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INTRO.DOC
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1994-11-15
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INTRODUCTION
Jesus, the world's greatest teacher, uses the parable
to teach an unknown spiritual truth by using a known
physical or social truth. The word parable is the
transliteration of a compound Greek word, PARA, "alongside
of" + BALO, "to throw" therefore meaning, "to throw
alongside of." Let us look at what a parable is not.
Technically, a parable is not a figure of speech.
Figures of speech are non-literal expressions which
enhance communication. Some figures of speech are:
metaphor, personification, prosopopoeia, simile, litotes,
hyperbole, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony. (See Glossary
for definitions).
A parable is not a fable. A fable is a fictitious story
of imaginary beings meant to teach a moral lesson. A parable
may be a generalized earthly truth used to teach a spiritual
truth, but it does not begin with a fictional story. R. C.
Trench comments:
The fable just reaches that pitch of morality
which the world will understand and approve. But
is has no place in Scripture, for the purpose of
Scripture...excludes it. [Richard Chenevix Trench,
NOTES ON THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD, Popular ed.
(Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1977), p. 3].
A parable is not an allegory. An allegory is a
teaching story in which people, things, places and events
represent a greater reality. An allegory is self-
interpreting in that there is an "interpenetration of the
thing signifying and thing signified." (Trench, NOTES ON
THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD, p. 4). There are many teaching
points in an allegory, but only one in a parable.
A parable is not a symbolic interpretation of a
literal event. Although Jesus did choose literal or
historical events on which to base his parable, the event was
adapted for the spiritual truth, not vice-versa.
A parable is not a myth. Trench says, the myth
...presents itself not merely as the vehicle of
the truth, but as being itself the truth; while
in the parables we see the perfect distinctness
between form and essence, shell and kernel.
(Trench, NOTES ON THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD, p. 4).
Myths are usually created to explain some natural
phenomenon. (See Essay 51, "The Myth of the Age" in my book,
ESSAYS EXPOSING THE MYTHS OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS).
A parable is not a proverb. The Book of Proverbs
is primarily a book of moral instruction. Other proverbs
state some truth or familiar experience in concise form.
A parable is not a type. A type is a symbol or a
representation of the reality which is to come. The
whole sacrificial system of the Old Testament is a type of
the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.
A parable is an encrypted spiritual truth in the
vehicle of a concise familiar story. To truth-rejectors,
Jesus' parables were an enigma. To those who love truth,
they were a source of new enlightenment. Of course, it is
God's will that all come to the knowledge of the truth and be
saved. For the truth-rejector, the parable was just a
story. The rejector of truth did not understand the spiritual
meaning. The scoffer would make fun of the parable and be on
his way to a walk of deeper degradation. The proverb is true,
What we're not up on,
we're down on.
In a sense, this was an act of mercy, for Jesus taught
that we will be judged by the amount of light or under-
standing we have. For the immature believer, some light
would be withheld until he reached the place in his
spiritual development that he could handle the truth and
walk in more light. The encrypted truth would remain in
his mind in the story itself, until he was ready for it. The
story itself is generally in a stunning form and thus
sometimes bypasses the will and enters permanent memory.
(We choose to remember only important events, that we
unconsciously move from short-term chemical memory to
long-term protein memory. However, the unusual events or
stories bypass the normal process and enter long-term,
"permanent" memory directly.) Trench restates this truth
beautifully,
...if at the time, the truth did not find an
entrance into the mind, His words laid up in the
memory, were, to many that heard Him, like the
money of another country, of which they knew not
the value, but which yet was ready for use when
they reached that land. (Trench, NOTES ON THE
PARABLES OF OUR LORD, p. 11).
For the more mature believer, the truth would be at once
apparent. This is, of course, the intention of Jesus.
He desires that all people accept him as Lord and Savior so
that he may continue to teach them greater truth.
Jesus' parables were prophesied in the Old Testament:
Jesus spoke all these things to the
crowd in parables; he did not say any-
thing to them without using a parable.
So was fulfilled what was spoken through
the prophet:
"I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the
creation of the world."
(Matthew 13:34-35, New International
Version).
Jesus spoke in parables to the crowds. However,
he explained them privately to his disciples:
With many such parables he spoke the word
to them, as they were able to hear it;
he did not speak to them without a
parable, but privately to his own
disciples he explained everything.
(Mark 4:33-34, Revised Standard Version).
Even though he explained each parable to his own
disciples, only two parables are fully explained in the New
Testament. They are the Parable of the Soils and the
Parable of the Wheat and Weeds. The Parables of Jesus are
found only in the synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke.
There are four in Mark, fifteen in Matthew, nineteen in Luke
and none in John. [Ralph G. Turnbull, gen. ed., PROCLAIMING
THE NEW TESTAMENT (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1961), THE
GOSPEL OF MARK, by Ralph Earle, ThD, p. 37].
END