2 Literary Techniques That Prove the Bible Was Written by God [With Michael Jahosky]
If you’re already a follower of Jesus, then odds are good that you already believe the Bible is the word of God. Although Scripture has many human authors (about 40), the Divine Author, overseeing the process of its writing, is the Lord Himself. In fact, because the Bible consists of 66 books, all of them breathed out by God and given for our benefit (2 Timothy 3:16), you could say that God is both the Author and General Editor, making sure the right stuff is included, the wrong stuff is excluded, and the whole “series” (really more like a library) fits together as a cohesive whole with a coherent message.
Today’s episode is going to be very encouraging for believers, because it’s going to reveal something very cool about God’s word.
Now, if you’re not yet a Christian, then this episode will challenge you with the remarkable literary attributes of the Bible and demonstrate why it makes such good sense to take it—and its central message of the Gospel—deadly seriously.
One of the really cool things that happens when you believe that God is the Divine Author of Scripture is you can start to analyze the Bible intratextually (within itself) and inter-textually (from one text to another) and notice some pretty amazing literary techniqes that God uses. After all, if God is an author (and He is), then he’s going to be the best author imaginable, and he’s going to use literary techniques that communicate the story dynamically, powerfully, and in a way that reveals his divine authorship. Every author has his or her own writing style, and God’s writing style is going to be the best. As students of God’s word, when we analyze his works, then, we should be looking for what he’s doing and how he’s doing it.
In this episode, what we’re talking about specifically is this: There are (at least) 2 literary techniques that God uses in Scripture that powerfully convey His Divine authorship and magnificently reveal His masterful ability to weave a compelling narrative. Namely, these are foreshadowing and typology.
Specifically, you’ll learn about:
What foreshadowing is and where we see it in the Bible
What typology is and where we see it in the Bible
What “figural writing is” and how foreshadowing and typology are examples of that
How examining these literary techniques can give us insight into the writing style of God Himself
The difference(s) between foreshadowing and straight-up predictive prophecy
How the Bible’s foreshadowing can be a powerful apologetic argument in defense of the Christian message.
Why the foreshadowing in the Bible is so blatant and obvious that to deny it is to deny its existence in all literature(!)
Much more
Joel’s guest is Michael Jahosky, who is returning for his second visit to the Think Podcast (catch their previous conversation on The Lord of the Rings here). Jahosky is an assistant professor of Humanities at St. Petersburg College. His academic background is in classical and biblical history, as well as philosophy, theology, and the arts. He earned his two bachelor degrees from the University of Central Florida and a Master's from University of South Florida. He is the author of the book, The Good News of the Return of the King: The Gospel in Middle Earth.
Follow Michael Jahosky's blog, stay in touch, get updates and buy the book at http://lastdunadancom.wordpress.com.
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Music Credits:
Synthie Intro by Sascha Ende
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/3154-synthie-intro
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Clapping Hands by Frank Schröter
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6522-clapping-hands
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license