The Bible is the central text for Christianity throughout the world. The Protestant Bible contains 66 books while Catholic and Orthodox Bible’s include more. The Bible has been used for centuries to provide instruction for life and to uplift those in need. However, the Bible isn’t always used with good intentions.
Fundamentalism hinges on a literal reading of the Bible. This includes the 6-day Creation story, God ordering the slaughter of innocent women, children, and animals during the Canaanite Conquest, and an overall indifference towards women and slaves. What is most surprising is that it wasn’t always this way.
Why Read The Bible Like Literature?
The Early Church – taking their cues from the First and Second Temple Rabbinic tradition. They were looking at, in, and through the scriptures to find additional meaning and relevance to their lives. Interpretive approaches like Midrash took the text and found new ways of applying its virtues. When the Jesus followers began to grow in size and location, the way they interacted with the scriptures was still very Jewish. Early Church Fathers like Origen used allegory and metaphor to interpret and find meaning for their time and place.
Origen of Alexandria (c. 184 – c. 253 AD) was an influential Early Church Father. His work was foundational to the Trinity and free will salvation. His education in Greek philosophy and conversion to Christianity gave Origen a more philosophical view of the Scriptures. Origen was a prolific writer and Christian thinker, particularly around interpretation.
Origen saw the Scripture as holding many lessons at once. He viewed the Scripture as inevitably pointing to Jesus – the Christ. This Christocentric view opened up options for the reader. They could read a passage from the Hebrew Scriptures and see how it reflected Jesus. This flexibility allowed readers to use a new lens to read the Scriptures. Modern scholars use literary criticism to interpret the Bible. Likewise, to understand what the Word of God is saying, Origen looks at the literal, the moral, and the spiritual interpretation.
The Literal Interpretation
The literal interpretation is what we read on the page. For example, if we look at the story of Abraham and Issac, we can look at the Hebrew words and get an accurate interpretation. We can ask questions like ‘what was the mountain like?’ or ‘who was in power during this time?’ We can also use the literal interpretation for our literary criticism.
The literal reading is defined by the story. The narrative described in the text is what the text is about. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Bible or the newest Stephen King book. When we read the story literally we want to see the characters in their own context. In the Abraham narrative, God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son. God then swoops in at the last minute to save Issac and to replace him at the altar with a lamb.
The Moral Interpretation
Origen saw the moral sense of the text as the second layer, deeper and more theologically significant. In this layer of interpretation, it is the reader’s goal to find a moral or ethical lesson underneath the text. The story may present with a lesson, or it may force the reader to make a decision because of a dilemma.
This is most common in our culture as fairy tales. While the name may make it sound less important, moral stories have been around for a long time. Jesus spoke in parables – isn’t that just a story with a moral message underneath? Stories like Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs have messages tucked away behind the narrative. After all, no one thinks a wolf can talk – this must be a narrative tool to express something else.
When we look at the moral interpretation for the Abraham story, we are left with a dilemma. Is it moral for God to require Abraham to sacrifice his son? What are the ethics in testing someone with an impossible choice – choose God or your child? The story doesn’t address these moral questions so it’s up to the reader to make a decision.
The Spiritual Interpretation
This, to Origen, was the most significant level of interpreting the Scriptures. The spiritual (or allegorical) interpretation held the most theological weight. In this method of interpretation, we are tasked with searching for a deeper truth, one to connect the Jewish story with the revelation of Jesus as Christ.
Back in 1999, a movie came out that was an obvious allegory to Jesus. The main character has a deeper knowledge of reality and is tasked with saving the world. He is given the option to accept the task or to go back to the regular world. He is killed in the process but resurrects. The Matrix, and Neo, are allegories of the story of Jesus. Other obvious allegories include Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, and Cool Hand Luke.
Let’s go back to Abraham. I was told that this is an allegory of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for humanity. Humanity was supposed to be killed (the Issac character) but God stepped in and had Jesus take the sacrifice instead (the lamb). What if we look at this story from a different angle?
What if this story, in light of the life of Jesus, is a picture that shows that violence has no place in the Kingdom of God? Abraham thought God wanted him to sacrifice his son Issac but that’s not what God requires (Hosea 6:6). Instead, the Kingdom of God is built on our sacrifice to our neighbor.
What Now?
Looking at the Bible through a non-literal lens opens up the text to mean so much more. It allows the Spirit to move and work in our lives, changing our perception. Knowing the story and the history of a book or passage is important, but being able to find the ways to apply that to our own lives was the most important thing to Origen. I think we believe that today as well – so let’s go and find new ways to read and think about the Bible.
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