{"id":13870,"date":"2026-02-20T16:03:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T23:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/?p=13870"},"modified":"2026-02-20T16:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T23:03:12","slug":"not-everything-in-the-bible-can-be-understood-literally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2026\/02\/20\/not-everything-in-the-bible-can-be-understood-literally\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Everything in the Bible can be Understood Literally"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a comment, discussing a verse in Matthew,\u00a0 Ed Farrell writes<\/a>, “It\u2019s revelation and therefore must be understood literally.” I am not sure that Ed wants to say that everything stated in the Bible is to be taken literally, but I hope not, for it seems clear to me that much of what we read in the Bible must be taken figuratively.\u00a0 Nothing I am about to say is original with me.<\/p>\n

We read in Genesis<\/em> that light was created before sources of light (sun, moon, stars) were created. The creation of light is reported at Genesis<\/em> 1:3, but the creation of sources of light occurs later as reported at Genesis<\/em>\u00a01: 14-17.\u00a0 Obviously, light cannot exist before sources of light exist.\u00a0 So what the Bible reports on this head is false, if taken literally.\u00a0 Furthermore, if the sun does not come into existence until the fourth day, how can there be days before the fourth day?\u00a0 In one sense of ‘day,’ it is the period of time from the rising of the sun to its setting.\u00a0 In a second sense of ‘day,’ one that embraces the first, a day is the period of time from the rising of\u00a0the sun to its next rising.\u00a0 In either of these senses there cannot be a day without a sun.\u00a0 So again, these passages cannot be taken literally.<\/p>\n

But there is a deeper problem.\u00a0 The Genesis<\/em> account implies that the creation of the heavens and the earth took time, six days to be exact.\u00a0But the creation of the entire system of space-time-matter cannot be something that occurs in time.\u00a0 And so again\u00a0Genesis<\/em>\u00a0cannot be taken literally, but figuratively as expressing the truth that, as St. Augustine puts it, “the world was made, not in time, but simultaneously with time.” (City of God<\/em>, XI, 6)<\/p>\n

And then there is the business about God resting on the seventh day.\u00a0 What? He got tired after all the heavy lifting and had to take a rest?\u00a0 As Augustine remarks, that would be a childish way of reading\u00a0 Genesis<\/em>\u00a02:3.\u00a0 The passage must be taken figuratively: “. . . the sacred narrative states that God rested, meaning thereby that those rest who are in Him, and whom He makes to rest.” (City of God<\/em>, XI, 8)\u00a0 Whether you agree with Augustine’s figurative reading, you ought to agree that the passage cannot be taken literally.<\/p>\n

What is to be taken literally and what figuratively?\u00a0 “. . . a method of determining whether a locution is literal or\u00a0figurative must be established.\u00a0 And generally this method consists in this:\u00a0 that whatever appears in the divine Word that literally does not pertain to virtuous behavior or to the truth of faith you must take to be figurative.” (Augustine,\u00a0On Christian Doctrine<\/em>, Book Three, Chapter 10)<\/p>\n

This method consigns a lot to the figurative.\u00a0 So it is not literally true that God caused the Red Sea to part, letting the Israelites through, and then caused the waters to come together to drown the Pharaoh’s men?<\/p>\n

I’m just asking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a comment, discussing a verse in Matthew,\u00a0 Ed Farrell writes, “It\u2019s revelation and therefore must be understood literally.” I am not sure that Ed wants to say that everything stated in the Bible is to be taken literally, but I hope not, for it seems clear to me that much of what we read … Continue reading “Not Everything in the Bible can be Understood Literally”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574,426],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-old-testament","category-revelation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13871,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13870\/revisions\/13871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}