One point of comparison

As one of the professors in our Dominican seminary, I thank the Lord every time I get to see the students progress in their understanding of Scripture and grow in their faith. This week I got to see some evidence of that growth once again.

One of the classes I teach is called "Hermeneutics" in which we study how to interpret the Bible. The number one rule is really to let the Bible interpret itself, in other words, let the Bible speak for itself. The Bible says what it means, and means what it says.

This week we discussed how the Bible often uses illustrations and comparisons to teach a spiritual truth. Figures of speech are common in literature, in teaching, even in our daily conversations. So it should be no shock that they are common in the Bible too, to help us understand. When we make comparisons, we really intend only one point of comparison; we don't intend the person we're talking with to go off and make comparisons for every little detail. For example, if I say my nephew is growing like a weed, you understand that I mean he's growing very fast. That's the one point of comparison. Anything beyond that--that he has green skin, prickly stickers, or roots growing out of his feet--is going too far.

That applies to illustrations and comparisons in the Bible too. We used the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) as an example. It is not uncommon to hear people explain the parable, saying that mankind is the man who was beaten up, robbed and left for dead, the devil is the robber, Jesus is the Good Samaritan who treats our wounds with oil and wine (Jesus' blood), etc. While those are interesting ideas, that's not the point of the story!

Looking at the situation when Jesus told the story, we see that Jesus told it to point out to the teacher of the law that he had *not* loved his neighbor as himself, as he had just claimed. Jesus is showing him how far he had fallen short by not showing mercy to others as the Good Samaritan did in the story. That's the one point of comparison. Anything beyond that is going too far.

Mankind was beaten up by the devil and left for dead in our sins? Yes. But that's not the point of this parable. Jesus has loved us, shown us his amazing mercy, and saved us by washing away our sins with his blood? Yes. But that's not the point of this parable. These truths are found in *other* parts of Scripture, often using *other* parables and illustrations.

After using a few other examples to apply the same principle, I got to see the light turn on. The men started applying this "one point of comparison" principle on their own, even correcting each other as loving brothers when they noticed someone was going beyond the simple, obvious point of comparison.

I thank the Holy Spirit for leading us to see and understand that the Bible says what it means, and means what it says, with simple, straightforward language.

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
NW