People often ask if Christians should take the Bible literally. Some people complain that Christians take the Bible too literally, others complain that Christians don’t take the Bible literally enough. What should we do?
What does literally mean?
First, we should always have a look at what we mean by the word ‘literally’? The word ‘literally’ is formed from the word ‘literal’ and the suffix ‘-ly’, which turns the noun into an adverb. The word ‘literal’, comes from mediaeval English via Norman French, which in turn comes from Latin ‘litteralis’, which implies related to letters or to writing, which in turn comes from the Latin ‘litera’ meaning a letter, from which we get the word ‘literature’. The words ‘literal’, ‘literally’ and ‘literature’ are related. So, let’s imagine that the word ‘literally’ literally means in response to the literature, but is commonly used to mean in response to the precise meaning of the word.
When ‘literally’ is not meant literally
An issue here arises in that words have meaning in context, and never at all times in response to the strict dictionary definition. Effectively, ‘literally’ can mean either the meaning in response to the precise word used, or the meaning in response to the literary style or genre. This is confused by the indisputable fact that some people also use the word ‘literally’ to mean ‘figuratively’, for instance if someone says ‘That was so beautiful I literally died’, which in fact they didn’t. This is nothing recent, Charlotte Brontë wrote in Villette, published in 1853, ‘she took me to herself, and proceeded literally to suffocate me along with her unrestrained spirits’, which in fact she didn’t. Likewise we should always remember that when Christians claim to be taking the Bible literally, they could not at all times be doing so.
Styles of Literature
The issue with the Bible is that the Bible includes many various types of literature, and the meaning of words and phrases depends upon the context of the literature, and of the historical and cultural context of the author.
Poetry
Poetry crafts words to construct an image. Poetry shouldn’t be meant to be read literally within the sense of word for word meaning, but is supposed to be read literally within the sense of in response to the literature. When we read in Isaiah 55:12 that ‘all of the trees of the sphere shall clap their hands’, this ought to be read in response to the poetic literature. Large chunks of the Bible, not only Psalms and Song of Solomon, are poetic. Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and various songs often known as canticles, and a few passages, are also poetry in Hebrew, although that shouldn’t be at all times apparent within the English translation.
Context
Some parts of the Bible have to be put into geographical and historical context. Often within the Bible when it talks concerning the ‘world’ it doesn’t literally mean the entire planet but their ‘world’, like once we say ‘my world was collapsing’. One only has to consider the verses which say there was famine over all of the earth (Genesis 41:56), the entire world sought an audience with Solomon (1 Kings 10:24), and there have been people of each nation under heaven at Pentecost (Acts 2:5), to know that we wouldn’t have to imagine this meant the entire planet.
A very good example is the well-known passage often heard at Christmas, which tells us that ‘there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that every one the world ought to be taxed’ (Luke 2:20 KJV). This is literally what the Greek says, however it shouldn’t be literally what the Greek means. In context when this says that ‘all of the world’ ought to be taxed, it means the Roman world i.e. the Roman Empire, because Cæsar couldn’t tax areas outside his Empire. The New International Version (NIV) translates this as ‘a census ought to be taken of your entire Roman world’, by inserting the word ‘Roman’ to make it clear. Either translation is literal – one translates literally in response to the words, and one literally in response to the meaning.
Taking verses out of context
Some people claim they’re taking bits of the Bible literally, when actually they will not be. For example Leviticus 17:12 forbids eating blood within the context of dietary rules, and so some take this to ban blood transfusions, claiming they’re taking the verse literally. Yet ‘eating’ literally means digesting something via the mouth and it being processed by the stomach, which in fact doesn’t include blood transfusions. So using this verse to ban blood transfusions shouldn’t be taking it literally, but adding quite a recent unintended interpretation, which is what we would call a ‘liberal’ interpretation.
Idioms
Another aspect of language is that there are a lot of types of wording where the meaning of the words is different to those words at face value. We know in English that there are idioms like ‘raining cats and dogs’ where it doesn’t literally mean that pets are falling from clouds. It is an idiom.
In the Bible, there are a lot of idioms which shouldn’t be read literally in response to the words, but not literally in response to the meaning. For example the phrase ‘the blind leading the blind’ (Matthew 15:14) refers to a situation where people lacking in a selected skill are led by others who’re equally inept. The phrase ‘an eye fixed for an eye fixed’ (Exodus 21:24; Lev. 24:20) was literal in a single sense, but got here to check with in search of revenge or justice in a good and equitable measured way (Matthew 5:38).
Hyperbole and Figures of Speech
Other times language uses exaggeration, hyperbole and figures of speech, to stress a meaning. In 2 Chronicles 1:15 when it says about Solomon that the ‘king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones’ it’s just like the English expression ‘the streets were paved with gold’. It doesn’t literally mean that silver and gold were as common as stones, however it is a figure of speech, which gets over the concept that Solomon was wealthy and Jerusalem was wealthy.
Metaphor
The Bible also uses metaphor. Metaphor is a figure of speech which doesn’t literally mean what the words say, but makes an analogy. One common metaphor is to call God a shepherd, and even today some church ministers are called pastors, which accurately means shepherd, despite the fact that they do not work with sheep. In the Song of Solomon the writer uses a metaphor to explain his beloved’s hair as ‘like a flock of goats descending from Mount Gilead’ (Song of Solomon 4:1). When Jesus says ‘Why do you have a look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your personal eye?’ (Matthew 7:3-5 NIV) he doesn’t literally mean that individuals have planks of their eyes. He is using a metaphor and exaggeration to indicate that it’s hypocrisy to discover a minor sin in one other person, when you will have a worse sin.
Reading the Bible more deeply
However, Christians do not only read the Bible literally, in any sense of the word. Christians often read the text in deeper ways too. Exegesis is the critical interpretation of the biblical text to find its intended meaning. Hermeneutics, or the study of biblical interpretation, often identifies alternative ways of reading the Scriptures typically described because the literal, the moral, and the spiritual. Sometimes we may derive a principle which we then apply to a different situation. Hermeneutics is a skill which many Christian do unconsciously without excited about it, but not at all times consistently. In Mark 7:6-13 we read that Jesus was not impressed with the Pharisees who used logical gymnastics to rationalise away commandments they didn’t like, which didn’t match their traditions. He complained that they nullified the Word of God by their traditions (Mark 7:13). Jesus was not impressed once they took their traditions more literally than the Scriptures they were imagined to be defending, which sometimes Christians do too.
Parables
Some parts of the Bible are read within the literal sense, particularly the narrative sections. However, sometimes some stories are read in a sense of right and wrong. When Jesus told parables, we don’t read them as literal stories that truly happened. Whether or not they’re stories which Jesus made up, or were real events he recounted, we have no idea needless to say in every case, and it doesn’t matter. We read them as stories which tell an ethical. Parables like ‘the Prodigal Son’ and ‘the Good Samaritan’ will not be meant to be true stories which we take literally. They may or might not be based upon true stories, but they don’t have to be literally true, for them to inform a truth. Even the disciples needed to ask Jesus what they meant sometimes (e.g. Matthew 13:10 and 15:15).
Types
Sometimes, some stories are also read in a spiritual sense, which will be allegorical and even mystical. For example in Matthew 12:40 Jesus quoted the story of Jonah in the big fish as an allegory of being within the tomb for 3 days. This is common in Christian theology where some Old Testament passages are seen as ‘types’ or foreshadowing of events within the New Testament. Whether or not the unique story was an actual event or not, doesn’t matter, because the character of an allegory doesn’t require it.
Commands that were meant to be taken literally
When Jesus spoke he used many types of speech akin to metaphor, exaggeration, parables, hyperbole, idioms and allegory etc, but nevertheless there are a lot of things Jesus said that he almost definitely wanted us to take literally. Jesus said that we should always love each other (John 13:34-35), forgive others (Matthew 6:14-15), not judge others (Matthew 7:1-2), give to the poor and needy (Matthew 19:21), be humble (Matthew 20:26-28), and love our enemies and pray for individuals who persecute us (Matthew 5:43-44), love God and love our neighbours as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). He meant these literally. Rather than argue about which bits of the Bible ought to be taken literally or not, we might do well simply to take literally those commands which we all know are literal.
Should we take the Bible literally?
So, should the Bible be read literally? Some parts of the Bible ought to be read ‘literally’ just in response to the words, akin to lots of the commands from Jesus, which in truth Christians don’t at all times obey. The Bible should at all times be read literally, within the sense of in response to the variety of literature it’s in, and in response to its meaning in context. Of course, the challenge here comes once we may interpret some things otherwise. In that case, when St Paul advisable us to not quarrel over disputable matters (Romans 14:1), and to not judge others who interpret things otherwise (Romans 14:13), we should always keep in mind that he meant this literally!
In reality, Christians do not only read the Bible literally, just because for many Christians the Bible ought to be taken rather more seriously than that.
