Allegorical Interpretation

Definition and Meaning

The word allegory comes from the Greek allēgoria, meaning "to speak otherwise." In Korean it is called pungyu (諷喩, "speaking by comparison"). Allegorical interpretation holds that a deeper spiritual meaning lies beneath the surface meaning of a text, and it reads the text's details by matching them one by one to truths of the faith. For example, interpreting the woman in the Parable of the Lost Coin as the church or the Holy Spirit, and the lamp as the Word, is an instance of this approach.

Allegorical interpretation is distinct from typology. Typology holds that actual historical persons or events in the Old Testament foreshadow Christ, and it fully affirms the historicity of the text. Allegorical interpretation, by contrast, gives greater weight to symbolic correspondences than to historical context.

Biblical and Historical Background

In the New Testament, a frequently cited example is the passage in Galatians 4 where Paul compares Hagar and Sarah to two covenants, writing, "Which things are an allegory" (Galatians 4:24).

In the early church, the Alexandrian church father Origen is credited with systematizing this method; he held that Scripture contains layered literal, moral, and spiritual meanings. The Antiochene school, by contrast, emphasized the literal and historical meaning. Augustine's interpretation of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, in which the man who fell among thieves represents Adam and the inn represents the church, is a widely cited example. In the Middle Ages, the practice of reading four senses of Scripture—the literal, allegorical, moral, and anagogical (eschatological)—became established.

During the Reformation, Martin Luther and John Calvin insisted that the literal and grammatical meaning of the text must take priority. In modern biblical scholarship, as the view gained ground that Jesus' parables generally convey a single central lesson, the practice of interpreting every detail of a parable came under criticism.

Practice in the Korean Church

In Korean preaching, interpretations that relate the furnishings of the tabernacle, the lovers in the Song of Solomon, and the details of the parables to Christ and the life of the believer have long been common. Such interpretations are sometimes accepted as aids to meditation and application. Others, however, urge caution, on the grounds that interpreters can easily read their own ideas into the text.

The question is less a matter of official denominational positions than of emphasis, which varies with theological tradition and individual preacher. Presbyterian seminaries with a strong Reformed tradition teach grammatical-historical interpretation as foundational. Methodist, Holiness, and Full Gospel seminaries likewise generally teach students to examine the historical context of a text first.

This method of interpretation also arises in discussions of heresy. Several denominational general assemblies, in declaring Shincheonji heretical, are reported to have cited as a problem its arbitrary interpretation of Scripture through figurative and parabolic readings. Shincheonji maintains that its interpretations are explanations of parables received by revelation. Further details are covered in the article Heresy Designations.