![]() ![]() Inasmuch as such interpreters overlook these things in the histories, they necessarily transform everything into allegories and a different meaning. For allegory is pernicious when it does not agree with the history, but especially when it takes the place of the history, from which the church is more correctly instructed about the wonderful administration of God in all stations of life, in the management of a household, in the state, and in the church. When I read the Bible, I did not follow the literal sense but according to their example, I turned everything into allegories.Īccordingly, I urge students of theology to shun this kind of interpretation in the Holy Scriptures. But because I admired these men as very great theologians, I followed the same course at the outset. Indeed, Augustine, too, would have been brought to do so had he not been withdrawn from it by his controversies and disputes with the heretics. Jerome and Origen are especially devoted to this. By means of their allegories they obscure doctrine and the edification of love, patience, and hope in God when by those speculations of their allegories they divert us from the doctrine and genuine meaning of the words. For the examples and the footsteps of the fathers frighten me. Anderson Chair in Biblical Preaching at Luther Seminary and previously taught at Candler School of Theology, Columbia Theological Seminary, and Augsburg College. "But I have often declared that I greatly abhor allegories and condemn the fondness for them. "Let the man who would hear God speak read Holy Scripture." ~ Martin Luther ![]() Thus Origen was repudiated, in ancient times, because he despised the grammatical sense and turned the trees, and all things else written concerning Paradise, into allegories." - Martin Luther But they are to be retained in their simplest meaning wherever possible, and to be understood in their grammatical and literal sense unless the context plainly forbids, lest we give our adversaries occasion to make a mockery of all the Scriptures. "no violence is to be done to the words of God, whether by man or angel. ![]() But when an interpreter arbitrarily takes a passage that is obviously intended to be a literal statement of fact, and treats it as allegory, he is twisting the Word of God and knowingly perverting its meaning. When the Bible uses an allegory or figure of speech, it is usually obvious. In order to delve deeper in the word, the Book of Faith Initiative recommends a four-fold method for reading the Bible: devotional, historical, literary and Lutheran theological reading. ![]()
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