What Does the Bible Say - Is It Literal or Figurative #2?

In this second episode, Arnie and Fred continue to discuss the literal and figurative aspects of the Bible. We begin here by noting that Jesus and the apostles understood that some of the historical and literal Bible accounts contained figurative language, since they supplied the words. We note the words that Abraham received Isaac from the dead, the passages that appears in, and why it is important to understand it properly. We discuss Parables, noting that they are realistic stories conveying a moral thought as contained in the parable of the Sower.  We look at Proverbs that are understood to be old sayings that communicate practical truths. We look at what Jesus said about the Physician in Luke 4. We continue by noting the allegory that Paul identified of the Bondwoman and Freewoman. We talk about that allegory and how Paul applied it. We close out this episode with a discussion of metaphors. We look at three that are found in the New Testament, two that Jesus used, and one Paul wrote about. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.

Transcript

Fred Gosnell: 0:00

ThIs is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter, South Carolina. We meet for worship on Sunday at ten thirty am and five thyirty pm. We meet for bible study at nine thirty am on Sunday and seven pm on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson, you may email them to Fred Gosnell at fgosnell@ftc-i.net or to Arnie Granke at agranke440718@twc.com.

Arnie: 0:33

Good afternoon. This is Arnie Granke and Fred Gosnell in Sumter, South Carolina. We're with the church of Christ at Woodland, and we hope that if you happen to be in our vicinity, that you'll drop in and and worship with us on Lord's day morning, Lord's day evening, and also Bible classes on Sunday morning and and Wednesday evening. Uh, Fred and I have been talking a little bit about the Bible. The situation with many people is that they they think that everything in the Bible is figurative. There are some figures of speech, or quite a few figures of speech. And we ordinarily use figures of speech in our in our everyday conversations that we have and, and the Bible does that as well. But, but when we read about people, particular individuals, they're real people or, or were real people, God is a real individual. When we read about conditions in heaven, things that are describing heaven, they are are real unless there's an obvious figure of speech mentioned there. And and so we, we want to clear up the idea that everything in the Bible is just figurative anyway, and doesn't mean what it said, because it does mean what it says. We ended up last week, Fred talking about things that were historical and and literal and and yet, using a little bit of figurative language, such as Abraham receiving Isaac from the dead. Well, Isaac hadn't really died. He was ordered by the Lord to sacrifice Isaac, and he was all ready to do it. Everything had been, had been arranged, and and the next second or two would have, would have been the end of of Isaac's earthly life. And and God stopped him at at that particular point. So in that sense, that would be figuratively receiving Him back from the the dead. And that's the way most of the figures of of speech operate. Uh, why don't we discuss a couple of them, Fred?

Fred Gosnell: 2:55

Yeah. Well, you know, we find a lot of what are called parables in the New Testament and, and, of course, a parable, it's a realistic story that conveys a moral thought. And, and the one that a lot of people are probably familiar with is the one about the Sower in Matthew 13, two through 18. So Matthew writes there, beginning in verse two, he says, And great multitudes were were gathered together unto him so that he went into a ship and sat. And the whole multitude stood on the shore, and he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow, and when he sowed, some seeds fell by The Wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth. When the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, and they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up and choked them. But other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some 100 fold, some 60 fold, and some 30 fold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. And the disciples came and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it is not given, For whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance. But whosoever has not from him shall be taken away, even that he hath. Therefore speak I and to them in parables, because they seeing, see not and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing you shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive. For the people's heart is waxed gross and their ears and dull of hearing and their eyes they have closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted, and I should heal them. Blessed are your eyes, for they hear. Your eyes, for they see, and your ears for they hear. For verily, I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see and have not seen them, and to hear those things which you hear and have not heard them. Hear ye, therefore, the parable of the sower. So so he uses the real fact about seeds and planting seeds and and what occurs there, and, and, of course, later on, he explains to them what this means. And of course, seeds that are sown, but they just fall on the road. They don't go anywhere. The birds pick them up, you know. And then he explains those that have fell on stony places, they don't come up because, well, they come up, but they don't last because there's no dirt there, and they can't establish any roots. As soon as the sun comes up, they're withered away. Then there's there's those. If you take, don't take weeds out of your field, you plant seeds in them, the weeds come up, and then chokes out your grain. And then, if you prepare your soil well, you get rid of the weeds, and you plant your seeds there, and then they come up. Of course, he applies this to the Word of God, and then he this is all talking about condition of an individual's heart. And notice what he says there in the middle in verse 15. He says, This people's heart is wax gross, and their ears are at all a hearing, and their eyes they have closed lest at anytime they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, should be converted and I should heal them. But so everybody that hears the Word of God doesn't do anything about it, and and it's all dependent upon the condition of their heart. And this parable, of course, he uses an agricultural facts here that the people he's talking to, they would understand that totally these were a lot of them agricultural people. They understood things about seeds and earth and weeds. So once he explained it to his disciples, then all of it, they could see this. But a lot of the other people, because of their hearts, they wouldn't, they wouldn't understand what he was saying.

Arnie: 7:39

I think we've all had an experience like that in in some regard, either we're speaking to somebody else about a thing, or they're, they're telling us and and referring to something that they want to point out to us. And we're looking and we're not seeing it. We're, we're seeing the other things in the picture, but failing to see the point that they're that they're trying to show us. And that's what Jesus is capitalizing on in that in that account. And I think that everybody in his audience would have exactly understood that, we've all had that kind of an experience, either as a pointer or the or the the pointee, I suppose you'd say that that is keeps missing, missing what's being shown to us, parables. I would say a proverb is, is certainly a parable, and and Jesus uses a proverb, speaking about a a physician. A proverb really just a a common saying of practical, practical truth. And and Luke, Luke, chapter four records, it records an occasion where Jesus is is speaking, beginning in verse 21, He began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears and all bear him witness, and wondered if the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth and they said, Is not this Joseph's son. And he said unto them, you will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum do also here in thy country. And I'll pause on that. And and he's, he's up in the area of Nazareth and Capernaum was about 20 miles southeast, or rather southwest of of there, up in up in Galilee. And so, you know, it would be necessary for him to tell the same information everywhere that he went until they all had heard it and were prepared to hear the next thing that he wanted to teach them. So this is a very realistic type of of situation. Verse 24 he said, Verily, I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months with great famine was throughout the land, but unto them, unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Serepata, the city of a city of Sidon unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha. Don't confuse Elijah with Elisha, two different individuals. And none of them was cleansed, save Naaman, the Syrian. So He's referring them back to the Old Testament, if, if they want to understand the things that are being said, that are being taught, that they need to use the same rules of understanding Jesus as they would have used with Elijah and Elisha and anybody else that was an Old Testament writer or or a prophet and and not accuse somebody in modern day of just speaking in just everything he has to say is just a figure of speech. It doesn't mean anything that he's really saying, Jesus really did, and we need to understand that and and not try to apply rules of understanding that are that are unusable in his case.

Fred Gosnell: 12:16

Yes and, and another, another figurative application that we find is an allegory. And Paul identifies the allegory in Galatians. And Arnie is probably going to read that here in a little bit, but I'll read from Genesis 21, 8, through 14. And this allegory has to do with the bond woman and the free woman. So in Genesis 21 eight through 14, and here he said, the text says, And the child grew and was weary, and weaned, and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac, talking about Isaac here, Was weaned, and Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian which she had born unto Abraham mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, cast out this bond woman and her son, for the son of this bond woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight, because of his son. And God said unto Abraham, let it not be grievous in thy sight, because of the lad and because of thy bond woman. In all that Sarah has said unto thee, hearken to her voice, for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bond woman, will I make a nation because he is thy seed. And Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a bottle of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder and the child and sent her away, and she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. So, so we have a situation where Isaac is the son of promise, but the son of Hagar was the firstborn, and so the firstborn normally gets the gets the inheritance, but he was not the son of the wife. So, so, so, so Rebecca or Sarah said, No, this is not going to occur. You're going to have to get rid of both Hagar and her son. And of course, Abraham did, because the Lord told him, Yes, that's what you need to do. So So, so Paul in in Galatians chapter four, he explains what this that this is an allegory, and he explains what this means. And so I'll pass that to you, to read.

Arnie: 14:41

And let me, let me just comment about that situation, that that at that time and and in that culture, God allowed men to have more than one, more than one wife or or concubine, or whatever. Uh. Uh, but that's no longer applicable. And, and became unapplicable. Is that a word? Uh, during biblical times as well. So, so don't think that this is authority for you to have a lot of women, gentlemen. Uh, one man, one woman, husband and and wife and and that's all that God authorizes. And if you wind up with separating from your wife, you better be careful that that you're not violating something that the Bible teaches that we that we ought not to violate. So you you mentioned, you mentioned the Galatians chapter four, I think, and and, Tell me ye that desire to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bond woman, other by the free woman, he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory? Notice he identifies this. It was a real situation, but he's using that situation to apply it to a figure of speech concerning the things that he's teaching at that point that that here's an allegory that that helps to substantiate the point that that he's making, making here with regard to Abraham's seed. He said, For these are the two covenants. Well, they weren't really the two covenants, but he's letting them represent the the Old Testament and, and the New Testament and, and the the one from Mount Sinai that engendered bondage, which he said is represented by Hagar or Agar in the King James version. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. And answereth to Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above, speaking about the our future home, hopefully, in in heaven, we hope that it's yours as as well, That the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. So, so that's where the allegory comes in, that one representing the the other, but not really being the other. Verse 27 For it is written, Rejoice thou barren that barest not, break forth and cry thou that travailest not, for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband. And a lot of times you know that to be true, you've known of women that had become, many had become pregnant many times, and never had been, had been married at at that time there. Now, of course, in in the case that he's using as an illustration, it was, it was legitimate, as we said, Not so anymore. So now we, we, we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, okay, differentiating between, between Agar's son and and Isaac, after the after the Spirit, and I kind of lost my place there. Nevertheless, what saith, Where was that where I dropped it? I stopped looking at it Fred, and lost where it was. He that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit. Even so it is now nevertheless what saith the Spirit, Cast out the bond woman and her son, for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then brethren, We're not children of the bond woman, but of the free, I'll let you pick it up from there.

Fred Gosnell: 19:44

Okay, of course, what, who Paul is, is writing this to are the Christians in Galatia. So, so then and those who are the children of the bond woman would be, would be the Jews. So then he says in chapter five, one through three. Then he says, Stand fast therefore in the liberty where with Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. And of course, the yoke of bondage has to do with the old law. The old law was done away on the cross, and the law of Christ was instituted by by the Lord. So, so he's telling the Galatians. Of course, there were those in Galatia that were trying to get these Christians in Galatia to go back under under the old law. So he warns them. He says, Don't get entangled again with the yoke of bondage under the Old Testament law. He says, Behold, I Paul, say unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law. So, so so the the the Judaizers there were trying to tell them that, well, you've got to be circumcised after the manner of Moses in order for you to be saved. Of course, that was a requirement under the old law, but under the new new law and the law of Christ, there was no physical circumcision required. And the brethren there at at Galatia, they were Gentiles. They had not been circumcised, and when they obeyed the gospel, they weren't circumcised. So Paul says, Now, don't get entangled in that. We've been made free of that. And Isaac was the representation. He's the child of promise. And in the allegory, Isaac represented the New Testament Church, so to speak, or Jerusalem, that is above the spiritual body of Christ, so, but that's an allegory. So there's a real story behind that. But then the application is applied to something else, and that's what Paul explains to us.

Arnie: 21:53

Very often in in America, as a matter of matter of fact, it's sort of a general rule when it when a boy is born, an infant is born, and he's a boy, parents usually now have him circumcised, but if they don't want him circumcised, they they tell the doctor that delivered the baby not to do that, and, and, and he won't so. But Jewish families as a rule today always have their have their boys circumcised. Gentiles, not always, so frequently so, but not always. And so it's interesting that the that the the Jews are are equated to to the bond woman now and and Christians are the ones who are in this illustration, are thought of as being the free woman. So there are plenty of of figures of speech, just just some other ones to look for us to to talk about here, either either today or in a in a future discussion, things like a metaphor or a simile. We'll talk about a similitude. There's a difference between a simile and a and a civil, similitude, hyperbole, personification. There. There are lots of figures of speech, but that doesn't mean that everything in the Bible is a figure of speech. Usually, the figures of speech are used as a reference to a particular thought that's being taught, or as an illustration of of that. And let's start with a metaphor. I'll pick up where you left off. Fred with a with a metaphor. Thinking of of examples of other figures of speech in the Bible, a metaphor is a word or phrase expressing a similarity to something that doesn't usually denote, without stating the comparison, but you you understand, as you read, that that's what has has occurred there. So it'd be sort of like words such as like or as are not used usually, if I if I want to tell you that I'm likening something to something else, I would say it's like that, or it's as that he did it as such and such. But that doesn't appear in a metaphor. I probably talked enough about that. Let me, let me pass it on to you.

Fred Gosnell: 25:03

Okay. Well, the first metaphor that we'll look at is discusses salt and light, and in Matthew 5, 13, through 16, Jesus there says, You are the salt of the earth, speaking to His disciples, but if the salt have lost a savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid, Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and giveth, giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your God, which is in heaven. So so the the the metaphor he's talking, he's talking about salt and light, but he's not talking really about salt and light. He's he explains that at the end of the verse, he says, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. So So you know, if you light a candle, you're not going to put it under a bushel. You light the candle to light the room. You don't, you don't hide the candle. And then, if the salt is not salty anymore, what do you do with it? What do you throw it away. It's of no use to you. So if an individual that wants to follow the Lord, if he's not following the Lord and obeying what he says, he has no good works, then he's like putting a light under a bushel, or he's like salt and doesn't have any savor anymore. So, and that's his lesson, and that's the metaphor, in this case, regarding Salt and Light that Jesus uses.

Arnie: 26:49

Interesting there that, of course, that that's that was a situation that they had in Jesus day, the salt didn't always keep its its savor, if it became older, if it got moistened in some way, or or whatever. The salt that we buy here in America, in in a grocery store, generally, is is packaged in stuff in such a way that it protects it from from that. Don't know if it other countries do it exactly that way or or not, but usually we don't have the salt losing its its savor here in in the United States. Looking at the situation of Herod that, by the way, you were using the sermon on the mount there, the first chapter of the sermon on the mount there, in Matthew five. Herod, that Jesus spoke of Herod as being that old fox. And was Herod really a fox? Did he? Did he have red hair, and was he have a fluffy tail? Well, of course, of course, he wasn't really a fox. That was a a metaphor that he's he's using. He had some Fox like attributes, it seemed. And so that's why he's referred to that way. In Luke chapter 13 and beginning in verse 31, The same day there came a certain of the Pharisees saying to him, Get thee out and depart hence for Herod will kill thee. Well, was Jesus concerned about that? Verse 32 tells you he wasn't concerned. He said unto them, Go you and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Well actually, he's he's speaking about, everybody understood. All the Jewish people understood what he meant when he called Herod a fox, just like probably we have some politicians today that some of these kind of insulting attributes are ascribed to them, because they almost seem worthy of being insulted in in the things that they do and and some of the misdeeds. And certainly that was characteristic of Herod,

Fred Gosnell: 29:35

Yes, and sometimes you find something that's said earlier. It says again, first, Corinthians, three, five through seven. Paul says, who then is Paul and who is Apollos? But ministers by whom you believe. Even as the Lord gave to every man, I have planted Apollos water, but God gave the increase, so that neither he that planted is anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. Of course. So he's talking about preaching the word of God. And then he uses, remember the parable of the sower? He uses the figure of planting seed. And he says, Apollos, I planted the Word of God. Apollos came along and he expanded on it, he watered it. But the seed comes up based on God's law, and it's true of the Gospel, the word of God, the seed, which is the word of God, and we plant it, we water it. The increase comes from God. Increase doesn't come from anybody that plants it or waters it.

Arnie: 30:38

Well, it's kind of fun talking about that, but we've run out of time, so I hope that next Lord's day, when you tune us in, we can pick up on some of these other, other figures of speech. And in the meantime, I hope that you'll worship on the Lord's Day and and we look forward to having you hear us next week. Have a good week.