For more than a decade popular TV personality Bill Maher has made a cottage industry out of ridiculing Christianity. Maher has gone so far as to dogmatically pontificate that the Bible was “written in parables. It’s the idiots today who take it literally.” Even a cursory reading reveals that Scripture is a treasury replete with a wide variety of literary styles ranging from poetry, proverbs, and psalms to historical narratives, didactic epistles, and apocalyptic revelations.
To dogmatically assert that the Bible was written in parables and that those who read it LITERALLY must be “idiots” is at best an idiosyncratic form of fundamentalism and at worst a serious misunderstanding of the literal principle of biblical interpretation. In order to read the Bible for all its worth, it is crucial that we interpret it just as we would other forms of communication---in its most obvious and natural sense. As such, we must read it as literature, paying close attention to FORM, FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE, AND FANTASY IMAGERY.
If Genesis were reduced to an allegory conveying merely abstract ideas about temptation, sin, and redemption devoid of any correlation with actual events in history, the very foundation of Christianity would be destroyed. If the historical Adam and Eve did not eat of the forbidden fruit and descend into a life of habitual sin resulting in death, there is no need for redemption. On the other hand, if we consider Satan to be a slithering snake, we would not only misunderstand the nature of fallen angels but we might also suppose Jesus triumphed over the work of the devil (Genesis 3:15) by stepping on the head of a serpent rather than through his passion on the cross (Colossians 2:15).
A literalistic method of interpretation often does as much violence to the text as does a spiritualized interpretation that empties the text of objective meaning. A “literal-at-all-costs” method of interpretation is particularly troublesome when it comes to books of the bible in which visionary imagery is the governing genre. For example, in Revelation the apostle John sees an apocalyptic vision in which an angel swinging a sharp sickle gathers grapes into “the great winepress of the wrath of God.” The blood flowing out of the winepress rises as high as “the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs” (Revelation 14:19-20). Interpreting apocalyptic imagery in a woodenly literal sense inevitably leads to absurdity.
Furthermore, it is crucial to recognize that Scripture—particularly apocalyptic portions of Scripture—is replete with figurative language. Such language differs from literal language, in which words mean exactly what they say. Figurative language requires readers to use their imagination in order to comprehend what the author is driving at. Such imaginative leaps are the rule rather than the exception in that virtually every genre of literature contains metaphorical language. In point of fact, we might well say that figurative language is the principal means by which God communicates spiritual realities to his children. In other words, God communicates spiritual realities through means of earthly, empirically perceptible events, persons, or objects—what might be best described as living metaphors. For example, everywhere in the New Testament when Jesus teaches using parable, the WORD “parable” appears. A parable is simply an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
A metaphor is an implied comparison that identifies a word or phrase with something that it does not literally represent. Far from minimizing biblical truth, metaphors serve as magnifying glasses that identify truth we might otherwise miss. This identification creates a meaning that lies beyond a wooden literal interpretation and thus requires an imaginative leap in order to grasp what is meant. For example, when Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48), he obviously was not saying that he was literally the “staff of life” (physical bread). Rather he was metaphorically communicating that he is the “stuff of life” (essence of true life). Biblical metaphors are never to be regarded as vacous occasions for subjective flights of fancy. On the contrary, biblical metaphors are always objectively meaningful, authoritative, and true.
Hyperbole is another figure of speech particularly prevalent in some prophetic passages. While the scriptures must indeed be read as literature, you and I must be ever mindful that the Bible is also far more than literature. Instead, the Scriptures are uniquely inspired by the Spirit. As Peter put it, “no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21). We must fervently pray that the Spirit, who inspired the Scriptures, illumines our mind as to what is IN the text.
The Voice