That would be my answer as well.
If someone asked you.... how can you determine what is symbolic and what is literal? How would you respond?
Knight, symbols used in Scripture are figures of representation in which one thing is used to suggest another. The symbol is some
literal object that conveys a lesson or truth, e.g.,
Lev 17:11 - literal blood symbolizing life of a human or animal
Exodus 13:21-22 - literal pillar of cloud and fire symbolizing the glory and presence of God
Amos 8:1 - literal summer fruit basket symbolizing the end that comes in judgment (v. 8:2).
Numbers, colors, and metals are also frequently used as symbols in Scripture.
Types are a form of symbols used in Scripture, too. Types are prophetic symbols, such as Melchizedek, David were types of Christ, the earthly tabernacle, or Adam.
Symbols are but a small aspect of the many literary forms in the Scriptures.
Literalism does not mean we take the words of a passage at their face value
while ignoring the underlying sense of the words.
If we did, we would be imagining God as having wings, giant hands and feet, eyes, Jesus is a wooden door, etc. For something to be literal it must be as simply (plainly) as the writer intended when it was originally written. Literalism does not mean we ignore the underlying sense of the plain intentions of the author. For example, when we read a passage, say, describing God's hand being extended to Israel, we know this does not mean God possesses some giant hand or something.
Thus, by literalism, we mean: take the text at face value and interpret it in its normal or literal sense.
On the passage related to God's arm and hand extended to Israel, Aquinas noted: "The parabolical sense is contained in the literal, for by words things are signified properly and figuratively. Nor is the figure itself, but that which is figured, the literal sense. When Scripture speaks of God's arm, the literal sense is not that God has such a member, but only what is signified by this member, namely operative power."
So we read the bible as the literal words of God and understand that these words take on a host of literary forms that we must understand in order to get to the underlying sense of the words used by the writer: simile, metaphor, metonomy, synecdoche, personification, athropomorphism, apostrophe, irony, hyperbole, euphemism, litotes, pleonasm, repetition, climax, ellipsis, zeugma, aposiopesis, parable, allegory, dark sayings, riddles, fables, symbols, types, narrative, epic, law, tragedy, poetry, parallelism, lyric, pastoral, praise, wisdom, prophetic, oratory, and apocalyptic (a tip of the hat goes to Bullinger from whom I extracted but a small portion of his list of various literary forms).
AMR
:thumb: (I wish)
