Thomas Watson said, "Look upon the Word as a spiritual magazine out of which you fetch all your weapons to fight against sin and Satan."

Finding the Right Book to Teach 

Choosing the right book, passage, or topic of the Bible to teach is like ring shopping for your wife. Too many diamonds to pick from! Or it’s like tie shopping for your husband. The creativity God gave man was never better expressed than in tie designers! From Snoopy to landscapes, solids to pin stripes, it’s not easy.

In the same way, finding the right book, passage or topic is like the waitress bringing the dessert platter stacked with 10,000 mouth-watering indulgences but you only get one. All Scripture is profitable for teaching (2 Tim 3:16) and yet at the same time, it does matter what you choose because different books and topics address different issues and every flock has differing needs based on their spiritual maturity. Following are five practical guidelines you can use when looking for the right selection:

• Prayer. Seek God’s will. No one knows your flock better than the Lord. Never just teach a book or passage because it seems like a good idea. Ask the Lord to direct and show you. Ask Him to make it clear. He won’t fail you.
• Personal desire. What books or passages do you really enjoy? Which ones has God been using in your life lately? You will teach a book or topic that has impacted your walk ten times better than one you never read before.
• Practicality. If you are new at this process, pick a book or passage that is fairly easy and simple. Narrative, poetry, and prophetical books are much harder to teach than New Testament letters. Starting with the book of Daniel might be a little foolhardy but tackling James or 1 John will prove to be much more doable.  
• Purpose. Your purpose needs to be largely based on the needs of the people you are teaching. Although all Scripture is profitable for spiritual growth, some books will apply more directly to your audience’s needs than others. 1 John is a great book if people are struggling with loving one another. The book of Colossians is the winner for a group that has trouble exalting Christ in their conversation and attitude. Nehemiah is great for teaching endurance and Ruth for stressing loyalty.
• Pick one already! A decision is better than no decision. Heed baseball player Yogi Berra’s advice, “If you come to a fork in the road, take it!”

Identifying the kind of book you are teaching

Jasper sprinted through the courtyard and dove into the well. If you read this statement in the Daily News it would be a tragic story about a depressed teenager. If you read it in a comic book, it would be the hero’s escape from an alien robot. If you read it on a billboard, it’d be an advertisement for the convenience of Silver Springs Water delivering affordable water bottles to your doorstep (no more jumping down wells of financial destruction when you’re thirsty!). The same statement means three completely different things when placed in a different type of literature.

Every day you instinctively interpret things you read based on their literature type. If the newspaper said a full on missile attack was launched on America you’d be a little more concerned than if you found this in a Tabloid magazine at Wal Mart, or a fiction book at Barnes and Noble. The nature of any work must be understood before it can be properly interpreted. And this was never truer than in Bible study.

When you read the Bible, remember that it is a collection of the work of 44 men from diverse cultures and backgrounds who lived at different times over a span of 1500 years. This means that literature genre, style, and writing technique is going to vary greatly from book to book.

Joshua was a military general, Daniel a royal official, Peter a fisherman, Nehemiah a cupbearer, and Samuel a judge. Moses wrote from the wilderness, Paul from prison, David in the land of Israel, and John on a far off island, not to mention that the books of the Bible were composed in three different languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

No book on earth contains more variety of literature packed into one volume than the Bible. Not only is the background of each book diverse but various literary tools were used in each author’s day. Many Christians don’t think about this when they come to the Bible and it can result in a frustrating Bible study. Just as a newspaper and a billboard are two different literary types, so also there is a big difference between how you would interpret Proverbs as compared to Revelation.

Why is it so important to be able to identify the literature type of each book of the Bible? Take Solomon’s maxim in Proverbs 15:1, “A gentle answers turns away wrath.” Is this always true? No. It is a general truth, a truism. I am a firsthand witness that giving a gentle answers sometimes only enflames the antagonist more! But does this make Proverbs 15:1 a lie? Of course not. Proverbs is a book of proverbial wisdom, general truths that are true in most cases, but not in every situation. Have you ever read this passage, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov 22:6), and wondered why godly parents around you have kids who rebel? Once again, this is a truism—not an absolute guarantee. If you go into your study of Proverbs fully conscious of the literature type, you won’t make the error that so many have made before you.

A kind of literature is what we call “genre.” “Genre” is the French word for “kind,” so the “genre” of a writing means “the kind of writing.” Life is full of all kinds of genres. Just as there are genres in music—pop, rock, rap (yes, this is a type of music!), classical, negro spiritual, country, funk, blue grass, folk—there are genres in literature. Examples of everyday literature genres you probably use all the time include biographies, the news, letters, fictions, the funnies, classified ads, history, religion, the yellow pages, science books, devotionals, emails or computer software help menus. Fortunately, the Bible has only four major genres: narrative, poetry, prophecy, and letters.

Narrative. This is the “story-telling” genre. Narrative comes from the word “narrate” which means to tell a story. Why stories? Because nothing communicates a message more lucidly than a story. Twenty three of the 66 books of the Bible are stories. That’s over one-third of the books of your Bible! The narrative books are Genesis through Job, the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), and the book of Acts.

Poetry. Books in this genre are written in Hebrew poetry. Poetry comes in many styles, but in general it uses a rhythmic pattern of beauty or irony to communicate a timeless message. The poetical books include Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. These books were classified under the Wisdom literature by the Hebrews.

Prophecy. In the prophetic books a prophet proclaims God’s message to a people or nation. The majority of a prophet’s message was not always prediction but usually exhortation to repent or warnings of coming judgment. Isaiah through Malachi of the Old Testament and Revelation of the New Testament comprise the prophetic books.

Letters. Most of the New Testament books were written as letters to a flock or a believer to address specific issues. This issue was usually doctrinal or moral. Romans through Jude are the letters. Romans through Philemon are called the “Pauline” epistles because they were written by Paul, and Hebrews through Jude are called the “General” epistles because five different authors wrote these.

Although every book of the Bible is one genre, many sub-genres frequently occur within that genre. For example, I just picked up the latest issue of Time magazine and even though the major genre of this publication is news, I quickly discovered five genres within the main genre.

1. An advertisement for Dodge cars    
2. A story on a terrorist siege at a Russian school
3. A letter from a perturbed Time reader
4. An opinion article on whether Bush or Kerry will be better for the
5. economy
6. Advice on how to keep your heart pumping.

Although the main genre is news, you would not read all five pieces of literature the same way. One piece asks you to purchase a product, another reports a tragedy, another reveals the feelings of a reader, another gives political opinion, and the last delivers health advice for failing hearts. The Bible does the same thing. Take the book of Job, for example.

The book of Job is a narrative book. It tells the story of Job’s tragedy and recovery. But in that narrative genre, the author of Job uses the genre of dialogue to communicate truth about God’s perfect right to rule in whatever way He wants. And within that dialogue the speakers use the genre of poetry to convey the message with beauty. Why would a book of the Bible use a genre inside a genre that is inside the main genre? Effective communication.

The book of Exodus is another example. Although it is usually placed under the broader category of “narrative,” 12 of its 40 chapters are direct law-giving genre (chapters 20-31) and chapter 19 is full of dialogue genre.

2 Samuel narrates the history of David’s reign that foreshadows Christ’s future reign on earth. But in this story-telling genre, Prophet Nathan uses the genre of a parable as a literary tool to powerfully condemn David’s sin with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12).

In my research I have found well over 30 different Bible genres listed by scholars and I’m sure there are plenty more! Obviously learning all these genres could be overwhelming so I simplified the process by grouping all genres into two groups: major groups and sub-groups. There are six major groups and many sub-groups. Poetry is a major group, but in poetry you find praise, lament, and romance. See Appendix 2 for a full graph of all the genres and sub-genres. It is not necessary to memorize the entire graph, but do familiarize yourself with each genre so that when you bump into one you can quickly identify it. This will make your Bible interpretation ten times easier.