Parables

Grant Osborne The Hermeneutical Spiral

Let us delve a little more deeply into the similitude, parable and allegory. The first two have strong similarities, as each maintains a formal, literal comparison stressing a central idea. However, a similitude is a straightforward comparison with one or more verbs in the present tense, applying a common experience or typical habit to a greater spiritual reality. … A parable on the other hand is a narrative employing a particular event in the past tense without the direct and obvious comparison. It is indirect and demands that the hearer react. It does not appeal to the mind as much as the whole person (236).

The parables encounter, interpret and invite the listener/reader to participant in Jesus’ new world-vision of the kingdom. They are a “speech-event” that never allows us to remain neutral; they grasp out attention and force us to interact with the presence of the kingdom in Jesus, either positively…or negatively (239).

The Characteristics of Parables (239-44)

1. Earthiness
2. Conciseness
3. Major and Minor Points
4. Repetition
5. Conclusion at the End
6. Listener-relatedness 7. Reversal of Expectation
8. Kingdom-centered Eschatology
9. Kingdom Ethics
10. God and Salvation in the Parables