The Art of Illustration

Human communication is a fascinating thing. People employ methods using flags, lights, dots and dashes, music, alphabets, and a multitude of different types of sound. Some people are much better at it than others. Language is such a flexible, intangible medium. A person's skill at transferring an idea to another becomes readily apparent in many different ways, but two specifically come to mind; those of Instruction and Illustration. If you'd like to try a fun exercise testing your ability to Instruct, do the following:

1. Get together a small group of middle school children.
2. Give each of them a large blank sheet of paper and a pencil.
3. With your back to them so that you cannot see what they are drawing, give them step by step instructions for drawing a tulip. You may have one drawn up first to use as reference, but do not allow them to see your picture.
   
4. You may not use any identifying words like: flower, tulip, leaves, stems, petals, etc. You may use line and basic shape terms like: diagonal, curved, oval, short, etc.
5. When you are finished, compare their drawings with your own. How close did you get?

The pictures the children drew are a fun gauge of your communication skills and the results are quite obvious. It is much more difficult to determine the effectiveness of Verbal Illustration. Any time you draw comparisons you are making a verbal illustration. Public speakers, teachers, pastors, and parents use illustration often to clarify a point or give added insight. We're going to focus on pastors and Bible teachers, but not because I'm picking on them. Anyone who is trying to communicate the concepts of Scripture uses illustration to bring understanding to absolute Truth, which makes their skills all the more important.

When a Bible teacher uses an example from sports, home life or the working world to bring clarity to a text, you are going to understand that illustration because it comes from your life or something that is real to you. That is the nature of the illustration. Whether you will be able to accurately transfer the meaning of the illustration to the truths of God's Word is an entirely different matter.
For example, Holy Scripture itself speaks of God as a Father and Christ as a Son. All humans beings should understand the concept of Father and Son, so that illustration is natural and makes sense. However, each of our own personal experiences is going to color that understanding. Is your father angry, or absent, or abusive? How will that effect your view of God? You will know that a pastor or teacher effectively communicates the idea when you come away with the knowledge that we should not compare God with earthly fathers, but rather hold the Heavenly Father up as the standard to which all earthly fathers should be compared.

Because it relies on human understanding and human terms, all illustration is going to break down at some point. In the above example, the breakdown is obvious: not everyone's father is a blue ribbon Dad. In other illustrations the flaw may not be so apparent. Imagine the tragedy if the truths about Redemption, or Faith, or Grace were unknowingly communicated incorrectly.

Those of us in teaching positions need to be vigilant in our use of illustration. Are we illuminating truth, or obscuring it? Scripture often clarifies itself without the need for outside examples. It is far safer to rely on other passages to bring light to the subject than to risk introducing elements that will only confuse. On the occasions when it is necessary to expand the available information, we should be careful in our choices and make sure that our examples are understood as we intend them. That means not assuming that your audience knows what your are thinking.

Trying to communicate truth and realizing my own shortcomings (an immediate effect, I might add) gives me a great appreciation for those who do so effectively on a regular basis. Illustration is an Art. And just like drawing or painting with watercolors, it is much harder than it looks.