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ZNPaaneah · 08-12-2011, 02:36 PM

Allegorizing produced contradictory results. Consider the Samaritan woman’s five husbands (John 4:18). They were interpreted as the five natural senses (hearing, sight, etc.), the Samaritans’ five false gods (2 Kings 17:30f) and Moses’ five books accepted by Samaritans!¹³ More damaging, allegorizing widened the chasm separating clergy and laity. Only “mature” clergy could unlock the allegorical mysteries behind Scripture’s text. The laity deferred to the “spiritual” clergy. This gave the Roman Catholic Church a monopoly on Biblical truth, translation, and interpretation. “For a thousand years the [Catholic] Church had buttressed its theological edifice by means of an authoritative exegesis which depended on allegory as its chief medium of interpretation."¹⁴ Moreover, elevating Scripture’s allegorical meaning depreciated its literal sense, and the value of Scripture’s written text. Translating Scripture into layman’s language would promote grievous error among the uninitiated. Allegory’s proof-text, says, “the letter (Scripture’s literal sense) kills,” only “the Spirit (the spiritual-allegorical sense) gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). Hence for over a millennium the Roman Catholic Church maintained control of Scripture and biblical interpretation. The Reformation unleashed forces which would change all this. “It is significant,” writes Mickelsen,¹⁵ “that reformation began when men questioned the allegorical…approach to Scripture.”

I find this interesting. You begin with the idea that every word is meaningful, so someone asks what the number 5 means? Does it mean more than 1, or is there a hidden meaning in there. But at that point they leave scripture. Is there a Biblical basis to say it refers to the five senses? But this then leads to the idea that the Bible is full of hidden meanings, instead of deeper meanings. It is as though the Bible is written in some mysterious code that only certain ones can unlock. So this discourages the laity from doing their own reading because they don't know the code, and it creates a special class of saints in the church that have the code and everyone else needs to get the new up to date speaking from.

Now we know from Jesus parables that Jesus did speak figuratively and the OT is full of figurative speech. But there is always a very neat fit between the type and the fulfillment. The figurative speech should only confirm and illuminate the clear teachings, they should not be used as a basis for a teaching. And of course, any teaching that discourages saints from reading the Bible is a reprobate teaching.

08-12-2011, 02:36 PM	#22
ZNPaaneah Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 7,105	Re: Against LSM's Allegorizing Allegorizing produced contradictory results. Consider the Samaritan woman’s five husbands (John 4:18). They were interpreted as the five natural senses (hearing, sight, etc.), the Samaritans’ five false gods (2 Kings 17:30f) and Moses’ five books accepted by Samaritans!¹³ More damaging, allegorizing widened the chasm separating clergy and laity. Only “mature” clergy could unlock the allegorical mysteries behind Scripture’s text. The laity deferred to the “spiritual” clergy. This gave the Roman Catholic Church a monopoly on Biblical truth, translation, and interpretation. “For a thousand years the [Catholic] Church had buttressed its theological edifice by means of an authoritative exegesis which depended on allegory as its chief medium of interpretation."¹⁴ Moreover, elevating Scripture’s allegorical meaning depreciated its literal sense, and the value of Scripture’s written text. Translating Scripture into layman’s language would promote grievous error among the uninitiated. Allegory’s proof-text, says, “the letter (Scripture’s literal sense) kills,” only “the Spirit (the spiritual-allegorical sense) gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). Hence for over a millennium the Roman Catholic Church maintained control of Scripture and biblical interpretation. The Reformation unleashed forces which would change all this. “It is significant,” writes Mickelsen,¹⁵ “that reformation began when men questioned the allegorical…approach to Scripture.” I find this interesting. You begin with the idea that every word is meaningful, so someone asks what the number 5 means? Does it mean more than 1, or is there a hidden meaning in there. But at that point they leave scripture. Is there a Biblical basis to say it refers to the five senses? But this then leads to the idea that the Bible is full of hidden meanings, instead of deeper meanings. It is as though the Bible is written in some mysterious code that only certain ones can unlock. So this discourages the laity from doing their own reading because they don't know the code, and it creates a special class of saints in the church that have the code and everyone else needs to get the new up to date speaking from. Now we know from Jesus parables that Jesus did speak figuratively and the OT is full of figurative speech. But there is always a very neat fit between the type and the fulfillment. The figurative speech should only confirm and illuminate the clear teachings, they should not be used as a basis for a teaching. And of course, any teaching that discourages saints from reading the Bible is a reprobate teaching.