What Is Inclusio and How Does It Apply to Bible Study?

One way to increase your delight as you read the Bible is to look for how biblical authors bracket similar content at the beginning and end of their books. For now we will mainly focuses on the outer edges of biblical books, but bookends can also be seen at the beginning and end of smaller units—whether it be a verse, paragraph, or passage. This increases your satisfaction level once you see their presence, but they also set a thematic frame so you can observe a truth that the biblical author is stressing, which is an aid to interpreting the book in line with authorial intent.

The Incusio Method

The technical term for this literary device is inclusio (also known as “envelope structure”), which is a compositional style where content at the initial part of a passage is repeated again at the end. This feature helps establish literary boundaries and provides a sense of closure to a composition. In some ways it functions as a picture frame encircling the body of the work, helping to set thematic boundaries.

Remember that the original audience for the biblical books was most likely listening to the text with their ears rather than reading it with their eyes, so this technique would aid a listener’s ability to distinguish units.

Once we find a bookend, then we can reflect on why that particular bookend was utilized. This might seem problematic because it requires us to try to determine why that bookend is selected even though the biblical author does not explicitly spell out why it is there and what purpose it serves. However, since the bookends are intentionally placed there by the biblical author, it is safe to assume that they serve not only as a structural bracketing device but also as a rhetorical signal to readers, highlighting a theological point or theme.

By identifying bookends we can enjoy the Bible more as we look for clues given at the beginning of books that are matched and framed with how the book ends. These parallels have embedded within them a key to help unlock what is in the middle so that one can come full circle. Identifying these bookends is a simple and effective technique for us to incorporate in our Bible reading. This technique can pay instant dividends and help us maintain focus and be more active readers of God’s Word as we identify and apply the author’s thematic thread.

Remember that the original audience for the biblical books was most likely listening to the text with their ears rather than reading it with their eyes.

Summary

Look for content at the beginning of a Bible book that is repeated at the end of the same book. This technique is a literary rhetorical device in which the author introduces an element at the beginning of a book and then returns to it at the end, thus bookending the intervening material.

Prevalence

This appears in all sorts of biblical books, so it is not limited by genre or Testament. It is also used within books to mark off chapters or sections.

Instruction

Read the first part of a Bible book and then read the last part (skipping over the middle), looking for repeated elements (words, phrases, people, objects, places, etc.). Once the bookends are detected, it will require a reading of the entire book to look for how the bookends are helpful thematically for content in the middle.

Value

Functionally, it serves as a sort of parenthesis to artistically enclose material. Structurally, it brings closure and brackets off the content in the middle in an aesthetic way. Practically, it foregrounds themes and connections that the biblical author intentionally wants the reader to contemplate as they read the book.

Challenge

Some of the bookends may not be lexical (which are easier to detect), but rather, conceptual. It may not always be easy to distinguish a true bookend from coincidental repetition. There will be varying degrees of certainty and subjectivity as to what the intent or value of the bookend may be for the reader.

Example of Inclusio

A New Testament example is the book of Romans. In the opening and closing paragraphs, Paul uses the phrase “obedience of faith” as bookends to his epistle (1:5 and 16:26). This helps readers to understand that Paul is not just stressing faith alone but also the outworking of that faith in faithful obedience. This is seen in how he crafts the content of the book by first focusing on faith and belief (Rom. 1–11) and then behavior (Rom. 12–16).