Between the Old and New Testaments lay 400 years of political turmoil for the Jews. After the Babylonian exile (6th century BC), the Persians became the new world power, and freed them. Many of the Jews remained in Persia, but some such as Ezra and Nehemiah went back to the Promised Land.
Persia fell to the Greeks two centuries later, and the Greeks rapidly splintered into four empires at the death of Alexander the Great. At the border of two of these empires (Ptolemaic and Seleucid) lay the land of Israel with a small population of Jews. As those two empires fought one another, their borders shifted. This caused the Jewish people to be ruled by one Greek empire and then other. There was a lack of stability for them and often persecution throughout this time.
By the early 2nd century, the Jews won their independence, but it only lasted a century. The Greek kingdoms were being eclipsed by a new superpower—Rome. Jerusalem fell to the Romans in 63BC.
So many changes occurred between the Old and New Testaments. One of them was the adoption of Gentile culture. Some of the Jews violently resisted the ways of their overlords; others welcomed the changes. The point is that during the two testaments of the Bible, Judaism changed significantly. Some Jews adopted a new way to interpret Scripture—the allegorical interpretation.
Allegory was nothing new, but it seems no one had tried to allegorize plain biblical passages prior to Philo (15BC – AD50). He wanted a compromise, some way to synthesize Jewish and Gentile thought. Allegory helped. Philo read the Jewish Scriptures to find deeper or secretive meanings. He believed that the literal meaning of a passage is its body; the allegorical meaning is the passage’s soul. In his view, God’s Word can have numerous meanings beyond a plain and simple interpretation. Deeper meanings were everywhere to be found by him, namely, ones acceptable to the Gentiles.
What Philo brought into Judaism, Clement (AD150 – 215) and Origen (AD185 – 254) brought into Christianity. According to them, God’s Word has a literal or plain sense meaning, but each verse also has a spiritual meaning—mystical truths deeply veiled within the text, things not known to the average Christian.
One sad result of this is that no ordinary believer feels qualified to interpret the Bible. He or she feels that those more advanced should explain the mysteries and codes that lie within.
A Clear Revelation
Jude 1:3—“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for
all delivered to the saints.”
When Jude wrote, new teachings were entering into the church, things the apostles never heard from Jesus. Jude saw the danger, and urged his readers to resist: “Contend for the faith,” he told them. He believed the Christian faith was worth fighting for.
Fight for what faith exactly? Jude said to contend for, “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” He was referring to a common faith, something that had been passed down and was well known. Christianity started with truth passed on from Jesus to the apostles who passed it onto others and established churches (2 Tim 2:2).
From one side of the Roman Empire to the other, Christians who had never met held to the same faith in the first century. They had either spoken face-to-face with an apostle or had heard his letters read aloud. They arrived at the same faith because they interpreted the apostles’ teachings in the same way. They weren’t scholars or mystics, just common people who used a common sense, plain and simple, interpretation.
Sure, the apostles wrote some hard-to-understand things, but they didn’t write so only an inner circle could understand them. There were no secret codes or spiritual puzzles laden within their words. They wrote as you or I might write—as clearly as possible. They wanted to be understood that the good news of Jesus Christ could spread as fast as possible among all people.
Christians have often approached the Bible eager to find deeper messages. Origen, for instance, believed each passage of Scripture has three meanings (the plain, the moral, and the spiritual). First Samuel 17:40 mentions the five stones that David selected against Goliath. Meditating upon it, Origen said the five “stones” we must use to defeat the enemy are purity, integrity, wisdom, courage, and righteousness.
He was a prolific and hugely influential church father. Origen did much that was good, but his interpretations left the average Christian wanting more than the plain meaning. What Origen often found just wasn’t there. The stones that slew Goliath… they were just stones. The plain meaning of 1 Samuel 17:40 is all the author ever intended.
When the plain sense of Scripture makes sense, seek no other sense.
It’s important to acknowledge that each piece of Scripture has only one intended meaning. As Christians interpreted the apostles’ words similarly throughout the Roman Empire, that’s how the early church was able to unite around a common faith.
An Example from John’s Gospel
Take a look at John 10:9 where Jesus said, “I am the door.” It’s plain enough, but does this mean that our Lord is a wooden door of some kind? Of course not, He was speaking figuratively. There’s only one way to access the Father, and that’s through the Son—Jesus is the only door to Heaven. Enter through Him. That’s the basic meaning of the passage.
I use this example to say that the Bible has figurative language, and we should enjoy the beauty of it. The psalmist could have said that “God’s love is great.” Instead, he wrote: “Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens” (Psa 36:5). What a wonderful picture!
He could have said, “I like Scripture.” Rather, he exclaimed: “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psa 119:103). See the difference?
The plain sense of a passage isn’t always the most literal. There are metaphors and allegories in the Bible. We should strive to interpret any passage as it was originally intended. Even with figurative language, the author still had one meaning in mind. It’s our job to study to understand what he originally meant.
Let’s look at John 10:9 again where Jesus referred to Himself as the door to Heaven. If John 10:9 means this, it can’t also mean that Jesus is the door to fulfillment, the door to personal happiness, the door to personal blessing, and on and on. It’s true that knowing Christ is fulfilling. He does give blessing and many happy moments in life as well, but John 10:9 says nothing about these. This particular verse only teaches that Jesus is the door to Heaven. Turn from sin, and believe in Him for life eternal.
Does it matter much?
“Two roads diverged into a yellow wood…” Such a line begins that famous poem by Robert Frost, and yet, it’s ironic how buckets of ink have been spilled debating its meaning. What roads? What exactly did Frost mean? Well, I’m not sure either, and you know what? It’s okay. Unless you bet the farm on it, there’s nothing at stake if you interpret Frost’s poem in three ways or miss his intention altogether.
One reason for this study is that the same can’t be said about God and His Word. It matters what it means. We have a responsibility to understand the things that God has revealed about Himself.
God spoke through the prophets and apostles, and eventually 66 books were produced that together became the Bible. He didn’t have to say anything, and yet, He’s said so much. His intention wasn’t to hide Himself in all these pages, but to make Himself known. Why? That man might know and enjoy Him, love and serve Him, and be saved through His Son to worship Him forever.
There aren’t multiple right interpretations to a passage of Scripture. There’s just one, and that’s actually encouraging. It means that God’s Word is far easier to understand than it would be otherwise.