Bible Question:
Dear Forum Members, An interesting question has arisen on the forum recently in multiple posts, which I would like to address directly. We would all agree that it is possible to interpret one part of scripture figuratively and another literally. The question is, "What are the criteria that can be consistently applied to tell the difference?" This is something that creeps into many different threads. It impacts how we interpret the creation story in Genesis, and the end of the world in Revelation. It even affects whether we believe that there was a certain number of soldiers, years, etc, or whether those numbers are figurative to mean something else. |
Bible Answer: Attempted Answer................................. Greetings Sir! Unfortunately, I don't believe there is a totally objective criteria for determing whether or not a particular passage is historical or figurative. Even if God included labels identify each verse as one or the other, there would still be debates over the issue. :-) However, I do think that there is a process which will yield the proper answer 99.99 percent of the time. 1) First, determine the genre of the book. The very nature of the book will tell us much about what we will expect to find within it. a) Gospels - are historical narratives written for a purpose. Thus, we would expect most of the content to be historical, unless otherwise noted. b) Apocalyptic - deals with future events in pictorial and graphic language. Thus, most of the content will be figurative. c) Letters - deal with real life situations. So most of their contents will be literal. 2) Secondly, determine the genre of the passage. It is possible to have apocalyptic passages within an historical narrative. Parables are found in historical narratives. However, they are usually identifed as such. 3) Thirdly, determine the types of speech in the passage. Do we have poetry? Do we have quotations? Do we have hyberbole? Do we have metaphors? Interpret each appropriately. The vast majority of the time it is not difficult to tell. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |