What Does the Bible Say - Is It Literal or Figurative #5?

Arnie and Glenn begin this final episode on the Bible being literal or figurative by reviewing some of what they said in the last episode. They note that sometimes people make up their minds prematurely about what a passage says without considering the complete case. It is important to note if the writer identifies which figure of speech is being used. It is also important to see how other writers or speakers treat a particular Bible event. Finally, it is noted that Bible events should be considered literal unless being so forces them to be impossible or nonsense. A common saying that should help to properly understand what is written is noted. Arnie and Glenn talk about the need to use common sense in understanding all written or spoken communications in the Bible. Many of the things that we write or say include some kind of figurative language. It is also noted how important it is to have a genuine desire to know and obey God's word. We complete this episode by noting that both the Old and New Testament Scriptures include both literal and figurative language and we discuss some of the things they provide to us. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on what we are saying. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what is said. 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 thirty 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 Glenn Landrum. And by the way, Fred Gosnell, who's been with us for all the years that we've been having, what does the Bible say is here, and he's operating as our as our engineer there. So we always welcome him and and even he may have some thoughts to share with us. This is what does the Bible say, and it's brought to you by the church of Christ at Woodland in Sumter, South Carolina. If you happen to be in in the Sumter area or central South Carolina area, we would welcome you to come and and worship with us on the Lord's day, morning and and evening and and Bible class that we have on Sunday mornings and also on on Wednesday evenings. And and if you have Bible questions, always feel welcome to address those to you to us, and we'll do the very best that we can to give you a Bible answer that may be helpful for you. It might even, might even spawn a a topic that we think might be something worth addressing. And maybe a lot of other people would have the same kinds of questions that that each of us have. Uh, Glenn, where, where are we starting tonight? We've been, we've been talking about whether the Bible is is literal or figurative, and we've looked at a number of aspects of that. Where do we want to go tonight?

Glenn: 2:09

Right. We started last week on this point of how to distinguish figurative from literal language, and there were six points in that topic. We covered four of those points last week, and so I will briefly go over those to catch us up. The first was, don't make up your mind prematurely and fail to consider the case. The Pharisees that misrepresented Moses when Jesus was talking to them about marriage and divorce, and they tried to trip him up on that. The writer tells which figure it is. Often times when we read, it actually specifies which figure it is, whether it's literal or or figurative. And we have to pay attention to that. When we read that, it's going to be something that's figurative, or when it says something like, like or compares two objects, then that's a figurative speaking, there's going to be one item that's figurative, one item that's literal. So we pay attention to those things. How did the other inspired writers speak on the same subject? When, when we read a passage, it's often good for us to read parallel passages to see how other writers treated the same subject, so that we can know .We often talk about passages like that as being cherry picking. So to speak. We pick out one passage and we read it and simply think that it's saying all that there is to say on that passage, when many times that subject is addressed many other times in the Scripture. So it's good for us to read parallel passages. The fourth was to consider as literal unless the subject forces us to think of it as literal or figurative. We gave an example last week, and we read a good bit in there of Jotham's fable in Judges nine. And I would invite you to read through that it's a fairly lengthy read, but you will see when reading that that much of that is literal. Much of that, I'm sorry, is figurative language. So we come to the next point that we haven't covered yet, and that's to use common sense as an understanding all written or spoken communication. Many things we write or say include some kind of figurative language. Now, when we say common sense, we use that a lot. When we're speaking, we talk about somebody maybe not having so much common sense. Well, using common sense is the act of relating your thoughts to the things that are normally true or acting and thinking in a way that is common to how most people think or act most often. We often hear people referring to someone else who does not use common sense, that means they are thinking, talking or acting in a different way than most people would most of the time. And again, in mentioning using common sense in regard to the Bible, we would be coming up with a meaning for a scripture that didn't fit what the Scriptures normally taught. The scripture for the next point will help us understand that. So, Arnie,

Arnie: 5:52

Oh, well, I'm I'm looking at the fact that that many have a desire to know and and obey God's word and John Chapter Chapter Seven is, is a place where, where we see that. Chapter 17 rather. Chapter seven, verse 17. There we go. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. This is Jesus, Jesus speaking. And of course, some people have already made up their mind what Jesus meant, what Jesus would would have said, or what they think he should have said. And therefore they they might interpret what he really did say as meaning exactly what they had had intended for him to to say. And that's not necessarily, not necessarily the truth. Uh, Jesus went on to say in in verse 18, he said, He that speaketh from himself seeketh His own glory, but he that seeketh the glory of Him that sent him, the same is true and no unrighteousness is in Him. If we read that whole, that whole paragraph, think of it as a paragraph there, I guess. I`t helps to complete the thought. It helps us to understand exactly what Jesus is saying. And I think what you what you're thinking about there. Glenn, in this regard, is that a lot of people think of what the passage, what they think the passage ought to say. And so they hear it as meaning what they say, or they read it as meaning what they think it ought to to say, and and so the point is that they started out being misled, and then they wind up, wound up being misleaders.

Glenn: 8:00

You know, I'm glad you mentioned verses 8 and 18, and and following. And I think it's important for us to look at at the the whole passage here, rather than just verse 17, if you begin in verse 16, it's telling us that that we can know the truth concerning doctrine, if we know what the Scriptures say. The verse in in 17 and 18, Christ told the Jews in the temple, who had asked how Jesus knew the scriptures without having studied them. Basically, Jesus told them that if they knew the knew and follow the scriptures, they would know he was speaking the truth. Therefore he was from God, because what he taught was the truth. In verse 19, he asked them, Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keep the law. It is against common sense or knowledge to know and do and then not do it

Arnie: 9:10

Well. And that happens so many times and and I think that one of the problems that that we one of the back ,part of the background, I guess you'd say that creates a problem like this. Is, for example, many people desired, desire to become a preacher or or a pastor, or whatever they their denomination happens to call it, and they go to a special seminary that they're taught. Okay, this is what the Bible says, And this is what it means. And then they're tested on that, and if they're tested on what, they've got to give the answer that they were given in the in the class. And so they do, and by, by and by, they begin to think that what they said, which is possibly contrary to what the, what the passage actually said, or the the circumstances under which it was said, is not factual. But they'll go through life thinking that that's exactly what the passage means, and they'll argue that point. And it's it's a good idea for us to read each passage fresh and and not, yeah, not, not just go by what somebody's told us about it, but, but what are we seeing that Jesus said, or John said, or Peter, or whoever it is that that's speaking.

Glenn: 10:38

Yeah, ya know, the first step for us to understand is to desire to know the truth, then follow through with doing what it teaches. One of the best and easiest examples I can think of is in Mark 16, 16. It says, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. Simply read the statement, what does it say? He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Yet many do not take this scripture, spoken by Jesus Christ to mean what it says. That's common sense to read it and do what it says,

Arnie: 11:26

And that's and not half of what it says.

Glenn: 11:29

Exactly.

Arnie: 11:30

I think that's one of the things you know, for example, I have a number of friends that says all that the Bible says you have to do in order to be saved is believe, belief only just nothing but but that and and like you just read, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Suppose I said he that is baptized shall be saved, but didn't add the belief, well, I would be just as wrong as the fellow who who does the other half of that, and he would probably try to correct me on that, but, but not expect the, not accept the the correction going the other direction. That's a good point you made there, Glenn.

Glenn: 12:17

I think when they moving on to to our next point, Old Testament, New Testament. Scriptures include both literal and figurative language. We can realize that when we read certain scriptures. The first point is that the scriptures give knowledge. First Corinthians, 2, 12, and 13 says, Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, Which things also we speak, not the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which to go , the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. So we must realize and know who actually wrote the scriptures. It was the Holy Spirit, or God.

Arnie: 13:13

He's the author.

Glenn: 13:14

Sure. In this case, Paul actually said or penned the words, but the words were of God. We can see that in Second Timothy 3, 16, and 17. And now we've covered that passage a number of times here before.

Arnie: 13:30

Yeah, absolutely. And and the same is true with when you look at it, you say, What passage is that that you're reading? Somebody says, Well, I'm reading from the book of Luke. You know, Luke said that he said it because the Holy Spirit gave it to him to say, and he's quoting, really, the Holy Spirit. He has laid aside his own opinions about things, and his own maybe teaching that that someone has done, and he's paying attention to what the Holy Spirit says and and writes it down. And that's true of all of the writers in the New Testament. They, many of them, encountered people. They disagreed with them. Jesus certainly did. Encountered people that that argued with with him, and some of them just would not even budge from that, even when they realized that what they were doing was misquoting scripture and saying something that that God hadn't said. Well, they thought they had the authority to do that because they were, they were priests, or they were, you know, in some kind of a position in in the Jewish religion that entitled them to do that. They're experts on that. You're an expert, if you read it correctly, and then are willing to obey.

Glenn: 15:02

To our next point is concerning the Old Testament scriptures. Paul in Romans 15, verse four wrote ,For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. And he was referring to the Old Testament, scriptures, those of the old law that those were reading written for our learning. Many people today understand that we are under the New Testament, and we're required to to follow the the teachings of Jesus, the teachings of the apostles and those that wrote the the Epistles after Christ in the New Testament, those are the things we're to follow. But that does not take away the Old Testament. The Old Testament is good for our learning, and we learn many things about God's nature, about how he dealt with people, and his moral law. So it's good for us to read Old Testament,

Arnie: 16:00

And it would have been good for for many of the people that Jesus encountered to have read the Old Testament again as well, because Jesus frequently quoted from that or the things that he was saying and teaching were based on concepts that were laid out in the In the Old Testament. So when, when they disagreed with him because, because he ate corn on the Sabbath day or some other nonsensical reason they would they were actually refusing to accept what the Old Testament itself had already taught. They had put their own interpretation on it and misrepresented what, what Jesus was doing. But he went by, went by a corn field and and plucked an ear of corn and was eating all they can't do that. Why not? Because that's Jesus. He's not allowed to do that.

Glenn: 16:58

And that's a good point. But another part of that is what Jesus referred to them, saying that why they did not do those or why they believe those things. He told them that by their traditions, they did those things, not by the teachings of the law, but it was by their traditions which is important for us. We often try to establish traditions of our own, and maybe we want to even take the traditions that are, that are established in the Old Testament and use those. Yet that's not what we're to use. We're to use the words of Jesus. He said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. So,

Arnie: 17:44

No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.

Glenn: 17:46

Absolutely.

Arnie: 17:47

Yeah, yeah. That, that's a good point. I'm looking Glenn at at John chapter 20.

Glenn: 17:56

Yep.

Arnie: 17:57

And the point, I think that that we can get out of John chapter 20, verses 30 and 31 is, is that the the Old and New Testament Scriptures, both produce faith. Uh, I'll read the passage here in verse chapter 20 and verse 30, Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of disciples, of His disciples, which are not written in this book, in John's book, but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you might have life through His name. So you know, here it is. It's productive of of knowledge. It's productive of faith. Strengthens their faith. People that don't believe that Jesus is the Christ really, part of the problem has to do with they've misread or not read at all the things that the scriptures have said from Genesis all the way to Malachi. All of that is is support for the things that are being taught under the New Testament.

Glenn: 19:23

Absolutely. You know, I think this is an important verse. It lets us know that that Jesus did a lot more than what what was written in the books. And even says that, you know, there could not be enough books, which we talked about before, I think a week or two ago, that this was kind of figurative too, that about the all the books in the world cannot contain what He'd done. But anyhow, one of the points we need to make about about that is that, yeah, much more could have been written about Jesus, but we have all that we need in order to believe and follow and be saved. Second Peter two, second, Peter one, verse three says, According as his divine power has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. So by reading, studying and learning and having that knowledge, we can have everything we need for life and godliness through the Scriptures.

Arnie: 20:28

Alright and and that, that's a fact that that that substantiated by by God's word. They, they contain some things, of course, that that requires some careful study. It it's not written for four year olds. It's written for people that are mature, that are that are grown up at least, at least in their teenage years and and perhaps even in some cases, older than than that. And and we don't just read a passage of Scripture and say, Oh, well, this is what I've got to do. Well, this is what I what it's teaching me to to do. They require some careful study. And if we, if we study them carefully, then we'll, then we'll understand them correctly there. I'm, I'm looking at Second Peter chapter, chapter three. I thought that you were going to read a little bit longer than that. Let me give you aI sort of, a couple paraga, a couple verses here, beginning, beginning in verse 15, Account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother, Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you. So, so here's Paul has written about these things. Don't just take what Matthew Mark, Luke and John had to say about it and and ignore the rest of it. There are other writers that are teaching us the things that Jesus had had taught. And then verse 16, As also in all his epistles, Paul's epistles, well, there's quite a few of them, aren't they? He didn't just write one or two and and he wrote to a wide variety of people in various cultures around the the the Near East world, there where, where he lived, As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood. Don't just assume because you read a word that, Oh, I know exactly what that means. Well, maybe think about it. Maybe it's being used in a in a way that you hadn't considered. Which they which are unlearned and unstable, wrest or pervert in other words. And that's that's happens, unfortunately, an awful lot of times, As they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Beware. It's dangerous to pervert what the Word of God says.

Glenn: 23:27

Absolutely, yeah. Some of the scriptures are more difficult to understand than others. The way we come to an understanding of the difficult passage is to study, to learn what the Bible teaches on the subject in other places. We mentioned this a few moments ago, and compare those through prayer and study and diligence, we can come to an understanding of the hard to understand passages. Second Timothy 2, 15 tells us to study to show thyself approved, a workman who needeth not be ashamed. Rightly dividing the word of truth. This simply is meaning that we we need to give diligence. We need to study a great deal to understand what God's Word says. It's not always easy just to just to read a passage and to understand exactly what it says. Many times we have to read other passages and that are related to it that we can understand this. God gives us what we need. But it's not always just real easy for us to understand. We have to we have to do our diligence and do our study to understand. So I can go ahead and pick up with the next one. And also I just mentioned that they can be understood. The scriptures can be understood. And we have Ephesians three, three through five. How that the revelation he made known unto me, the mystery as I wrote a four in few words, whereby when we read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and the prophets by the Spirit. You know, we've read a couple of times here where Paul is mentioned that he was given this, and he's saying it, he Peter, or Paul, is saying it here as well, that he was given this by the Holy Spirit, Spirit. We have a great advantage with the Scriptures right at our fingertips, but we have to spend the time and the effort to study to understand those scriptures.

Arnie: 25:55

How many times, how many times have somebody told you, well, you know there are these mysteries in the scriptures, and we, we have to figure these out for ourselves. And and of course, as as this passage says that that when you read the scriptures, is how you understand the knowledge of the of the mysteries in Christ, in other words, don't, don't just say, Oh, it's a mystery. And, and I figured it out. Here it is. This is the solution to that. No, read the whole scripture. Read the entire thing. And let's not be persuaded by someone that thinks that he knows it all and and maybe doesn't even know a piece of them.

Glenn: 26:46

You know, we we read that scripture in the Second Timothy 2, 15, a few moments ago.

Arnie: 26:52

Yeah.

Glenn: 26:52

Which tells us to be diligent. But Hebrews 11, verse six basically tells us that also, It says, But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Diligently means that we put forth great effort that it's not, it's not something that we just kind of off the cuff and say, I believe. Our faith has to be experienced diligently. We have to put forth a great deal of effort to do that, just like Abraham did. That was account, the account given in James two. It talks about Abraham gives the example of him with his faith, that he put his faith into action.

Arnie: 27:45

I think that we need to realize that that in both the figurative and and literal language of the scriptures is found what the Bible speaks of as the water of life. We have to have water to survive. Spiritually, we have to have the water. It's in ink, so to speak. It's the written word. Revelation. Chapter 22 and verse 17, says, The Spirit and the Bride say, Come and let him that heareth, Say, Come. Let him that is athirst. He he wants the the water of life. Let him that is athirst. Come and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. And, of course, that's the the Word of God that that's referring to,

Glenn: 28:50

You know, couple things on this one, and we're just about at the end of our time.

Arnie: 28:55

Yeah, we are.

Glenn: 28:56

Okay. but it's in this passage it says, And the Spirit says, Come, and the next one is the Bride. I hope we understand who the bride is. The bride is the church. We are the bride of Christ, and we need to be saying Come. So we need to be teaching that word so that people can understand and come to God. And I think it's important to look at the next two verses in this, the passage in Revelation. These next two verses in Revelation, 22 very important for us to understand. And I think that that could be a point where we come to a conclusion. here says, For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of this prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of this book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life. And. And out of the holy city from the things that were written in this book. So we are, we are not allowed. We do not have the authority to add to God's word, nor to take away Arnie.

Arnie: 30:16

Not at all. So, you know, just, just to kind of summarize the things that we've talked to now in in several of our recent sessions, and including this afternoon. Thus we see the Bible to be the mostly to be mostly literal, but in some places also illustrated with figurative language. It's meant to be read, read carefully, not to be with preconceived purposes by people with common sense and a willingness to know and desire to do God's will. We hope that that's true of of not only ourselves, but all of you that are, that are in, that are listening to the things that we've talked about. We hope that you'll be with us again next Lord's Day. Have a good week, and God be with you.