Preface
Showing that to teach rules for the interpretation of Scripture is not a superfluous
task
1. There are certain rules for the interpretation of Scripture which I think
might with great advantage be taught to earnest students of the word, that
they may profit not only from reading the works of others who have laid open
the secrets of the sacred writings, but also from themselves opening such secrets
to others. These rules I propose to teach to those who are able and willing
to learn, if God our Lord does not withhold from me, while I write, the thoughts...
8. In the last place, every one who boasts that he, through divine illumination,
understands the obscurities of Scripture, though not instructed in any rules
of interpretation, at the same time believes, and rightly believes, that this
power is not his own, in the sense of originating with himself, but is the
gift of God. For so he seeks God's glory, not his own. But reading and understanding,
as he does, without the aid of any human interpreter, why does he himself undertake
to interpret for others? Why does he not rather send them direct to God, that
they too may learn by the inward teaching of the Spirit without the help of
man? The truth is, he fears to incur the reproach: "Thou wicked and slothful
servant, thou oughtest to have put my money to the exchangers." Seeing, then,
that these men teach others, either through speech or writing, what they understand,
surely they cannot blame me if I likewise teach not only what they understand,
but also the rules of interpretation they follow. For no one ought to consider
anything as his own, except perhaps what is false. All truth is of Him who
says, "I am the truth." For what have we that we did not receive? And if we
have received it, why do we glory, as if we had not received it?
9. He who reads to an audience pronounces aloud the words he sees before him:
he who teaches reading, does it that others may be able to read for themselves.
Each, however, communicates to others what he has learnt himself. Just so, the
man who explains to an audience the passages of Scripture he understands is like
one who reads aloud the words before him. On the other hand, the man who lays
down rules for interpretation is like one who teaches reading, that is, shows
others how to read for themselves. So that, just as he who knows how to read
is not dependent on some one else, when he finds a book, to tell him what is
written in it, so the man who is in possession of the rules which I here attempt
to lay down, if he meet with an obscure passage in the books which he reads,
will not need an interpreter to lay open the secret to him, but, holding fast
by certain rules, and following up certain indications, will arrive at the hidden
sense without any error, or at least without falling into any gross absurdity.
And so although it will sufficiently appear in the course of the work itself
that no one can justly object to this undertaking of mine, which has no other
object than to be of service, yet as it seemed convenient to reply at the outset
to any who might make preliminary objections, such is the start I have thought
good to make on the road I am about to traverse in this book...
Chap. 36. That interpretation of Scripture which builds us up in love is not perniciously deceptive nor mendacious, even though it be faulty. The interpreter, however should be corrected
40. Whoever, then, thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, but puts such an interpretation upon them as does not tend to build up this twofold love of God and our neighbour, does not yet understand them as he ought. If, on the other hand, a man draws a meaning from them that may be used for the building up of love, even though he does not happen upon the precise meaning which the author whom he reads intended to express in that place, his error is not pernicious, and he is wholly clear from the charge of deception. For there is involved in deception the intention to say what is false; and we find plenty of people who intend to deceive, but nobody who wishes to be deceived. Since, then, the man who knows practices deceit, and the ignorant man is practiced upon, it is quite clear that in any particular case the man who is deceived is a better man than he who deceives, seeing that it is better to suffer than to commit injustice. Now every man who lies commits an injustice; and if any man thinks that a lie is ever useful, he must think that injustice is sometimes useful. For no liar keeps faith in the matter about which he lies. He wishes, of course, that the man to whom he lies should place confidence in him; and yet he betrays his confidence by lying to him. Now every man who breaks faith is unjust. Either, then, injustice is sometimes useful (which is impossible), or a lie is never useful.
41. Whoever takes another meaning out of Scripture than the writer intended, goes astray, but not through any falsehood in Scripture. Nevertheless, as I was going to say, if his mistaken interpretation tends to build up love, which is the end of the commandment, he goes astray in much the same way as a man who by mistake quits the high road, but yet reaches through the fields the same place to which the road leads. He is to be corrected, however, and to be shown how much better it is not to quit the straight road, lest, if he get into a habit of going astray, he may sometimes take cross roads, or even go in the wrong direction altogether. Chap. 37.—Dangers of mistaken interpretation For if he takes up rashly a meaning which the author whom he is reading did not intend, he often falls in with other statements which he cannot harmonize with this meaning. And if he admits that these statements are true and certain, then it follows that the meaning he had put upon the former passage cannot be the true one: and so it comes to pass, one can hardly tell how, that, out of love for his own opinion, he begins to feel more angry with Scripture than he is with himself. And if he should once permit that evil to creep in, it will utterly destroy him. "For we walk by faith, not by sight." Now faith will totter if the authority of Scripture begin to shake. And then, if faith totter, love itself will grow cold. For if a man has fallen from faith, he must necessarily also fall from love; for he cannot love what he does not believe to exist. But if he both believes and loves, then through good works, and through diligent attention to the precepts of morality, he comes to hope also that he shall attain the object of his love. And so these are the three things to which all knowledge and all prophecy are subservient: faith, hope, love.
Chap. 1.--Signs, their nature and variety
1. As when I was writing about things, I introduced the subject with a warning
against attending to anything but what they are in themselves, even though
they are signs of something else, so now, when I come in its turn to discuss
the subject of signs, I lay down this direction, not to attend to what they
are in themselves, but to the fact that they are signs, that is, to what they
signify. For a sign is a thing which, over and above the impression it makes
on the senses, causes something else to come into the mind as a consequence
of itself: as when we see a footprint, we conclude that an animal whose footprint
this is has passed by; and when we see smoke, we know that there is fire beneath;
and when we hear the voice of a living man, we think of the feeling in his
mind; and when the trumpet sounds, soldiers know that they are to advance or
retreat, or do whatever else the state of the battle requires.
2. Now some signs are natural, others conventional. Natural signs are those
which, apart from any intention or desire of using them as signs, do yet lead
to the knowledge of something else, as, for example, smoke when it indicates
fire. For it is not from any intention of making it a sign that it is so, but
through attention to experience we come to know that fire is beneath, even
when nothing but smoke can be seen. And the footprint of an animal passing
by belongs to this class of signs. And the countenance of an angry or sorrowful
man indicates the feeling in his mind, independently of his will: and in the
same way every other emotion of the mind is betrayed by the telltale countenance,
even though we do nothing with the intention of making it known. This class
of signs however, it is no part of my design to discuss at present. But as
it comes under this division of the subject, I could not altogether pass it
over. It will be enough to have noticed it thus far.
Chap. 2.--Of the kind of signs we are now concerned with
3. Conventional signs, on the other hand, are those which living beings mutually
exchange for the purpose of showing, as well as they can, the feelings of their
minds, or their perceptions, or their thoughts. Nor is there any reason for
giving a sign except the desire of drawing forth and conveying into another's
mind what the giver of the sign has in his own mind. We wish, then, to consider
and discuss this class of signs so far as men are concerned with it, because
even the signs which have been given us of God, and which are contained in
the Holy Scriptures, were made known to us through men--those, namely, who
wrote the Scriptures...
Chap. 3.--Among signs, words hold the chief place
4. Of the signs, then, by which men communicate their thoughts to one another,
some relate to the sense of sight, some to that of hearing, a very few to the
other senses. For, when we nod, we give no sign except to the eyes of the man
to whom we wish by this sign to impart our desire. And some convey a great
deal by the motion of the hands: and actors by movements of all their limbs
give certain signs to the initiated, and, so to speak, address their conversation
to the eyes: and the military standards and flags convey through the eyes the
will of the commanders. And all these signs are as it were a kind of visible
words. The signs that address themselves to the ear are, as I have said, more
numerous, and for the most part consist of words. For though the bugle and
the flute and the lyre frequently give not only a sweet but a significant sound,
yet all these signs are very few in number compared with words. For among men
words have obtained far and away the chief place as a means of indicating the
thoughts of the mind. Our Lord, it is true, gave a sign through the odour of
the ointment which was poured out upon His feet; and in the sacrament of His
body and blood He signified His will through the sense of taste; and when by
touching the hem of His garment the woman was made whole, the act was not wanting
in significance. But the countless multitude of the signs through which men
express their thoughts consist of words. For I have been able to put into words
all those signs, the various classes of which I have briefly touched upon,
but I could by no effort express words in terms of those signs.
Chap. 4.--Origin of writing
5. But because words pass away as soon as they strike upon the air, and last
no longer than their sound, men have by means of letters formed signs of words.
Thus the sounds of the voice are made visible to the eye, not of course as
sounds, but by means of certain signs. It has been found impossible, however,
to make those signs common to all nations owing to the sin of discord among
men, which springs from every man trying to snatch the chief place for himself.
And that celebrated tower which was built to reach to heaven was an indication
of this arrogance of spirit [note: the tower of Babel, Genesis 11:1-9]; and
the ungodly men concerned in it justly earned the punishment of having not
their minds only, but their tongues besides, thrown into confusion and discordance.
Chap. 5.--Scripture translated into various languages
6. And hence it happened that even Holy Scripture, which brings a remedy for
the terrible diseases of the human will, being at first set forth in one language,
by means of which it could at the fit season be disseminated through the whole
world, was interpreted into various tongues, and spread far and wide, and thus
became known to the nations for their salvation. And in reading it, men seek
nothing more than to find out the thought and will of those by whom it was
written, and through these to find out the will of God, in accordance with
which they believe these men to have spoken.
Chap. 6.--Use of the obscurities in Scripture which arise from its figurative
language
7. But hasty and careless readers are led astray by many and manifold obscurities
and ambiguities, substituting one meaning for another; and in some places they
cannot hit upon even a fair interpretation. Some of the expressions are so
obscure as to shroud the meaning in the thickest darkness. And I do not doubt
that all this was divinely arranged for the purpose of subduing pride by toil,
and of preventing a feeling of satiety in the intellect, which generally holds
in small esteem what is discovered without difficulty. For why is it, I ask,
that if any one says that there are holy and just men whose life and conversation
the Church of Christ uses as a means of redeeming those who come to it from
all kinds of superstitions, and making them through their imitation of good
men members of its own body; men who, as good and true servants of God, have
come to the baptismal font laying down the burdens of the world, and who rising
thence do, through the implanting of the Holy Spirit, yield the fruit of a
twofold love, a love, that is, of God and their neighbour;--how is it, I say,
that if a man says this, he does not please his hearer so much as when he draws
the same meaning from that passage in Canticles, where it is said of the Church,
when it is being praised under the figure of a beautiful woman, "Thy teeth
are like a flock of sheep that are shorn, which came up from the washing,
whereof every one bears twins, and none is barren among them?" Does the hearer
learn anything more than when he listens to the same thought expressed in
the plainest language, without the help of this figure? And yet, I don't know
why, I feel greater pleasure in contemplating holy men, when I view them as
the teeth of the Church, tearing men away from their errors, and bringing
them into the church's body, with all their harshness softened down, just
as if they had been torn off and masticated by the teeth. It is with the greatest
pleasure, too, that I recognize them under the figure of sheep that have been
shorn, laying down the burthens of the world like fleeces, and coming up from
the washing, i.e., from baptism, and all bearing twins, i.e., the twin commandments
of love [note: to love God and to love one's neighbor], and none among them
barren in that holy fruit.
8. But why I view them with greater delight under that aspect than if no such
figure were drawn from the sacred books, though the fact would remain the same
and the knowledge the same, is another question, and one very difficult to
answer. Nobody, however, has any doubt about the facts, both that it is pleasanter
in some cases to have knowledge communicated through figures and that what
is attended with difficulty in the seeking gives greater pleasure in the finding.--For
those who seek but do not find suffer from hunger. Those, again, who do not
seek at all because they have what they require just beside them often grow
languid from satiety. Now weakness from either of these causes is to be avoided.
Accordingly the Holy Spirit has, with admirable wisdom and care for our welfare,
so arranged the Holy Scriptures as by the plainer passages to satisfy our hunger,
and by the more obscure to stimulate our appetite. For almost nothing is dug
out of those obscure passages which may not be found set forth in the plainest
language elsewhere.
***
Chap. 9.--How we should proceed in studying Scripture
14. In all these books [of Canonical Scripture] those who fear God and are
of a meek and pious disposition seek the will of God. And in pursuing this
search the first rule to be observed is, as I said, to know these books, if
not yet with the understanding, still to read them so as to commit them to
memory, or at least so as not to remain wholly ignorant of them. Next, those
matters that are plainly laid down in them, whether rules of life or rules
of faith, are to be searched into more carefully and more diligently; and the
more of these a man discovers, the more capacious does his understanding become.
For among the things that are plainly laid down in Scripture are to be found
all matters that concern faith and the manner of life,--to wit, hope and love,
of which I have spoken in the previous book. After this, when we have made
ourselves to a certain extent familiar with the language of Scripture, we may
proceed to open up and investigate the obscure passages, and in doing so draw
examples from the plainer expressions to throw light upon the more obscure,
and use the evidence of passages about which there is no doubt to remove all
hesitation in regard to the doubtful passages. And in this matter memory counts
for a great deal; but if the memory be defective, no rules can supply the want.
Chap. 10.--Unknown or ambiguous signs prevent Scripture from being understood
15. Now there are two causes which prevent what is written from being understood:
its being veiled either under unknown, or under ambiguous signs. Signs are
either proper or figurative. They are called proper when they are used to point
out the objects they were designed to point out, as we say bos when we mean
an ox, because all men who with us use the Latin tongue call it by this name.
Signs are figurative when the things themselves which we indicate by the proper
names are used to signify something else, as we say bos, and understand by
that syllable the ox, which is ordinarily called by that name; but then further
by that ox understand a preacher of the gospel, as Scripture signifies, according
to the apostle's explanation, when it says: "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth
out the corn."
***
Chap. 14.--How the meaning of unknown words and idioms is to be discovered
21. About ambiguous signs, however, I shall speak afterwards. I am treating
at present of unknown signs, of which, as far as the words are concerned, there
are two kinds. For either a word or an idiom, of which the reader is ignorant,
brings him to a stop. Now if these belong to foreign tongues, we must either
make inquiry about them from men who speak those tongues, or if we have leisure
we must learn the tongues ourselves, or we must consult and compare several
translators. If, however, there are words or idioms in our own tongue that
we are unacquainted with, we gradually come to know them through being accustomed
to read or to hear them. There is nothing that it is better to commit to memory
than those kinds of words and phrases whose meaning we do not know, so that
where we happen to meet either with a more learned man of whom we can inquire,
or with a passage that shows, either by the preceding or succeeding context,
or by both, the force and significance of the phrase we are ignorant of, we
can easily by the help of our memory turn our attention to the matter and learn
all about it. So great, however, is the force of custom, even in regard to
learning, that those who have been in a sort of way nurtured and brought up
on the study of Holy Scripture, are surprised at other forms of speech, and
think them less pure Latin than those which they have learnt from Scripture,
but which are not to be found in Latin authors. In this matter, too, the great
number of the translators proves a very great assistance, if they are examined
and discussed with a careful comparison of their texts. Only all positive error
must be removed. For those who are anxious to know the Scriptures ought in
the first place to use their skill in the correction of the texts, so that
the uncorrected ones should give way to the corrected, at least when they are
copies of the same translation.
***
Chap. 16.--The knowledge both of language and things is helpful for the understanding
of figurative expressions
23. In the case of figurative signs, again, if ignorance of any of them should
chance to bring the reader to a standstill, their meaning is to be traced partly
by the knowledge of languages, partly by the knowledge of things. The pool
of Siloam, for example, where the man whose eyes our Lord had anointed with
clay made out of spittle was commanded to wash, has a figurative significance,
and undoubtedly conveys a secret sense; but yet if the evangelist had not interpreted
that name, a meaning so important would lie unnoticed. And we cannot doubt
that, in the same way, many Hebrew names which have not been interpreted by
the writers of those books, would, if any one could interpret them, be of great
value and service in solving the enigmas of Scripture. And a number of men
skilled in that language have conferred no small benefit on posterity by explaining
all these words without reference to their place in Scripture, and telling
us what Adam means, what Eve, what Abraham, what Moses, and also the names
of places, what Jerusalem signifies, or Sion, or Sinai, or Lebanon, or Jordan,
and whatever other names in that language we are not acquainted with. And when
these names have been investigated and explained, many figurative expressions
in Scripture become clear.
24. Ignorance of things, too, renders figurative expressions obscure, as when
we do not know the nature of the animals, or minerals, or plants, which are
frequently referred to in Scripture by way of comparison. The fact so well
known about the serpent, for example, that to protect its head it will present
its whole body to its assailants--how much light it throws upon the meaning
of our Lord's command, that we should be wise as serpents; that is to say,
that for the sake of our head, which is Christ, we should willingly offer our
body to the persecutors, lest the Christian faith should, as it were, be destroyed
in us, if to save the body we deny our God! Or again, the statement that the
serpent gets rid of its old skin by squeezing itself through a narrow hole,
and thus acquires new strength--how appropriately it fits in with the direction
to imitate the wisdom of the serpent, and to put off the old man, as the apostle
says, that we may put on the new; and to put it off, too, by coming through
a narrow place, according to the saying of our Lord, "Enter ye in at the strait gate!"
As, then, knowledge of the nature of the serpent throws light upon many metaphors
which Scripture is accustomed to draw from that animal, so ignorance of other
animals, which are no less frequently mentioned by way of comparison, is a very
great drawback to the reader. And so in regard to minerals and plants: knowledge
of the carbuncle, for instance, which shines in the dark, throws light upon
many of the dark places in books too, where it is used metaphorically; and ignorance
of the beryl or the adamant often shuts the doors of knowledge. And the only
reason why we find it easy to understand that perpetual peace is indicated by
the olive branch which the dove brought with it when it returned to the ark,
is that we know both that the smooth touch of olive oil is not easily spoiled
by a fluid of another kind, and that the tree itself is an evergreen. Many,
again, by reason of their ignorance of hyssop, not knowing the virtue it has
in cleansing the lungs, nor the power it is said to have of piercing rocks with
its roots, although it is a small and insignificant plant, cannot make out why
it is said, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean".
25. Ignorance of numbers, too, prevents us from understanding things that are
set down in Scripture in a figurative and mystical way. A candid mind, if I
may so speak, cannot but be anxious, for example, to ascertain what is meant
by the fact that Moses and Elijah, and our Lord Himself, all fasted for forty
days. And except by knowledge of and reflection upon the number, the difficulty
of explaining the figure involved in this action cannot be got over. For the
number contains ten four times, indicating the knowledge of all things, and
that knowledge interwoven with time. For both the diurnal and the annual revolutions
are accomplished in periods numbering four each; the diurnal in the hours of
the morning, the noontime, the evening, and the night; the annual in the spring,
summer, autumn, and winter months. Now while we live in time, we must abstain
and fast from all joy in time, for the sake of that eternity in which we wish
to live; although by the passage of time we are taught this very lesson of
despising time and seeking eternity. Further, the number ten signifies the
knowledge of the Creator and the creature, for there is a trinity in the Creator;
and the number seven indicates the creature, because of the life and the body.
For the life consists of three parts, whence also God is to be loved with the
whole heart, the whole soul, and the whole mind; and it is very clear that
in the body there are four elements of which it is made up. In this number
ten, therefore, when it is placed before us in connection with time, that is,
when it is taken four times, we are admonished to live unstained by, and not
partaking of, any delight in time, that is, to fast for forty days. Of this
we are admonished by the law personified in Moses, by prophecy personified
in Elijah, and by our Lord Himself, who, as if receiving the witness both of
the law and the prophets, appeared on the mount between the other two, while
His three disciples looked on in amazement. Next, we have to inquire in the same way, how out of the number
forty springs the number fifty, which in our religion has no ordinary sacredness
attached to it on account of the Pentecost, and how this number taken thrice
on account of the three divisions of time, before the law, under the law, and
under grace, or perhaps on account of the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, and the Trinity itself being added over and above, has reference to
the mystery of the most Holy Church, and reaches to the number of the one hundred
and fifty-three fishes which were taken after the resurrection of our Lord,
when the nets were cast out on the right-hand side of the boat. And in the same
way, many other numbers and combinations of numbers are used in the sacred writings,
to convey instruction under a figurative guise, and ignorance of numbers often
shuts out the reader from this instruction.
The text continues with a lengthy discussion of how pagan
traditions in history, natural science, astronomy, astrology, dialectics etc.may
be used as an aid in interpretation.
Chap. 42.—Sacred Scripture compared with profane authors
63. But just as poor as the store of gold and silver and garments which the
people of Israel brought with them out of Egypt was in comparison with
the riches which they afterwards attained at Jerusalem, and which reached
their height in the reign of King Solomon, so poor is all the useful knowledge
which is gathered from the books of the heathen when compared with the
knowledge of Holy Scripture. For whatever man may have learnt from other
sources, if it is hurtful, it is there condemned; if it is useful, it is
therein contained. And while every man may find there all that he has learnt
of useful elsewhere, he will find there in much greater abundance things
that are to be found nowhere else, but can be learnt only in the wonderful
sublimity and wonderful simplicity of the Scriptures.
When, then, the reader is possessed of the instruction here pointed out,
so that unknown signs have ceased to be a hindrance to him; when he is
meek and lowly of heart, subject to the easy yoke of Christ, and loaded
with His light burden, rooted and grounded and built up in faith, so that
knowledge cannot puff him up, let him then approach the consideration and
discussion of ambiguous signs in Scripture. And about these I shall now,
in a third book, endeavour to say what the Lord shall be pleased to vouchsafe.
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