B-A-C
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- Dec 18, 2008
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Have you ever noticed a lot a "metaphors" are used in the Bible?
Sometimes this can be confusing. Especially when the same metaphor is used for two different things.
Here are some examples.
Satan is called a lion....
1 Pet 5:8; Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
But Jesus is also called a lion.
Rev 5:5; and one of the elders *said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals."
Sometimes leaven is used in the context of being "puffed up" in a bad way.
Matt 16:6; And Jesus said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
But sometimes it is used in a good way.
Matt 13:33; He spoke another parable to them, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened."
Sometimes Jesus is called a sheep (lamb)
Isa 53:7; He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. (also Acts 8:32; )
But often He is called the shepherd.
John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
The point here is... all metaphors don't always mean the same thing in every context.
Often they are... I cannot say this never happens. But also it is not true in every single instance.
For example every sheep in the Bible is not Jesus....
1 Pet 2:25; For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
To make things worse.. sometimes different words are used across Bible versions.
For example... (King James)
Isa 45:7; I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
(NASB)
Isa 45:7; The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.
Context matters....
In some passages, it makes it clear we are not slaves (in bondage to the world)
Gal 4:6; Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"
Gal 4:7; Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
But yet in many parables.. we are called slaves.
(Matt 24:46; Matt 24:48; (over 40 verses)) so.. even though we are slaves (to Jesus)
we can be free from bondage.
John 8:32; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
I think without the Holy Spirit guiding us... it can be difficult to navigate through some of this.
John 16:13; "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
Sometimes this can be confusing. Especially when the same metaphor is used for two different things.
Here are some examples.
Satan is called a lion....
1 Pet 5:8; Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
But Jesus is also called a lion.
Rev 5:5; and one of the elders *said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals."
Sometimes leaven is used in the context of being "puffed up" in a bad way.
Matt 16:6; And Jesus said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
But sometimes it is used in a good way.
Matt 13:33; He spoke another parable to them, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened."
Sometimes Jesus is called a sheep (lamb)
Isa 53:7; He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. (also Acts 8:32; )
But often He is called the shepherd.
John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
The point here is... all metaphors don't always mean the same thing in every context.
Often they are... I cannot say this never happens. But also it is not true in every single instance.
For example every sheep in the Bible is not Jesus....
1 Pet 2:25; For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
To make things worse.. sometimes different words are used across Bible versions.
For example... (King James)
Isa 45:7; I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
(NASB)
Isa 45:7; The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.
Context matters....
In some passages, it makes it clear we are not slaves (in bondage to the world)
Gal 4:6; Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"
Gal 4:7; Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
But yet in many parables.. we are called slaves.
(Matt 24:46; Matt 24:48; (over 40 verses)) so.. even though we are slaves (to Jesus)
we can be free from bondage.
John 8:32; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
I think without the Holy Spirit guiding us... it can be difficult to navigate through some of this.
John 16:13; "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
