Bible Question (short): Is the allegorical or metaphorical metho |
Question (full): There are upwards of 300 different Christian denominations in America supposedly coming from the same textbook; the Bible? The parent from which all heresy sprang and is still very much with us today in the pseudo interpretation of Scripture. In ordinary Christian conversation about understanding Scripture one often hears the term “spiritual interpretation,” without realizing it is not happenstance or a natural progression, but has roots in things that most are not acquainted with. The terms “allegorical,” “parabolical,” “metaphorical,” or the more common expression in layman terms, “spiritual,” have their roots in ancient history. They are by their very geneses a stumbling block to, and in direct opposition to understanding Divine revelation. The Oxford Classical Dictionary states: “Allegorical reading of works of literature-above all the mythological poems of Homer and Hesiod, decoded as accounts of the physical world or the truths of morality-seems to begin as early as the 6th cent, BC and to be an established (if controversial) practice by the end of the 5th.” It is almost inconceivable that rational people would or could approach the Scriptures with such foolishness in mind, yet that is precisely what those who use that method do. It should be axiomatic, if a normal literal statement doesn’t mean what is said, then, it has no meaning. If God indeed meant other than what is written, the entirely reasonable question could be asked concerning the misuse of Scripture, “How could God find fault with anyone, if He himself doesn’t mean what He says? From the heathen mystery religions came the belief that not only did almost every passage have a secret, mysterious and higher meaning, but that God had at times actually falsified even historical events and dates as Philo, an Alexandrian Jew (20 BC AD 50) a contemporary of Christ claimed. This was the method commonly taught by Philo, Barnabas, and later by Clement of Alexandria, who passed it on to his star pupil, Origen (185 254), who in AD 203 at the age of eighteen became head of the catechetical school of theology at Alexandria Egypt, which at that time was the world’s foremost Christian school. From the beginning that belief was established by the church leadership as the correct and legitimate method of teaching that would determine the course of church history and to a great extent world history for the next thirteen centuries until the Reformation. It paved the road to the dark ages for a thousand years and even until the present the same disastrous method is used more or less by most of Christendom. The disastrous result of the method is witnessed by the heresy, confusion everywhere it is used. That method is in fact what almost everyone believed in the primitive church and is the parent of the present theological confusion in the body of Christ. Examples of the claim that God at times falsified Scripture were common in the early church writings. It is often and especially seen in the writings of Origen (AD 185 254), one of the most prolific writers of the post apostolic times. Speaking of the writers of the Scriptures he said: “Scripture contains many contradictions, and many statements which are not literally true, but must be read spiritually and mystically. “…They proposed to speak the truth where it was their intention to prefer the spiritual to the material. The spiritual truth was often preserved, as one might say, in the material falsehood.” (Origen, Commentary on John, Anti Nicene Fathers, Hendrickson Pub., 1994. Vol. 9, p. 383). If a statement using normal words is not accepted as meaning what the writer said, then the only thing left are the inventions of those who deny what God has said. They have cast aside the only standard by which all conclusions must be decided which is the Holy Scriptures. If they ever read it they would do well to remember Paul’s statement to the Corinthians about his teaching (2 Cor. 1:13). The allegorical or metaphorical method of teaching according to Paul was contrary to sound biblical exegesis and according to the world’s wisdom. Why not let Paul instruct those who use the metaphorical method. “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8). In 2 Cor.1:13 Paul said: “...our dealings with you, have been absolutely aboveboard and sincere before God. They have not been marked by any worldly wisdom, but by the grace of God. Our letters to you have no double meaning-they mean just what you understand them to mean when you read them” (Phillips translation). “…we mean by our letters nothing else than what you read in them and understand us to mean” (Knox translation). “You don’t have to read between the lines of my letters; you can understand them.” (Moffatt. Translation). In His Grace Movingon |