Jesus Meets Us in the Darkness
On Allegory and Authorial Intention, and A Sermon That Does It
I was taught as a biblical studies undergraduate that allegorizing the biblical text is forbidden. What we’re supposed to look for is the historical, author-intended meaning of any particular text. There’s virtue to this approach because it prevents willy-nilly interpretations of the Bible that aren’t only unconvincing, but also ones that can be damaging to the witness of the church.
For example, we shouldn’t allegorize Jesus’s resurrection to be about our own self-actualization to live a full, happy life. God does want us to be happy (at least eschatologically), but the resurrection is in fact about Jesus coming back from the dead. Without that, as Paul says, we Christians are of all people most to be pitied (1 Cor 15:19).
But I’ve come to believe that the biblical text does demand a kind of Christo-centric allegorization. By that I mean the Bible really does need to be allegorized, as long as we keep Jesus at the center of every allegory. Paul says that the rock the Israelites drank from in Exodus 17 was Christ (1 Cor 10:4). Paul allegorizes, and we should too.
The best way I’ve come up with to demonstrate that the Bible demands to be allegorized is by showing how, in some instances, the authors of the biblical text actually intended their stories to be allegorized. In other words, the historical, author-intended meaning that I was taught to seek as an undergrad necessarily entails allegorizing the text.
Last week I had the privilege of preaching on John 3 at Lift Church in Venice, Florida. I never use the word “allegory” to describe how I’m interpreting the text, but that’s what I’m doing. I point out that the darkness in which Jesus meets Nicodemus is an allegory of the present darkness called sin and death that we all cosmically inhabit.
I’m posting Lift Church’s recording of the service here. If you want to hear the introduction and what I have to say about Evangel University and my role there, start at 54:20. If you want to skip right to my sermon on Nicodemus’s nighttime encounter with Jesus, start at 1:08:00.
If you felt the darkness, but have seen the Light, don’t forget to hit that ❤️ button
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I’ve started another imprint called Slow Burn Christianity, a Substack about reviving your Christian walk one step at a time.
"we shouldn’t allegorize Jesus’s resurrection to be about our own self-actualization to live a full, happy life' I must take issue with you. If the Resurrection of Jesus is anything, it demonstrates that the living God is very much perpared to intervene into the natural world for those obedient to His will! That religion as we know it has yet to comprehend that will is the tragedy of existing tradition. But no doubt, our return to the grace and favor of our creator is dependent upon it. I have no doubt that is the purpose of the second coming. To free mankind from the theological counterfeit of history so that he might once again 'return' and discover the 'self-actualization' to live a full, wise, righteous and happy life.
As I understand it, Jesus taught in parables, metaphors, and allegories. He used these devices to communicate a broader spiritual point. A literary genius.