30thJanuary2011 Parable vs Narrative

My daughter, Lauren, included the following in a recent e-mail:

I just have a question that my roommate Erin asked and I wasn't really sure how to answer it. Erin was telling me that she was talking to her boyfriend, who goes to the U of M, and he said that since Jesus used Parables in the NT, maybe the Flood was a parable and it never actually happened. And I have never heard anyone say this and so I did not know what to tell her to say except that there is scientific proof from of the Flood (like all the fossils) and that all Scripture is God breathed. But how do you answer that and show that the Flood wasn't just a parable? I know that it wasn't and that the Flood did really happen, but I don't know what to say to people who don't know that. What do you think? Thanks Mom (and Dad). I love you!


Here's my answer.  Firstly, it's a matter of one of the principles of the proper interpretation of Scripture.  The Bible contains different types of literature and this must be borne in mind when trying to interpret it.  For example, much of the Bible is poetry, full of imaginative & figurative language, and figurative language is not meant to be interpreted literally.  When it says in Isaiah 55:12, "For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands," we're not to understand that the mountains and hills somehow broke out into harmonious song or that the trees miraculously acquired hands and starting applauding.  This is figurative language & is meant to be taken figuratively.  Now consider the parable.  A parable is a literary device characterized by a fictional story that is used to teach (usually) one particular lesson and that's how we should interpret it.  Another type of Biblical literature is the historical narrative, in which the author describes events that actually happened.  The story of the flood is told in this way, along with the rest of Genesis, and at least the author meant it to be understood as an historical event.  One may reject a particular historical narrative and assert that it's a myth or a fable, but then it usually comes down to the one's rejection of the supernatural or the providence of God rather than the proper interpretation of Scripture.


I love you, too, Lauren.