The Theme of Faith in the Different Bible Genres

Summary and Reflection

Different Literary Genres

The different genres of the Bible are: historical narrative, law, wisdom literature, poetry, prophecy, apocalyptic literature, gospels and epistles. Some books of the Bible blend genres, so it is difficult to say, for instance, that Matthew is of the gospel genre when it also appears to be an historical narrative as well. Most books, however, will be predominantly of one of these genres.

The historical narrative genre tells the history of the Hebrews and the early Christians. Acts in the New Testament is a perfect example of a historical narrative as it tells what the Apostles did after being filled with the Holy Ghost. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are also of this genre, as is the Old Testament books of Joshua, Genesis, Exodus, Kings, Chronicles and several others. A little less than half of all Scripture is written in the historical narrative genre. Thus, it should be viewed as a historical document as much as a religious one.

The law genre focuses on moral, ceremonial and civil law, and it is primarily found in the Old Testament, in the books Leviticus and Numbers. However, some of the Epistles, like those to Titus or Timothy, could be considered as pertaining to the law genre in the Christian New Testament, but they are not strictly of this genre.

The poetry genre is Scripture that is composed in verse. Psalms, Lamentations and the Song of Solomon are the main examples of this genre. These books can be viewed as prayers, acts of thanksgiving, or sources of meditation on God’s goodness. The Wisdom genre, although not written like poetry, is similar in that it is the collected wisdom of generations of good people, their maxims and thoughts set down in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, with some even arguing that Job is of the Wisdom genre.

The prophecy genre focuses on messages that come from God to His prophets and that are meant for the people. Sometimes they are warnings, but not always. The prophecy genre is sometimes interwoven into historical narratives. Other times books like Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel stand on their own as examples of this genre. Apocalyptic literature is similar but it is more about the end times and not just about some future event like in the prophecy genre. The most famous example of the Apocalyptic genre is the Book of Apocalypse or Revelation as it is also called. Some Old Testament literature is also considered Apocalyptic, such as parts of Isaiah, Joel and Daniel. Matthew 24-25 is also considered an example of this genre.

The gospel genre concerns the life of Jesus Christ, and there are four gospels—Matthew’s, Mark’s, Luke’s and John’s. The ones by Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the synoptic gospels because they recount the same events. John recounts some events that are not found in the other three.

The epistle genre is Scripture that is composed in the form of a letter. The epistles are all addressed to a person or community and have a main idea or ideas that they touch upon. Half of the New Testament is of the epistle genre. Some examples of these are Romans, Corinthians, Peter, James, John, and Jude.

Major Motif/Theme from Scripture: Faith

Faith is a two-way street in Scripture. God is faithful to those who are faithful to Him. There are several Old Testament characters who demonstrate this concept—such as Ruth and David and others—and in the New Testament there are several instances where Christ extols the faith of those who show trust in Him (as in Luke 7:9 when Christ marvels at the faith of the pagan Roman centurion who comes to Jesus for help). There are also instances where He laments the lack of faith even among His disciples, such as in Matthew 8:26 when there is a great storm at sea and the disciples become fearful and wake Our Lord from His slumber to save them: Christ said, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.” The point of the theme of faith in Scripture is to show that faith is important and faithfulness is what God wants from His children.

It all started in the book of Genesis when Adam and Eve were created to enjoy God’s world and all the things He created for them to enjoy. His love was everywhere and He only had one law for them: not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But the evil one was free to roam and his ambition was to destroy God’s creation, so he seduced Eve to break God’s one commandment, telling her she would be like God. She in turn seduced Adam and together they sinned. God in His justice now banished them from paradise and closed His heavenly kingdom to them. They could not enter into it because they were not worthy of it, having chosen to love themselves and think of themselves as gods. Yet they had not power to save themselves or overcome the death sentence that God now placed upon them.

The only one who would overcome that death sentence would be Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity. He would take the sins of the world upon His shoulders and offer Himself as a sacrifice to God the Father that man might be redeemed. All the sons and daughters of Adam were held hostage by sin, and Christ would pay the ransom. His crucifixion would satisfy the just anger of God, Who basically allowed Himself to be crucified by His own creation in order to show His creation the extent of His love, and Christ would make the promise that if only they would have faith in Him and trust in Him and come to Him, like the penitent thief (Luke 23:39-43), they would be able to be Sons of God like Him and enjoy Heaven for all eternity (Romans 6:8-11).

In the book of Genesis, it is described how Abraham heard the call of God and showed faith in Him by heeding that call to go out and claim the land that was to be the home of the Jews. In the New Testament, Abraham is called the father of our faith (Galatians 3:7) and in Romans 4:3 it is stated that “For the Scriptures tell us, ‘Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith. ‘” Genesis is really the first book of the Old Testament and faith is deeply a part of it. The faithlessness of Adam and Eve is the pivotal moment that starts off all the action of the human drama. From that point on, faith is central to the actions of everyone, from the story of Cain and Abel on down even to the stories of the gentiles. Abel is faithful to God and offers blood sacrifice of the unblemished lamb to please God; Cain is jealous and kills his brother, demonstrating how faithless he himself is.

Genesis is filled with examples of faith. There is the story of Jacob and Esau. Esau was the oldest and had the right by birth to his father’s blessing. But Jacob convinced Esau to give up his birthright and he then tricked his father so that he could obtain the blessing. Jacob was known as the deceiver, but he thirsted for God’s blessing, and even if there was deception in his methods, his intentions were pleasing to the God because it showed that Jacob knew he needed God’s assistance. As the feud between Jacob and Esau intensified, Jacob continued to believe in God, but he felt up against a wall. One night he got into a wrestling match, and no matter how hard he tried he could not win—and that is when he realized he was wrestling God Himself. He refused to let go unless God would bless him. That kind of fortitude is what God wants to see from His children because He sustains all things.

The book of Esther is an important one because it shows the faith of Esther, who was queen of Xerxes, who ruled Persia. Esther learned of a plot to kill the Jews and she was troubled: if she went to Xerxes uninvited to expose the plot and try to save her people, should herself could be put to death because it was an offense to go to the king without an invitation—one punishable by death. But if she did nothing, her people would die. She decided to have faith in the merciful God of her people, and she took the risk of losing her own life by going before her husband to plead on behalf of the Jews. She did the right thing: God rewarded her for her faith and protected her from harm. Xerxes listened and saved the Jews.

Another story of faith is found in David, in the book of Samuel. David was anointed at a young age, even though he was just a shepherd. He was no ordinary boy, though; rather, he was one after God’s own heart. His heart was full of joy and love for God and the world God created. There was simplicity and humility in David and he played music beautifully. One day, the Philistines threatened to attack the Jews, who were terrified of the giant Goliath. David stood up and said that he would take on Goliath by himself. David’s confidence, of course, was not in his own abilities but rather in the power of God, who David knew was faithful to those who have faith in Him. God was with David and guided David’s arm in slaying Goliath with the stone. David was exalted and soon became King of the Jews, and it was from his house that Christ the Savior was descended. That shows how important faith is to God and how He wants everyone to have faith in Him.

There is also the story of Jonah in the Book of Jonah, who was called by God to go and preach to Nineveh, which was interesting because the Ninevites were Assyrians—the enemies of Israel. Jonah could not understand why he should be called to preach to these people, and he did not want to do it. He tried to flee but ended up being chased by God even in the middle of the ocean, where God sent a big storm to capsize the ship and compel Jonah to do his duty. Jonah finally asked God for mercy and vowed to do as God asked him to do. He went to Nineveh and preached repentance to the Gentiles. Jonah fully expected them to reject his preaching and for God to destroy Nineveh—but they did not; instead, they repented of their sins and God spared them. Jonah became upset and was angry with God, and yet God showed to Jonah that while the Jews may be the chosen people, God’s love extends to all people. God showed in this book that He wants everyone—not just the Jews—but all people to have faith in Him. This book foreshadowed the way Christ would turn His attentions to the Gentiles during His time preaching and performing miracles on Earth.

Christ was not well-liked by the Pharisees. The Pharisees believed they were saved because they held to the law. They were thinking that they were great and not in need of spiritual redemption. They looked for a political Savior—one who would exalt the Jews over the Romans. That is why they despised Christ. He convicted them of sin and He would have forgiven them their sins, but they refused to admit that they were wrong. When Christ went to dinner at a Pharisee’s house, a woman appeared whose sins had been forgiven her by Christ. She came and washed his feet with her tears out of thanksgiving and dried them with her hair. Christ saw this as a perfect example of the kind of faith that will save a soul—even though the Pharisees were indignant at her actions, for they knew her to be a sinner. Christ knew her to be faithful to Him, and that is what matters most to God. He said to her: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” That story is told in both the gospels of Luke and Mark.

There are many more stories of faith in the New Testament, from the centurion who tells Christ that he is not worthy that the Savior of the world should enter into his house in the gospel of Matthew to the woman who stretched out her hand to touch the hem of His garment, believing that this alone would be sufficient to save her as depicted in the gospels. Matthew tells the story well: “And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.