What is a Parable?
The Bible uses many different ways to get a message across to the reader.
Types, symbols, images, similes, examples, parables, motif, figure, metaphors and analogy.
One of these ways used by Jesus was the use of Parables.
There are other ways to get a truth across as well.
For instance, using Similes.
A simile is saying that something is like something else or as something else.
EG.
Rev 1:14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
Rev 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
1Th 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
In Matthews Gospel: Jesus said, The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.
So it is saying that something is like something else or is as something else without actually being that thing.
Jesus said the Pharisees, were like whitewashed gravestones and like a brood of vipers.
He also said our sins, even though they be like scarlet, will be as white as snow.
A Parable is an extended simile.
It is a story that shows that something is like something else but put in story form that could actually happen.
EG. The Parable of the Sower
Mat 13:3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
Mat 13:4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
Mat 13:5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
Mat 13:6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
Mat 13:7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
Mat 13:8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
This is Jesus way of extending a simile by using an example of something that really happens in real life.
The Parable of the Weeds/Tares
Mat 13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
Mat 13:25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Mat 13:26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
Mat 13:27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
Mat 13:28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Mat 13:29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Again the simile is like a man sowing, however He extends the simile into a realistic event.
The same with the parable of the Mustard seed and the leaven.
The Mustard Seed and the Leaven
Mat 13:31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
Mat 13:32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
Mat 13:33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
Then there is a Metaphor.
A metaphor is a figure of speech which is not literal.
It is a representative or a symbol of something else.
EG.
John pointed at Jesus when He came for baptism and said, “Behold the Lamb of God”.
Of course Jesus is not a literal lamb but symbolic of the sacrificial lamb.
He was saying, just as the lamb is sacrificed on behalf of the people, so Jesus will be sacrificed for the sin of the world.
John 1:6 says, “There was a man sent from God whose name was John ” That is literal but it also says that John was a voice, crying in the wilderness.
Then John 1:29 shows John pointing to Jesus and saying, “Behold the Lamb of God.” That is figurative or symbolic but it is clearly understood that Jesus is not a literal lamb.
Jesus said,” I am the door” Not a literal door but symbolic of being the only way into the Kingdom of Heaven. “I am the Way, the Truth, the Life”
He also said that we are like sheep. We are like light and salt in the world.
Of course again he did not mean this literally but symbolically.
We are like sheep that go their own way and get lost. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who seeks and saves the lost sheep.
Jesus said “I know my sheep and My sheep know Me”
Of course, the meaning is that believers in Christ, belong to Him. They know Him and He knows them.
Jesus also referred to Christians as a light to the world, showing the love of Christ and salt that savours the world with our actions.
Lastly there is Allegory.
An Allegory is an extended metaphor.
It is a story or poem or a picture that reveals a hidden, deeper meaning.
EG.
The story of the sower and the seed.
This tells us that there are different types of people, represented by the different types of soil.
Good soil and bad soil, stony ground and good ground.
The story of the Prodigal son is another.
This again shows how people are different and act differently.
There are times when we read scripture and we can tell that it can be taken in a symbolic or allegorical way.
However the symbolism or allegory should never rob the text of its literal meaning.
As pointed out earlier, John said “Behold the Lamb of God” However this did not take away the literal truth that Jesus was a man sent from God.
We must never fall into the trap of symbolising everything.
For example, the Apostle Paul tells us when he is using an allegory.
In Galatians, when speaking about the Old and New Covenant, he uses an allegory of Hagar and Sarah as representing the Old and the new Covenant.
Galatians 4:22-3 122 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman.
23One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise.
24Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery.
25Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
26But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother.
Whilst we can allegorise things, we must realise that there is also the literal truth.
EG. The seed is the literal Word of God, the Gospel.
The soil is the person that receives the Word.
The Bible says that God created in six days. This is a fact. The literal truth.
We cannot spiritualise this to mean something else, ie. long periods of time..
The same with the one thousand years reign of Christ in Revelation.
It says one thousand years, we cannot make into a symbolic length of time.
There are really only two ways of understanding the Scriptures:
1. Allegorical.
2. Literal.
Why did Jesus speak in Parables?
Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive
Jesus used parables as a test to see if people really understood what He was saying.
If you got the message, you would understand the parable.
For example, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.
The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (or the Pharisee and the Tax Collector) is a parable of Jesus that appears in the Gospel of Luke. In Luke 18:9-14, a self-righteous Pharisee, obsessed by his own virtue, is contrasted with a tax collector who humbly asks God for mercy.
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
Luk 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Luk 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
Luk 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
Luk 18:12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luk 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Luk 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
This parable demonstrates the need to be humble and pray humbly.
Which one of these are we?
If you are a repentant sinner, who understands the truth of the Gospel. If we understand that to be saved, one needs to recognise their sin and repent. Then we would understand this parable.
Therefore, Jesus used parables, which is a form of oral literature, the parable exploits realistic situations but makes effective use of the imagination... Some of the parables [of Christ] were designed to reveal mysteries to those on the inside and to conceal the truth to those on the outside who would not hear."
When the disciples ask Him why, He used parables, His answer may seem even more astonishing: "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it has not been granted" (Matthew 13:11). In other words, the parables are meant to divide the crowd. While this may seem as if Jesus denied some people access, the difference He means is not in the message—but in the response.
God reveals the truth of the Gospel to who He wills.
You cannot learn the truth, it is revealed.
2 Tim 3:7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Matt 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.
