BIBLES GENRES

Bible Genres 

The Bible as a whole consists of 66 individual books that, together, paint the picture of God’s plan to redeem His people. However, the Bible is not simply a story book, like The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Bible contains multiple genres of literature within its pages. It has historical narrative (the telling of a story as it unfolds), poetry, wisdom literature, prophetic writings, first century biographies, epistles (letters), apocalyptic writings, and so on. 

This is important to know because we do not understand all types of literature in the same way. No one reads the New York Times the same way that they read The Raven by Edger Allen Poe. One is a newspaper reporting on current events, while the other is poetry. They function differently and must be read as intended. The same principle is true for the Bible. Genesis and the Psalms are two very different types and styles of literature. Genesis is a historical narrative while the Psalms are poetry and songs. By no stretch of the imagination can I read them the same.

Understanding the genre of a given biblical book that is being studied begins to help the reader understand the intent and purpose. Rather than reading Proverbs or Isaiah like the newspaper, we ought to seek to understand the genre so that we know how to read the text before us. Understanding genre helps the reader to understand whether what they are reading is a literal account of events, or if there is symbolism to take into account. 

Understanding the various types of biblical genres helps the reader to have a better grasp of what is being said or portrayed. If someone were to read the whole Bible like they would the newspaper then they would miss out on certain topics and misunderstand certain things. The same is true if they were to read the whole Bible as if it were all poetry. There would be mistakes in their understanding. Therefore, we must approach the Bible as it is written and given to us by God: multiple books with multiple genres. May God give us wisdom as we seek to press on in studying His word.