The earliest Christian scriptures were the same as the Jewish community. When writers in the New Testament refer to "scripture," they mean the Hebrew scriptures of their day.
Early Christian interpretations of scriptures used techniques similar to those used by Jewish interpreters, including prophecy, allegory, and typology. , Both groups understood the Scriptures as containing timeless truths that could be made relevant to their contemporary communities through new interpretations. They also believed that divine revelation influenced interpretation.
Christians approached scriptural interpretation through their understanding of who Christ was. The Hebrew scriptures were understood to be looking forward to the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who was the fulfillment of prophecy.
Philo of AlexandriaPhilo (c. 15 BCE-50 CE) lived in the biggest Jewish community outside of Israel. He was a Jewish philosopher and interpreter of Torah as it existed in the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures called the Septuagint. Philo used the allegorical method of interpretation of the Pentateuch in his commentaries. His exegesis offered multiple interpretations of the same verse. He learned this method from the Greeks, who had developed allegory in order to bring alive their ancient myths, which no longer were relevant if interpreted literally. Philo was an apologist for Judaism and sought to show, through allegorical and symbolic methods, that Jewish culture was not inferior to Hellenistic culture. For example, he interpreted Moses as philosopher who was the source of all later philosophy. He was also influenced by the doctrine of the Logos, which was also popular in early Christian interpretations of who Jesus was. Early Christian scholars admired Philo's work a lot. Both Clement of Alexandria and Origen were influenced by his methods. Because Christians admired his work so much, his writings were preserved. Some of the principles of interpretation that were established by Philo and those in his tradition include:
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See examples of the earliest Christian art from the catacombs. Learn how Christian art, like literature, used typology.
1. Read some excerpts from the study book to explore the topic of early Christian interpretation of the scripture in more depth:
2. Read Paul's allegorical interpretation of story of Sarah and Isaac and Hagar and Ishmael.
3. Read Clement of Alexandria's allegorical interpretation of the story of the Prodigal Son.
Disclaimer: Some links jump to outside sites for further information on the Bible, interpretations, the canon, translations, manuscripts, resources, and other perspectives. Links do not constitute an endorsement by the Women's Division of the information on other web sites. External web sites offer us diverse perspectives; afford us an opportunity to compare them to United Methodist positions; and, encourage us to critically analyze the issues raised by The Bible: the Book that Bridges the Millennia web pages.
Next Page: Art and the Bible: 30--313
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