The commonly accepted definition of a parable is: 'An Earthly story with a Heavenly meaning'. However, that is only half of the truth when it comes to the word of God
. And, a half truth is a full lie. Jesus
used parables to hide the truth from lost and carnal people while revealing it to saved people who sought the true spiritual meaning from God.
The true Biblical definition of a parable is: An Earthly story with a Heavenly meaning which is designed to lead lost and carnal people into doctrinal error and only reveal the true spiritual meaning to save people who seek the meaning from God.
All parables were told to give additional understanding to people who sought spiritual understanding from God's Holy Ghost
. They were also used by Jesus
to hide the truth from lost and carnal people. Therefore, there are a lot of explanations of parables which teach doctrinal error because the people who created the explanation did not receive it from God.
In addition to that, parables are always related to the doctrine which is in context to it. Lost and carnal people tend to ignore context and, even when they pay attention to context, they tend to look at the context from a physical and religious point of view. However, a parable
'is a physical story given to teach a spiritual lesson'. Therefore, the parable, and the context surrounding it, must be understood spiritually.
Next, a parable is a story. The Gospels, and books like Acts, are actual accounts and not stories. The things which are reported actually happened while a story did not happen. (A lot of people have been misled into calling Gospel accounts stories.) As a result, actual events, such as Lazarus and the rich man
, are not parables even though lost and carnal people try to claim that they are.
One of the most important requirements to understanding parables is understanding the spiritual lesson of whatever is in context to the parable.
Please see the note for Galatians 4:24 about how an parable
can be different from a allegory
. As explained there, the argument is a waste of time.
In Luke 11:5-8, we read the parable called 'The Friend at Midnight'. This parable is also an allegory. It does not identify a specific historical event but it uses a common event in the lives of people in that society and that time. So, technically, it was not an actual historical event. However, historically, it was such a common cultural event that the listeners of the time had no problem relating to it and, probably, could even think of a person that it was an actual event in their life. Now, since most people who argue these types of technicalities fail to make the distinction between an actual specific historical event and a historically common cultural event, they are being inaccurate even while they strain at a gnat
(Matthew 23:24). Simply put, the arguments about the difference between an allegory and a parable are a distraction from learning the true doctrine of the Bible and can be used to justify doctrinal error. Yes, there can be an argument which is based upon an incomplete analysis of the two words, but it really is not worth pursuing if you truly want to learn the spiritual truths which are in the word of God
.
Please also see the note for Mark 3:23 for a couple of good Bible definitions for the word parable
. In addition, Matthew 13:2-23; Mark 4:1-20 and Luke 8:4-15 gives us 'the Parable of the Sower' along with the teaching that Jesus
gave so that we could know how to understand parables. In addition, Mark 4:24-25 warns us Take heed what ye hear
and the matching account in Luke warns us Take heed how ye hear
. The notes to those sentences give further doctrine on the proper attitude which is required in order to understand parables
. In addition, Matthew 13:10-17 gives us the explanation from Jesus
for the question of: Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
The doctrine in these references is critical to properly understanding parables. In addition, the notes for the mentioned sentences contain a lot of doctrine and Bible references to help the Bible student know how to understand all parables.
Please also see the Table of Parables in the Old Testament.