Understanding whether the Bible is a cohesive novel or a collection of short stories is crucial to how we engage with it and respond to its teachings. This episode dives into the implications of viewing the Bible as one unified story versus a scattered anthology of human writings. We unpack how these differing perspectives influence our interpretations and applications of biblical teachings in our lives. I’ll share insights on the historical context of these views, touching on the Enlightenment's impact and the rise of human reason in biblical scholarship. We’ll also explore the structural elements of storytelling as outlined by Gustav Freytag, comparing them to the narrative of the Bible, ultimately revealing why seeing it as a single narrative authored by God carries profound significance for our faith and understanding of God’s purpose.

Takeaways:

• Understanding whether the Bible is a novel or a collection of short stories shapes our response to it.
• The view of the Bible as a collection of short stories diminishes its authority and message, leading to selective adherence.
• Recognizing the Bible as one cohesive story authored by God impacts our interpretation and application of its teachings.
• Freytag's classic model of novel structure reveals how the Bible aligns with the narrative arc of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement.
• Viewing the Bible as a unified story highlights its purpose and the importance of obedience to its message.
• The Bible's narrative structure encourages us to read it within the context of its overarching story for deeper understanding.

Links referenced in this episode:

• bible805.com
• bible805academy.com

The Bible Novel or Short Story collection Part one and why it matters tremendously, now and forever

Why this topic is important

Even though you may not have considered the question of whether the Bible is like a collection of short stories or a novel, how you answer is foundational to your understanding of the Bible and more importantly in many ways, in how you respond to it.

If, on the one hand, we believe the Bible is the creation of human authors, though feel it might have some inspiring and morally valid advice, is our choice as a fellow human reader to pick and choose what we want to follow.

If, on the other hand, we truly believe the Bible is one story with the structure of a novel instead of a collection of short stories written by God Himself, our Creator, and the one to whom we will one day give account, our obedience and understanding of it isn't optional. We'll explore this topic in two parts.

Part 1 We'll first examine our presuppositions about how the Bible came to be and how it is structured, how we got them, and why most people unthinkingly hold these beliefs today.

We'll then look at an overview of the difference between the one story structure of a novel contrasted with the structure of a collection of short stories and how it influences how how we view the Bible.

In Part two, the lesson that goes along with this, we'll look at three other topics that support the reality of the Bible as one, God's view and use of time, progressive revelation, and the one voice of the Bible. So be sure to check it out also so you get an entire picture of this topic. Now, to begin, our presuppositions matter.

We don't approach anything we read without presuppositions, whether it's in the Bible or anything else. Let's look at the results of looking at the Bible from these two presuppositions.

One, that it's like a novel and that it's one story by one author or two that it's like a collection of short stories written by a group of authors initially.

Here are some of the dangers of the short story collection View of the Bible Instead of the Bible being one book written by God, the Short story view of the Bible assumes it's a collection of writings written solely by humanity. This view assumes that we don't know for certain who the authors of the books of the Bible were or precisely when they were written or collected.

This is the current presupposition of many biblical scholars, popular writers and TV programs about the Bible today programs, for example, that search for the real Jesus or present various theories about what really happened in the Bible. At their base, each of these views assume that the Bible is a collection of books written by human authors.

Now, where did this view of the Bible as a collection of short stories, though they may not call them that, come from now, though this view is currently the predominant one in some scholarly circles, not all, but some, and many popular writers and television programs on the Bible. It's a fairly recent development in how the church has viewed the Bible.

I would highly recommend an excellent book on this topic entitled God's Word, the Authority of Scripture by Matthew Barrett for a detailed and scholarly view of this, of the view of the Bible that I'm going to present. But very briefly, here's what he says.

The author relates how through most of biblical and human history, including the history of the Christian church through the Reformation, the Bible was viewed as the inerrant word of God and human reason was subject to it.

He then talks about the rise of the primacy of human reason during the Enlightenment, postmodern philosophy, all of this kind of thing, and that gradually the view of the Bible as the inerrant word of God shifted to seeing the Bible as a scattered collection of religious writings, that human reason is needed to step in and determine what was useful or true here. And there have been volumes written on this.

What I'm going to present is how it worked out in practice in the scholarly world, which has then filtered down into popular culture.

Now, in contrast to the view, which.

By the way was held for over 3,000 years, that Moses was the one and only author of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, a group of scholars came up with something called the documentary hypotheses. Now, here's how Wikipedia describes it.

It's kind of complex, so bear with.

Me and I will then comment on it. Okay, this is how it is defined.

The documentary hypothesis is one of the models used by biblical scholars to explain the origins and compositions of the Torah, or the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Genesis and Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. A version of the documentary hypothesis is frequently identified with the German scholar Julius Wellenhausen.

And this was almost universally accepted for most of the 20th century.

It proposed that the Pentateuch is a compilation of four originally independent documents. Now this is where it gets a little complicated.

The Yahwist, the Eloist, the Deuteronomist, and the priestly sources. Of these, J, the first one was dated to Solomon's time, E was somewhat.

Later, the 9th century BCE, D, just.

Before the reign of King Josiah, and.

Finally P dated to the time of Ezrit.

The sources were joined together by a series of editors or redactors.

Now you can look at the video of this, the PowerPoint, you can see a chart that shows how they all were put together and then combined and combined into other things. Now when you first read it and you look at, oh, it sounds so scholarly and one assumes that very learned individuals know what they're talking about.

But on close examination, I'm sorry, but it's just goofy, just flat out goofy, because when you sort of peel back a little bit what they're saying and you search it, you search their sources and where did they get these ideas? And by the way, I have a master's degree in church history, I know how to do historical research.

And I started digging into, well, where are these Solomonic documents and the Elois documents and who put them together and what are the names of the so called redactors and what proof do we have? And I came up with a big fat zero documentary support for them. No textual proof, no historical counts of the supposed individuals who redacted them.

A favorite term that they use, we don't have anybody that says, oh, I got, you know, we don't have any records that, well, they got together this and this and this and then they put that together. Nor do we have any of the supposed fragmentary documents, none of that.

In contrast, we have solid manuscript evidence and thousands of years of scholarly studies that affirm Moses as the one author of the Pentateuch. The conclusion to all this, this view makes no sense unless you previously have an anti supernaturalist view that God couldn't.

Be the author of the Bible and you want to support that opinion.

Though thoroughly discredited, the results of this and similar theories have been incredibly destructive. Even if we aren't consciously aware of how we treat the Bible because of it, the way it's presented to us.

Based on that, here's how it works to undermine your view of the Bible.

If you don't know for certain the identity of the authors of the books, you don't know that Moses wrote It you think this person or that or when or what or whatever, when you don't know when they were finally compiled any of these things, which are all false assumptions, no proof for any of them.

The obvious conclusion is, is that the authors, editors and compilers were simply human and therefore the Bible is merely a book about God, not necessarily from or by God.

It follows then, according to this view, that the teachings of the Bible are useful if they speak to human need, more precisely to your need at the moment, but they can be ignored if they appear outdated or offensive, or if you don't personally agree with the views in them.

It also follows in this view that there might be spiritually useful material in the biblical books, but the books are also filled with errors in human opinion. Human reason and scholarship are then needed to make the distinctions between truth and error.

The Bible becomes the book where the reader decides what is true instead of discovering what God says is true, as it is sometimes summarized. This view believes that the Bible might contain the words of God, but overall it's not the word of God.

Now, without thinking, approaching the Bible in this way is how most people read it today. This view is permeated more than scholarly circles and television specials about what really happened in the Bible or who is the real Jesus.

If you think that doesn't apply to you, think back to the last time you were in a Bible study and someone asked, what do you think this passage means? Or how do you feel about it?

I don't want to beat up on anybody because I realized in doing this study that I've done far more in the past of that sort of me deciding what's important in the Bible than I'd really like to admit. Without thinking, I've put myself in the position of deciding the value of the Bible.

And to correct that, I realized I needed a correct view of the Bible itself.

And that's what I want to share with you in this.

In the next lesson, a suggested corrected view is to look at the Bible more like a novel containing one overall story than a collection of short stories. On the next slide is a chart that summarizes the differences. Now, this chart, which is rather complex, well, it's not really complex at all.

It's really easy to understand. It's just a little difficult to describe in the audio versions of this lesson.

But please go to Bible805.com and thebible805academy.com and you will find copies of the chart.

Let me now describe the two views of the Bible novel versus short story. Collection.

Now, our view of the Bible is a foundational presupposition that shapes how we read it, respond to it, and order our lives according to it. Now, on this chart I have one column that has the Bible as novel, where we look at it as one story, one author, one purpose.

Now, this is in contrast to the Bible as a short story collection. Many stories, many authors, many voices. The first thing on the Bible as novel.

It's one story, one coherent plot line, as short stories, just many stories loosely tied together. Nix inspired human authors in the supernatural sense of God speaking through them.

The short story collection view human authors inspired by God in a non supernatural sense. As anyone is inspired by a lofty subject, then it is defined as when it's looked at as a novel with one author, the word of God.

In contrast, on the short story view, it contains some words of God. Human reason, though, needs to decide. Next, supernatural miracles and events are accepted as they're reported.

In contrast, seemingly supernatural events have natural explanations. Next, problems in understanding require prayer and patience. On the short story side, problems in understanding allow human judgment.

And finally, if we take the Bible as a novel, one story, one author, one purpose, application imperative. On the other hand, if it's just a collection of short stories by humans, application is optional. Please do check out this chart.

You can make as many copies as you want of it, but I think it will help you understand the differences and you can really see how you look at the Bible by going through it.

Now, next, we're going to look at.

How the structure of the Bible follows the classical structure of a novel.

Now, without getting too philosophical, it seems that the structure of stories, from the classics of Greek drama to modern novels and movies, all follow a pattern somehow written into the core of our hearts and minds.

Something inside us says this is how a story ought to be structured.

And if these parts aren't there and in order, something seems off. Let's now look at the five parts and how the Bible lines up with them.

The initial definitions are from Freytag, and then I'll give you my comments on how the Bible fits that part. Okay, the five structural parts of a novel, one story, structure, exposition, rising, action, climax, falling, action, and denouement.

I'll next again define each part from Freytag's definitions And then I'll show you how the Bible fits. Exposition the first phase introduces the characters, especially the main character, also known as the protagonist.

It shows how the characters relate to one another, their goals and motivations, as well as their moral character. During the exposition, the protagonist learns their main goal and what is at stake now.

Exposition in the Bible Our triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the primary protagonist in the Bible. All other characters are subordinate to God, though their actions are meaningful.

In the opening of Genesis, God created a world and placed humanity created in his image into a perfect garden. He met them there and walked with them. The Rising Action the definition of rising action.

It starts with a conflict, an event that catalyzes the protagonist to take action. Rising action initiates the progression of events until the climax.

In this phase, the protagonist's secondary characters understand the goal that will resolve the conflict and begin to work toward it. Smaller problems thwart their initial success, and their progress is directed primarily against these secondary obstacles.

This phase demonstrates how the protagonist overcomes these obstacles.

Rising Action in the Bible the catalyzing conflict in the Biblical story is when the human couple God created for a relationship with himself, turns their back on him and does the one thing he told them not to eat the forbidden fruit. They chose to believe in the enemy of God, Satan rather than God. The consequence is death.

First, temporal physical death, and finally eternal death or separation from God.

The only solution to the eternal death of his created characters is for God Himself to enter the broken world and by a sacrificial death, repair the breach and accomplish redemption for fallen humanity. Rising Action Continued the Old Testament storyline is the progression of events about God's preparation for his work of redemption.

Through the lives of a chosen people and the messages of his prophets, God illustrates and explains who God is and what he expects what he will do to accomplish the promised redemption.

He can no longer walk with them, so he communicates through his word the written scriptures that become our Bible again, through records of events in the lives of a chosen people and his chosen messengers.

Just as the rising action makes up the bulk of a novel, the rising action told in the Old Testament makes up the majority of our Bibles and much of human history. Like any careful storyteller, God's not in a hurry. He takes his time to tell the story and prepare the world for the climax.

The Climax Defined the climax is the turning point or highest point of the story.

The protagonist makes the single big decision.

That defines not only the outcome of the story, but also who they are as a person the climax in the Bible consists of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. In that humanity sees in Jesus the perfect man, how they were designed to live and obey God.

Then that perfect man, Jesus, by an act of his free will, takes his life and offers it in the place of his creation as a sacrifice for their sins. God the Father accepts the sacrifice and the enemy Satan and death are defeated. The breach is healed, the redemption price is paid.

Then the falling action. Falling action defined the climax is not the ending, but it determines the ending.

The falling action phase consists of events that lead to the ending. Depending on the complexity of the story, there are often multiple secondary plot lines yet to be worked out.

Falling action in the Bible comes after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus back to heaven. His disciples are charged with the task of sharing the message of salvation with the world.

The secondary plot lines involve the establishment of the church and how his disciples are to live out the work of reconciling the world to God that is now possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The New Testament tells the story of the falling action, not only the characters when it was first written, but it invites us to join in and become part of the story in our lives as followers of Jesus. And then the denouement.

The denouement defined in this phase, the protagonist and antagonist have solved their problems and either the protagonist or antagonist wins the conflict. The conflict officially ends.

Some stories show what happens to the characters after the conflict ends, or they show what happens to the characters in the future.

The denouement in the Bible is Christ's return to earth, the casting of Satan into the lake of fire, and the creation of the new heaven and new earth, where God once again physically tangibly walks with his people forever. Paradise Lost has become Paradise Regained.

CS Description of the denouement at the end of the last battle can describe our coming denouement of human history. Also, as he says, the term is over. The holidays have begun, the dream is ended. This is the morning, the beginning of the real story.

All their life and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the COVID and title page.

Now at last, they were beginning chapter.

One of the great story, which no.

One on earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is.

Better than the one before.

Summary of the five pride structure we just talked about I found the way the Bible fits into the structure of a novel to be really exciting when I first discovered it, and I hope you do too. And I trust it was a good illustration to show that the Bible is one complete organic story, the greatest of novels written by one divine author.

It's not a scattered collection of short stories written by faceless writers who could have never collaborated independently to produce this.

One storyline over the centuries that the Bible was written. To summarize, the Bible is not a collection of isolated stories with anonymous authors.

Written who knows when.

But it is the greatest novel, the greatest story ever written by God, the.

One author inspiring human authors to write the Bible to show his creation, his ways, what went wrong in our world, and what Jesus did and will do.

To set all things right.

Now, here's a suggested application of course.

Read the Bible Read the whole Bible.

And the best way to see the Bible as one story is of course to read it in chronological order. Bible805.com has lessons and reading plans to.

Help you do this.

I'm also going to be doing some revised lessons on reading your Bible in chronological order in the coming months. They'll all be posted on Bible 805, the podcast, the videos, and the Bible 805 Academy. And another note.

Now there are many excellent study Bibles I recommend. I use a lot of them and they have a place when we need background or application notes.

But at the same time it's really easy to get distracted by all the notes and lose the sense of the text itself. Consider using a plain note text Bible or one with really minimal notes. Even better is one organized in paragraphs rather than verse by verse.

If you want to get more of a sense of the Bible as one book.

As to what translation, the best translation is the one you'll read or listen to now. Whatever translation is your choice. Read whatever you want to read. But as the Nike ads say, just do it. Just read your Bible. One last thought.

When we look at the Bible as a novel, all novels come to an end. And so too does this story of salvation in the Bible. And so too will our world.

And though the ending of the Bible does promise a potentially happily ever after, each person must make the decision to trust that the message of the Bible is true and that Jesus is the only way to salvation for that to be true for them. God did not write the Bible to entertain us, but to save us. Or as J.I.

Packer put it, the Scriptures are a lifeline God throws us in order to ensure he and we stay connected while the rescue is in process, my prayer is that you daily grab a hold of the one story of the Bible as if your life depended on it. Because it does. For your life today, and your destiny now and forever.