In John 16:25, when Jesus is talking to His inner twelve disciples prior to offering up His high priestly prayer and proceeding to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus tells His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.” After He is done talking, the disciples say in response, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech!” (v. 29). Funny enough, Jesus’ follow-up response in v. 31-33 indicate that the disciples really didn’t fully understand Jesus’ plain speech as well as they thought they did. This snippet from John’s gospel is a very good window into the dual meaning of scripture.
Sometimes things are written in scripture that have figurative (non-literal) meaning, and sometimes things are written that have literal meaning. In this brief article, I want to show you from John’s gospel how the Lord had a knack for using figurative language, and his hearers had a bad habit of interpreting his language literally and consequently misunderstanding Him. Afterward, I will say a few things about how to distinguish between literal and non-literal language when reading the Bible.
If you have read the gospel of John a few times, you have probably noticed that Jesus’ audiences have a propensity to misunderstand what He tells them. They often assume straightway that He is meaning something in a literal sense, and rarely do they ever pick up on the true, figurative meaning of His words. I’m quite certain that I would have been just like these audiences in failing to grasp the figurative meaning, but if we can learn from these examples, let’s learn. Notice these examples, all from the gospel of John.
(1) As soon as John 2, Jesus’ audience misunderstands His words. Jesus tells the Jews, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (v. 19). Of course, they assume He is referring to the literal, stone structure before their eyes, but John reveals, “But He was speaking of the temple of His body.”
(2) Recall Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John 3. In v. 4, Nicodemus is completely befuddled how Jesus could mean, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v. 3). The Pharisee resorts to literal conceptions of birth and rebirth (v. 4). But Jesus had no intentions of this.
(3) The woman at the well doesn’t understand what Jesus means when He says to her, “Whoever drinks this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst” (4:13-14). Instead, she takes the words of Jesus literally and asks for the life-giving water that she supposes He must have strapped on His person (v. 15).
(4) When Jesus tells the multitudes that He is the true bread from heaven (6:32-33), the multitudes take him literally and ask, “Lord, give us this bread always” (v. 34). And later in the same context, when Jesus says, “the bread that I shall give is My flesh,” (v. 51) the Jews again take Him literally and ask, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” (v. 52).
(5) When Jesus says that Lazarus is only sleeping and not dead, the disciples continue the habit of taking Jesus’ words literally when they were not meant this way. They say, “’Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.’ However, Jesus spoke of [Lazarus’] death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep” (11:12-13).
(6) Finally, when Jesus tells His inner twelve, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him,” (14:7), they do not perceive the true meaning of Jesus’ words. Jesus is not saying that He literally is the Father or that He will literally show them the Father, but He is identifying His oneness in shared nature and being with the Father. He is communicating to the disciples the eternal and intensely intimate relationship that He and the Father share as distinct persons in the Godhead. This relationship is so intimate, and Jesus is the perfect image of His Father in such a way that, to see Jesus was to see the Father, not literally. Their naivety is revealed when Philip says, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us” (v. 8).
There may be other such examples from the gospel of John; I gathered these six up rather briskly. Feel free to share others with me so that I can amend the list. But notice how all of these individuals or multitudes in the examples from the gospel of John show a propensity to take Jesus’ words and statements about Himself in a literal fashion when they were not meant this way. This should give us pause. It should make us wonder if we are doing the same thing as Nicodemus and the Woman at the Well when we read Holy scripture. Here are a few thoughts I have on properly distinguishing between figurative and literal language in scripture.
First, don’t be phased when people make simple statements like, “The scripture says what it means and means what it says!” Maybe you don’t follow me at this point. Writers, debaters, and those in Bible discussions will utter this statement or one of its close relatives whenever they want to make a point that is based on the most straightforward and literal reading of a scriptural text. This statement is quite compelling. Most people like things plain and simple. Unfortunately, as we have seen from John’s gospel, scripture isn’t always as plain as we would like or as we would force on to it (see Nicodemus again). John Rice in his debate with W. L. Oliphant in 1935 uttered this statement repeatedly to his counterpart when trying to defend his position from literal readings of figurative texts in the Old Testament concerning the future kingdom of God. Rice was a historic premillennialist. Historic premillennialists believe and teach that the Son of David will return to reign in Jerusalem (literally), for 1,000 years and regather the people of Israel to the land at that time. This viewpoint is strongly entrenched in a predominately literal interpretation of scripture. Prophecy is, by and large, understood literally in this school of interpretation, with rare exceptions. But this slogan of, “The scripture says what it means and means what it says,” is not unique to John Rice or historic premillennialists. Many people offer up this response when trying to make their interpretation sound so simple that even a child could understand. And yet, this is not always the truth of the passage. Sometimes the scripture does not mean what it appears to mean at first glance, and Lazarus really is not just sleeping. So, don’t be fooled by this debate tactic. It is compelling. It is simple. But it’s often too simple.
Second, understand there is no algorithm for distinguishing the figurative from the literal in scripture. It would be nice if there was something similar to a carpenter’s square for reading scripture. A carpenter’s square ensures that you are working with a perfect 90 degree angle. Place the square where two pieces of lumber form a seeming right angle, and you will know for sure whether or not you are dealing with a true 90 degree angle or not. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a carpenter’s square for reading scripture? Put the square on the page of the Bible, and you can tell for sure whether or not the text is truly figurative or literal in meaning. But alas, there is no scriptural carpenter’s square. And unless I am ill informed, there is no surefire, one-size-fits-all algorithm that a reader can use to determine in seconds whether or not the scripture on the page has a figurative or literal meaning. In short, context is the key. There is a lot that is meant by the word context. In my book How to Understand the Bible, I give seven questions you need to ask when studying and determining a Bible passage’s context: the theological question, the literary question, the dispensational question, the situational question, the audience question, the motivation question, the immediate context question. Determining the context of a passage involves more than just looking at the verses that immediately precede and follow the passage. More on this in the next point.
Third, remember the Law of Harmony. The Law of Harmony states that all scripture must harmonize. If I interpret a passage that contradicts something I read later in scripture, I have misinterpreted one or both of the scriptures that seemingly contradict. Because the word of God is perfect and likewise able to make me perfectly equipped (2 Tim. 3:16-17), then I must not interpret scripture in such a way that would destroy its harmony. For example, if I read John the Baptist calling Jesus “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29), but then I keep reading the gospel and Jesus is described as a real human being, I can’t treat one of these passages like a trump card, raising up John 1:29 to say that Jesus is literally a Lamb. Even though it might fit the interpretation of whatever I am trying to prove, taking John’s words literally in John 1:29 destroys the harmony of scripture as I keep reading the gospel account. Thus, I have to ask the question, “Which one of these makes the most sense? Is Jesus literally a Lamb, or is Jesus literally a human being that John is simply describing as a Lamb for the sake of conveying some aspect of His character and mission?” God gave us intellects, and He came down to our level to write scripture. That doesn’t mean we all have the same level of intellect or that all scripture is simple, but it does mean that He has given us all that we need to understand, and He has assured us that we can come to a knowledge of the truth (John 8:32). The truth is not past finding out, and neither is distinguishing between the figurative and literal meaning of scripture. Compare scripture with scripture, and make sure it all harmonizes before you draw your conclusion.
There is certainly more that could be said on this issue, but my intention is not to exhaust the matter. My intention is simply to bring awareness to the very real distinction between figurative and literal meaning in scripture, and my recent studies in John’s gospel led to a good teaching on this very point. Bottom line: learn from Jesus’ audiences in the gospel of John. Use the faculties that God has gifted you in distinguishing between the figurative and the literal in scripture. Know the truth.
