Parable (Gr. parabolē, 'a comparison') was originally the name given by the Greek rhetoricians to an illustration avowedly introduced as such. In Hellenistic and New Testament Greek it came to signify an independent fictitious narrative, employed for the illustration of a moral rule or principle. This kind of illustration is of eastern origin, and the greatest examples are to be found in the Old and New Testaments, particularly in the discourses of our Lord. The parable differs from the fable in the probability or verisimilitude of the story itself, and agrees with it in the essential requisites of simplicity and brevity. It is essentially a short allegory marked by probability of incident, and intended to convey one direct moral or spiritual truth. In the course of time the word parable came to lose its significance of figurative speech, and to mean speech generally.
There are works on the parables of our Lord by Archbishop Trench (1846), Calderwood (1880), A. B. Bruce (1882), Goebel (trans. 1883), and Dod's (1883). See also the articles ALLEGORY, APOLOGUE, and FABLE.