law to God's people for the rule of life and faith. That is why the Westminster Catechism states about the Word of God, "The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the word of God, the only rule of faith and obedience".