Many people say they read the Bible “literally”, but what does that mean?

The Bible is full of symbolic and figurative language, and we all easily recognise the truth of this. For example, saying that Jesus is the Lamb (John 1:29; Isaiah 53:7 etc) doesn’t mean he is a sheep rather than a human. This is symbolic language. What is meant is that Jesus, because of our sinfulness, has died in our place, securing our forgiveness, just like the lambs that were sacrificed under the Old Covenant. Similarly with Jesus being the gate (John 10:9) and so forth.

In the same way, the Laodecians are told that Jesus will be spew them out of Jesus’ mouth (Revelation 3:16) doesn’t mean they will be physically ejected out of Jesus’ physical orifice. It means that they will be strongly rejected by Jesus.

Reading something “literally” should mean reading it as that piece of “literature” was intended to be read. As we read, we are always making decisions as to whether it is symbolic or physical. This especially becomes an issue when reading Apocalyptic literature – the Revelation to John, or the later chapters of Daniel.

So, in Revelation 12:4, it says, talking about the dragon, that “His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.” Does this mean that a third of the physical stars will end up on the earth, or is it to be taken as symbolic, possibly meaning that a quantity of evil angels will end up on earth (Revelation 12:9), the number 3 symbolising the spirit world? We are continually having to make these types of decisions.

We can in fact accuse each other of not taking the Bible literally. Those who read a particular phrase in the Bible as being referring to something physical, might say that those who read it symbolically are not reading it literally, but then those who read it symbolically, could say that those who read it as physical, are not reading it as the type of literature was meant to be read, and so they are not reading it literally, maybe they might say it is being read literalistically.

In the end, we should stop saying that the other group is denying the Bible because they have a different way of interpreting the Bible. Both groups can genuinely be searching for the meaning of God’s word. We can have a discussion as to who is right in each case, but let’s do it with “gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).