Augustine, an early Biblical scholar who was an educated man, and normally quite level-headed in his approach to Scripture had some eccentric ideas when it came to interpreting parables. For example, in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (found in Luke 10:25-37) he tendered some interesting, or perhaps more accurately, outlandish thoughts; as to how the narrative is to be understood.
Rather than taking a simplistic approach to understanding
the parable, instead he submitted that in the story; the "certain
man" represented Adam. While Jerusalem symbolized the garden and Jericho
signified the moon. The thieves who stole from the man stood for Satan and his
demons. The priest and Levite (in the Parable) denote the Old Testament laws
and sacrifices. While the inn, where the man is dropped off, represents the
church and the innkeeper is surmised to be the Apostle Paul...and the
outlandish list goes on.
No wonder the average man says he cannot understand the
Bible when such things are conjectured by those behind a pulpit. When those who
handle the Bible fail to make the plain truth, the main truth – we distort both
the author’s intent and the hearer’s ability to comprehend the lesson.
William Barclay rightly said of Augustine’s analysis:
“One thing is quite clear about an interpretation like that. No one on earth
could produce it unless he sat down in a study and worked at the parable for
hours and days together. For that very reason it is obviously the wrong
interpretation.”
Readers, please remember – that Jesus tells the story He
does, when He does for a specific reason. He is addressing a specific crowd
about a specific subject. The parables were spoken and not written (at that
time) and were not meant for the hearer to go home and theorize or allegorize,
but rather to drive home a certain point, or illustrate a certain behavior at
that moment.
Sadly, most of us in the ministry, in an effort to “bring
something new,” have succumbed to just this type of eccentric interpretation. Yet,
when we go further than the speaker ever intended with our exegesis, we have
unwittingly become authors rather than interpreters.
A pastor friend of mine shared this with me a few years
ago- and I’m sure he heard it from someone else…but it has been immensely
helpful to me:
IF, IF Jesus was teaching about the brevity of life and
the importance of making good decisions – and then spoke this parable: “Once there was a little blonde girl in a
blue dress kicking a pink ball in her front yard while her parents were sitting
on the porch watching. When all of a sudden, the ball rolled out into the
street and when the little girl gave chase; she was struck and killed by a
black Cadillac.”
Preachers, theologians, and scholars would all sit around
debating what the little girl’s blonde hair and blue dress represented, or what
her pink ball was actually a symbol of. We would hear things like; her blonde
hair represents worldliness, and the parents denote the church, and her chasing
the pink ball is symbolism for fleeing from the will of God. While the black
Cadillac signifies death or chastisement, and so on…
When all along – the real lesson is; DON’T
CHASE A BALL INTO THE STREET OR YOU MAY GET HIT BY A CAR!
So often, when interpreting portions of Scripture, this
is our great failure. The temptation exists to make everything something it
isn’t, and miss what it really is. Remember, (in my make-believe story) the
Lord was teaching about the uncertainty of life, and making good Biblical
decisions. He WAS NOT talking about materialism, church discipline, or blonde
hair…but rather, life is fragile and you need to make wise decisions.
Yet parables are not the only victims of such poor
practices when it comes to Bible interpretation. Far too often, well-meaning
Christians make egregious errors when it comes to understanding and explaining
God’s Word.
I humbly caution Bible teachers and preachers, not to go
beyond the simple and direct interpretation of Holy Writ. If we seek to go
further than this, we can easily distort the Inspired Text and misconstrue
God’s Divine Intent.
I pray that God will help us all to stay true to the
Heavenly-sent, Spirit-inspired meaning of the Scriptures and not get lost in
the endless and bizarre maze of deciphering what GOD really meant, if He didn’t
mean what He said.
The Lord willing, I intend to submit editorials over the
next few months about the parables of Jesus, and I hope that it is helpful and
beneficial to all who read. But I have no intention of trying to decipher what “blonde
hair and blue dresses symbolize” …my magic decoder ring is broken anyway.
Memorial Heights Baptist Church
svdbygrace2@roadrunner.com
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