Is the Bible literal or symbolic and metaphorical?

Question

I asked my wife's minister this question and he said it didn't matter. As long as I accepted Jesus as my savior, it was unimportant. I responded that it did matter to me and what was the answer. He said it was probably a little of both. I then asked him specifically about the Virgin Birth and the Ascension in the New Testament. His response was that in order to be a Christian, one must accept a literal interpretation of those two significant New Testament events (Virgin Birth and Ascension) which establishes Christ's divinity. That makes sense to me. However, I do get tired of the either/or answer to the literal vs symbolic question. To me, picking and choosing that which actually occurred and that which is metaphorical makes no sense and lacks both continuity and credence.

Answer 1

It is many things.
Yes, literal or symbolic and metaphorical.
It is spiritual.
It is allegory.
It is truth.
It is wisdom.
It is figures of speech.
It is a life long study.
It is God's Word.
It is God's will.
It is God's plan.
It is God's Salvation.
It is peace of mind.
It is comfort
It is prophecy.

....IT IS GOD....

Psa 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me,

Heb 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me,) to do Thy will, O God.

2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Answer 2

Good thinking.
The Bible is literal if you understand that "reality" (which is nothing but your concept) is symbolic. That is to say that the importance of the physical is to reflect the spiritual and is subject to the spiritual.

There are types of metaphors in the Bible. They are called parables and were not spoken for the understanding of every person, even to this day. They have literal meanings in both a moral and spiritual sense.

Your question has no one-time answer; because the question will confront you again and again. The chief thing to remember is that the answers you need are discerned in the spirit. Now to obtain the answer you seek and need means that 'you' must be in a different place or a different gear if you will.

I disagree with that minister, because it does matter in the long run. The spirit is to guide you into all truth. It is thus your very walk with Jesus Christ which should unveil these questions for you. I would rather be Thomas in the New Testament and get my answer then run with a cloud of "Duh, o.k." non-believers.

Is accepting Jesus as your saviour, accepting the Virgin Birth and the Ascension enough? Let me put it another way. Is accepting that Jesus was not born like others and floated up to heaven (is no longer here) given anywhere in Scripture as necessary for salvation? You will not find it.

Secondly the question is not have you accepted Jesus but has Jesus accepted you? Most today teach and preach that Peter became a saint and accepted Jesus when he got off his daddy's fishing boat. Right there they say he became a convert having made his decision for Christ. This is not even what Jesus said.

Certainly Peter had been looking for Messiah, but it was Jesus who made the call. First Jesus called "follow me.." Peter did follow Jesus for three years. During that time he preached the kingdom, cast out devils and yet was not converted. Luke 22:32. St. Peter and 119 others, including Mary the mother of Jesus, were converted in the Upper Room at Pentecost.

He already believed that Jesus was the Christ. He had not seen nor heard of the Ascension and he did not thereafter preach an understanding of either the Virgin Birth or the Ascension as necessary to salvation.

What we are talking about here is the Apostles Creed. To believe it as opposed to the Word of God? Well it is like buying the world's best gourmet coffee and running it through 25 cheap paper filters before you drink it.

Stick with your guns. Wanting answers is not doubting and God looks on the heart. St. Paul teaches that you should have the answers because you are priest in your home and the husband is head of the wife. She should be coming to you for answers to spiritual questions and not you going to "her pastor." That may seem harsh but that is spiritual truth by the Word of God.

Sorry to be so long, but you have a good question and I hope this helps you find some very good answers.

Answer 3

It's not that we "pick and choose" whether a passage is more metaphorical than literal: it's the historical context which determines which is the appropriate approach. What your wife's pastor did not explain is the the stories of Virgin Birth, Ascension and many in between formed the framework for the gospel tradition as the four gospels were being written. They were written for readings in church and were also used to formulate the church's Christ of Faith. Many of the things that fill in the gaps are more likely true to life, matters of teaching like the Sermon on the Mount and such. It is reasonable to interpret these literally, however, stories like the virgin birth should be interpreted as metaphore, just as should the other stories that developed in the Roman Empire and ancient Greece. There were many virgin birth stories in the world at that time. They was common, in fact. The Jews were under Roman occupation to a man who claimed to be half God and half man. Augustus was protested by the Jews who embraced Jesus as their Savior and developed their virgin birth story in protest and as a rally cry to give them hope and help cope with their situation. This is all easily derived from reading the historical context of the Bible with common sense in tact: it's called Lower Criticism and our fundamentalist friends who insist on interpeting these things literally simply lack the education with which to handle the scripture with Lower Criticism. We should not discount the stories, they were never intended as anything more than metaphore. The central issue is what do they point to? What is their sermon? It's just the same as the stories of the Old Testament, such as the book of Job. It's literature. As long as we read it as literature, not as a newspaper, we can make good use of the stories just as did the Jews.

Answer 4

That was a smart minister when he said it didn't matter.

Parts of the Bible have to be based on some truth, parts are parables, and parts are made up by man.

Look at the Bible as a guide, a way that one can view the ups and down of humankind.

The Bible has been translated and changed so many times, and we do not know who wrote what parts, and there are huge tracts of writings that were not included in the accepted Bible. So, most of the Bible is probably just myth and legend, but in all myths and legend there is a semblence of truth.

True, one can not pick and choose, so you decide what you think of it, and go with that. After all, God gave you the right to make your own decisions, your own judgements, and one should never hand that over to another person.

Congratulations on being one of those who are not afraid to ask questions.

Answer 5

The literalness and symbolicness of the bible depend on two things, really
1. The part you are reading. Certain things will seem almost certainly literal, while others are obviously metaphorical
2. The person you ask. People interpret it in different ways, and the literal content of the bible can be a big debate between christians.

Answer 6

The Bible, in so far as it is translated correctly, is a collection of writings of human prophets, who testified of the coming and reality of the Savior Jesus Christ. They wrote down as they felt and were instructed, to the best of their ability and in the method of their period, those things they knew to be important.

Whether each instance is literal or metaphorical depends on the individual and intended conveyance of the information. Christ himself at times spoke in simile at other in literal parables and still at other time directly as the teaching opportunity was appropriate. Your question to your wife's minister, while well intentioned may not have been entirely fair. It is not a qiestion that can be answered with a simple A,B, or C.

It is not a matter of picking and chooseing that which is metaphorical, rather it is a studious activity to understand the intent of the author and the message to be conveyed. While the authors were men of God, they were men as well. The bible, in it's english form, is wrought with translation errors, ommisions and even at places intentional changes in meaning from the orriginal text and intent.

While the message of the prophetic teaching are still clear to the willing heart, true understanding comes at the beckoning of a contrite spirit, asking with real intent of our Father whom through His spirit will make all things known unto those who study it out and ask in faith.

Yes, I agree with you, it does matter what is literal, what is metaphorical, what is symbolic. But the bible can not be classified as such as a book of singular work. It is not a book but rather a collection of writings, as such it must be given appropriate examination.

It is quite possible your wife's minister did not know how to answer your question as you put it.

Answer 7

This same question used to drive me nuts, too. I finally got the chance to speak to a well-educated minister who had spent a great deal of his time seeking that very answer. He told me that it was his belief that the bible is a "story book" filled with historically based parables that explained concepts to the masses. Christianity was one of the first monotheistic religions to become accessible to the common person, and most of the people around in that time period were illiterate and uneducated. The stories in the bible were easy to understand. Also, he told me that you needed to remember that things meant different things then than they do now, and that if you are reading the bible "as is" and trying to learn the lessons therein, you need to take into account the period of time that the various books were written to understand the real meaning of the lesson. Complicated, eh? I think in straight language, he's saying that the bible is historical fiction and fable, which does NOT mean that it is just a storybook, but a real guide for a religion.

Answer 8

In most of the examples you have stated, you're making the blunders that there must be a organic rationalization for them or they could no longer have got here approximately. interior the study of technological awareness ~ there are various problems, yet you assume explainability for them. many stuff are certainly explainable, and look at is persisted over controversy. interior the study of The Bible ~ there are various problems, and we expect explainability for them. many stuff are certainly explainable, and look at is persisted over controversy. notwithstanding, critics of The Bible are no longer honest-minded as they presume it to be responsible of blunders rather of harmless. They confuse our fallible interpretations of it with Gods infallable revelation. There are no longer any scientific or historic blunders interior the Bible ~ none! The Genesis account isn't symbolic. neither is the flood neither is the story of Jonah. even even with the indisputable fact that the massive bang thought maintains to be unproven and it could no longer answer questions like ~ the place did each and all the concern come from interior the 1st place ~ evolutionists and atheists alike are particularly content textile to have faith it besides. So why is it so confusing to have faith that God spoke each and every thing into existence? If he's the author of all issues ought to he no longer reason Jonah to proceed to exist interior the tummy of a fish? As for Jesus' miracles and his resurrection, there have been many eye witnesses to those issues. It takes approximately 2 generations or 80 years for a fantasy to advance ~ long after the eyewitnesses to the money owed have died. however the Apostles began coaching today, and the 1st letters to the church homes contained interior the recent testomony have been written approximately 30 or 40 years after Jesus ascended into Heaven. that's tremendously confusing to propagate a fantasy collectively as the eyewitnesses are nonetheless alive. no longer purely that, yet there are over 5,seven hundred manuscripts that teach the authenticity of the recent testomony on my own. maximum historic books have purely one or 2. Such is the case with Alexander the super, and not something replaced into even written approximately him till 500 years after his loss of life.

Answer 9

The Scriptures should be accepted literally unless there is a reason from context to understand in symbolically or metaphorically. The Holy Spirit is the guide, and most people are way wide of the mark. When you get to a more specific question, toss it out, but ask for Scriptural references to support any answers.

Answer 10

The Bible is literal unless it directly infers by the text itself if it is to taken metaphorically or symbollically, such as the parables, like Jesus statement they strain at a gnat and swallow camel or it is easier for a rich man to get into heaven than a camel to go throug the eye of a needle - though some interpret this as the camel gate the immediate response by the one it was said to - should be taken as a literal eye of the needle - for he says who then can be saved, and Jesus reply also emphasizes the literal when he says "with men this is impossible, but not with God for with God all things are possible". if it was the camel gate this would be a lie because it was capable of being traversed though very difficult.