| (Part One) (Copyright 01-29-2025) by Richard T. Ritenbaugh (Charlotte, North Carolina) |
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 Many people who profess Christianity feel they understand the Bible. Tens of thousands of books, commentaries, Bible dictionaries, and prophetic writings explain and re-explain it by thesis, exegesis, and endless debate. However, how much do the authors of these works truly understand? If the Bible is so easy to understand, why are there so many varying opinions? Why do equally brilliant scholars come up with opposing explanations? Even within the many denominations of Christianity, innumerable disagreements exist on virtually every part of God’s Word. The Bible contains numerous images and illustrations. It is self-proclaimed to be written in parables, riddles, symbols, similitudes, allegories, and analogies, and God has good reasons for doing so. To probe these mysteries, we will devote several studies to understanding the Bible’s language and imagery. What is a parable? Matthew 13:34-35. Comment: A “parable,” Greek parabole (Strong’s #3850 from #3846), is a “similitude . . ., i.e. (symbol.) fictitious narrative (of common life conveying a mor[al]), apothegm or adage.” In the King James Version, this Greek word is rendered variously as “comparison,” “figure,” “parable,” and “proverb.” Thus, a parable is not a straightforward description of an event just as it occurred or will occur. It is intended to be similar to a real event, a comparison that the reader must interpret to understand its true meaning. Why does Scripture use parables instead of just giving the facts? Matthew 13:9-17; Luke 8:9-10; Isaiah 28:9-13. Comment: Paradoxically, Christ did not speak in parables to make the meaning clear to His hearers! From the very beginning, God has supervised the Bible’s writing so that it cannot be understood without outside help. Even prophets and righteous men of old did not often understand their own messages, nor did the multitudes who heard Christ’s parables comprehend His meaning. According to Romans 11:32-33, the meaning is veiled from most of mankind until the day God offers them salvation. They are relegated to unbelief until a later time (i.e., the Millennium or Great White Throne Judgment), lest they rebel and, refusing to repent, must be destroyed. Who, then, can understand? John 6:44-45, 63. Comment: God has set up a system to call, convert, and educate a people for Himself. Those He chooses or elects are a minority, a miniscule few among the billions of humans (Luke 12:32). They are not mighty, noble, and learned, but the weak of the world (I Corinthians 1:25-29), spiritual infants whom God can nurture with His revealed Word (Matthew 11:25). God calls them, provides them faith and grace (Ephesians 2:8), and gives them His Spirit (John 14:26) and teachers (Romans 10:13-17) to help them understand. Of all people on earth, only they have a legitimate chance to understand the Bible properly. As we saw, another word for parable is “similitude.” How does the Bible define this word? How should we view similitudes? James 3:9; Deuteronomy 4:15-18; Psalm 106:20. Comment: A similitude is a similarity, comparison, likeness, image, shadow; in its essentials, it is the same as a parable. God says through Hosea that the prophets spoke in similitudes or similarities (Hosea 12:10, KJV). Further, in his epistles, the apostle Paul asserts that the Old Testament accounts have been preserved for our understanding and use today (Romans 15:4; I Corinthians 10:11). Thus, what happened to Israel and Judah in the prophecies may apply in principle or type to their modern-day descendants or even to the church, called the “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16). Further, what occurs in the church can sometimes be a reflection or a precursor to what Scripture prophesies to occur more widely in the nations of Israel. It may not unfold in the same detail but similarly. This principle opens innumerable interpretive possibilities—and multiplies an interpreter’s chance of misapplying prophetic Scripture! What is an allegory? Does it further solidify the relevance of physical-spiritual types? Galatians 4:19-31. Comment: Webster’s Dictionary defines allegory as “to speak figuratively, a symbolic representation.” Unger’s Bible Dictionary defines it as expressing or explaining one thing under the image of another and showing a second, deeper meaning than would seem apparent. Again, it is like a parable, though it usually consists of a one-to-one correspondence of symbol to reality. Using analogies in Galatians 4, Paul shows that the Old Covenant points to and helps explain the New. He writes that Jerusalem is a figure, forerunner, type, and symbol of the New Covenant church (see also Hebrews 12:22-23; Romans 9:1-8; I Peter 2:9). We can then read both history and prophecy about Jerusalem, the physical capital of Israel, and seek to apply it to the spiritual church to master the lessons the Israelites failed to learn. The use of the word “key” indicates that biblical understanding is locked and must be opened. What is a “key”? Luke 11:52. Comment: A key, of course, is a tool that opens a lock or locks something that was open. Jesus says the Jewish lawyers did so in His day, locking away understanding through their selfishness and deception. The keys to open or reveal understanding are contained in Christ. As the apostle Peter writes in II Peter 1:20, “. . . no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” The Bible provides plenty of information on these keys to understanding. Prophetically, a vital key is the identity of the modern nations of Israel. Another is the synchronization of the books of Daniel and Revelation with each other and with Christ’s Olivet Prophecy. A third is contained in the fundamental details of the plan of God in His holy days. Still another is the understanding of the resurrections. These keys and others help us to frame biblical clues more precisely and place the prophetic puzzle pieces as accurately as possible. Having obscured the meaning of the mystery of His purpose from this world, God has revealed to His elect what they need to know for their salvation. If we allow the Bible to interpret its own symbols, its metaphorical language will greatly enhance our understanding of God, His plan, and ultimately, His marvelous Kingdom! ——————————————————————————————————————- See Richard T. Ritenbaugh’s other articles at: Ritenbaugh, Richard T. – Church of God, Bismarck (church-of-god-bismarck.org) Reprinted with permission from: Church of the Great God https://www.cgg.org/ ——————————————————————————————————————– |
| (Part Two) (Copyright 03-19-2025) by Richard T. Ritenbaugh (Charlotte, North Carolina) |
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 The Bible concerns God, His Plan, and His relationship to His elect, who are, collectively, the church. It has been called the preparation manual for the 144,000 firstfruits who will constitute the Bride of Christ at His return. For this reason, we find many parables, analogies, similitudes, allegories, and imagery that identify and define God’s church. Dozens of such figures in Scripture refer to it. Humans find it difficult to understand God’s expectations of today’s church, much less the full implications of becoming part of the God Family. In Scripture, God uses varying analogies to aid those being converted to come to a more complete understanding of His purposes. This study will begin an examination of some of these metaphorical expressions. What is the most straightforward and obvious scriptural reference to the church Christ said He would build? Acts 20:28. Comment: The New Testament names the body of believers “the church of God” in twelve specific verses (Acts 20:28; I Corinthians 1:2; 10:32; 11:16, 22; 15:9; II Corinthians 1:11; Galatians 1:12; I Thessalonians 2:14; II Thessalonians 1:4; I Timothy 3:5, 15). Yet, literally tens of thousands of Christian religious groups today claim to be connected with the true God but possess names bearing little similarity to what God names His church in the Bible. Because “church of God” is generic, the Bible adds “at Ephesus,” “at Corinth,” or at other locations to define which part of the church is meant in a specific context. In I Timothy 3:15, Paul adds “living” to the phrase—“church of the living God”—showing that God allows some leeway in expressing the church’s name, utilizing more of His specific names and attributes as part of the identification. The organization producing this article uses “Church of the Great God,” a biblically authorized name as found in Ezra 5:8 (also Deuteronomy 10:17; Nehemiah 8:6; Psalm 95:3; Proverbs 26:10 [implied]; Daniel 2:45; Titus 2:13; Revelation 19:17). Herbert W. Armstrong had this title of God inscribed on the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, California: “Dedicated to the honor and glory of the Great God.” 2. Do people really understand what the church of God is? Matthew 16:18. Comment: Amazingly, multitudes of organizations in the Catholic and Protestant world have no idea what the church actually consists of. This fact illustrates that even on the simplest of levels, the Bible is a coded book. When using the word “church,” many refer to a physical building or a legal corporate structure. A comparative few seem to understand the church consists of the members themselves. The English word “church” is used to translate the Greek ekklesia, meaning “called-out ones” or “assembly”. The “congregation in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38) consisted of those called out of physical Egypt; the New Testament church are those called out of the spiritual Egypt of false belief and practice dominating this world. Without this knowledge, it is extremely difficult to identify the church Christ built. 3. Is the church compared to a family? Romans 8:16-29; Ephesians 3:14-15; Colossians 1:15; I Peter 2:17. Comment: Another little understood concept begins to unfold when biblical writers use the analogy of a family for the church. Such family terms are widely used in Scripture. God is our Father, and Jesus Christ is His Son. Church members are called “children of God” and “brethren” (“brothers”), and together are a “brotherhood” and ultimately, the Bride of Christ. When Christ is identified as the “firstborn of many brethren” (Romans 8:29), and the Christian assembly, God’s church, is designated as the “church of the firstborn” (Hebrews 12:23), we can grasp the rudiments of the Plan of God—that God is reproducing Himself. As the Archegos, Christ is the first to go through the process, leading the way for others to be transformed into His image, to become as He is (I John 3:1-2). As heirs with Christ (see also Galatians 3:26-4:6), our inheritance is the same as His, for we will be brothers with Him, part of God’s Family, not lesser “angelic beings.” 4. Is the church referred to as a city? Hebrews 12:22-23; Psalm 48; Joel 2:15; Revelation 21:2, 10. Comment: In Hebrews 12:22, the author lumps the church together under three different names of cities: Zion (which was not just a mountain but also a name of the city of David), Jerusalem, and “the city of the living God.” He has drawn this symbolism of churches as cities from the Old Testament, where psalms and prophecies often use the names “Zion” and “Jerusalem” as code for God’s people or church. False churches or false religious systems are also symbolized by cities such as Babylon (Revelation 17:5). 5. Can mountains and hills also refer to churches? Hebrews 12:18-23; Micah 4:7; Isaiah 2:2; Psalm 2:6; 15:1; 74:2; Zechariah 8:3. Comment: Hebrews 12:18-23 is a pivotal passage in tying the various symbols of the church together. He employs “Mount Zion” to stand for God’s New Covenant people, which he then ties to “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” Similarly, in Galatians 4:24-26, Paul refers to “Mount Sinai” as a symbol of the Old Covenant and “Jerusalem above,” New Jerusalem, to represent the New Covenant. Later, John links New Jerusalem to the Bride of Christ (Revelation 21:1-2, 9-10), the ultimate destiny of God’s elect. Other passages show hills and mountains symbolizing nations or kingdoms, which may be the most accurate interpretation of these symbols. The church, under the rule of Christ, represents the Kingdom of God in this present age. These metaphors just begin the search into biblical symbols of the church—imagery that will deepen our understanding of the times and our place in God’s Plan. ———————————————————————————- Reprinted with permission from: Church of the Great God https://www.cgg.org/ ——————————————————————————-— |
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