Jesus often taught beautiful doctrines through short, pithy, memorable statements or stories. We call these parables.
The word parable means “to throw alongside”.
Parables lay ideas alongside each other, or side by side, to encourage us to compare and contrast concepts, ideas, and characters. We are supposed to see ourselves in parables. We are supposed to discover or rediscover principles and doctrines that can answer questions for how to act and live.
We are supposed to apply parables to our own lives.
Why Does Jesus Use Parables to Teach?
One of the most beautiful reasons that Jesus used parables is to reveal the Plan of Salvation.
In a recently published book, Jeannine and Jack Welch teamed up with famed artist Jorge Cocco Santangelo to bring the parables of Jesus to life. Beautiful, never-before-seen artwork is accompanied by fresh perspectives and insights on the meaning and purpose of the parables.
Most significantly, the authors show us how the parables reveal the Plan of Salvation.
The table of contents provides an orienting overview of how the parables reveal the Plan of Salvation. Here is a sampling:
- Recognizing Jesus as the Promised Savior is revealed through the story of the Samaritan Woman at the Well
- Jesus’s overview of the Plan of Salvation is revealed through the Parable of the Good Samaritan
- The premortal council of God is revealed through the Parable of the Father’s Two Sons (one willing the other not)
- The principle of growth and progression is revealed through the Parable of the Tiny Mustard Seed
- The principle of repentance is revealed through the Parable of the Prodigal Son
- The glorious return of Christ is revealed through the Parable of the Ten Virgins
- The principle of God’s judgement as keeping his covenants is revealed through the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard
This beautiful book inspires, educates, edifies, and encourages while revealing the Plan of Salvation through the Parables of Jesus.
Published on March 1, 2019 by Covenant Communication, this book is available at Seagull Book and Amazon.com.
Learning at the Feet of the Savior
I hope you found these insights valuable and empowering. If so, you may find more such insights in one of my recent books.
Together with my co-author David Ridges, we wrote Learning at the Feet of the Savior: Additional Insights from New Testament Background, Culture, and Setting to encourage people to ask questions and to use the scriptures and the example of Jesus to learn how to learn and to better understand how the scriptures apply to their lives.
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