Is the Bible to Be Taken Literally?

Some ambiguity exists as to whether the Bible should be taken literally. Perhaps some do not understand the issue. They may think the question is whether the Bible, as a whole, is literally true.

Obviously, parts of the Bible, such as figurative teaching found in the book of Revelation, are not to be interpreted literally. For example, the "beast," first mentioned in Revelation 11:7, and then mentioned 44 times throughout the book, is not a ferocious bloodthirsty animal, but instead refers to an earthly power that would "shortly come to pass" and greatly influence the religious world (See Rev. 1:1).

Nevertheless, the Bible, being inspired of God, is all true (2 Tim. 3:16) and most of it is language that is to be taken literally. But how is one to know whether a particular passage is to be considered figurative or literal?

Some types of writing found in the Bible, such as historical language, by their very nature tend to exclude the possibility of figurative language. Therefore, we should have no difficulty in these areas. But in some of the books of prophecy and the book of Revelation we are faced with much figurative language.

A good rule for interpretation is, "If the literal sense makes good sense, seek no other sense lest you come up with nonsense." The words of a particular text should be interpreted literally if possible. If not possible, one should consider it to be figurative language.

Usually we can find clues in the context and sometimes a definition will be given. For example, when the book of Revelation speaks of the dragon (Revelation 12:9), the dragon is defined for the reader. Another example is the "bread" that Christians are to eat on the first day of the week as a memorial of what the Lord has done for us (Acts 20:7). Some consider the bread to be the literal body of Christ. Indeed, "we are all partakers of that one bread" (1 Cor. 10:17) who is Christ, but this does not mean we eat the literal body of Christ. Such a practice would be cannibalism. Paul provides much of the teaching of the Lord on the communion in his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 11.

Some assert that the Bible is not to be taken literally while others insist that the entire Bible is to be taken literally. Neither of these points of view will be helpful to coming to a good understanding of the Bible.

The church of Christ at Forum welcomes visitors and/or private home studies. See the link below for contact information: www.ForumCOC.org