Rich man and Lazarus which was related by Jesus to his followers. This was generally the view of the medieval Church. Supporters of this view point to a key detail in the story: the use of a personal name (Lazarus) not found in any other parable. By contrast, in all of the other parables Jesus refers to a central character by a description, such as "a certain man", "a sower", and so forth. Critics of this view point out that "The "soul that sins, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18); "For dust you are and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19). Paul (1 Thessalonians
Parables of Jesus a teaching method. Dwight Pentecost suggests that given that Jesus often preached to a mixed audience of believers and non-believers, he used parables to reveal the truth to some, but hide it from others. Christian author Ashton Axenden suggests that Jesus constructed his parables based on his divine knowledge of how man can be taught: This was a mode of teaching, which our blessed Lord seemed to take special delight in employing. And we may be quite sure, that as "He knew what was in man" better than we know, He would not have taught by Parables, if He had