The Bible does not merely contain poetry. It is poetry. When we consider that in its entirety (as shown in such works as the Companion Bible) it is dominated by a series of structural parallelisms, introversions, etc., we cannot help concluding that it is constituted by such literary architecture one huge poem! The balanced rhythm of its form hints at the harmony which underlies all the apparent discords and discrepancies that may seem to lie upon the surface. If it be true that the portion of Philippians that concerns the self-emptying of the Son of God, His humiliation and subsequent exaltation, is the very structural center of the New Testament, and if it be true that the name of Jesus that occurs there is the very center of the words of the New Testament, this merely emphasizes the poetic, or rhythmic, or measured character of the wonderful Book.
Alan Burns
