Genesis 1 is surely teaching us not only that God created the world in those six days, but he also sustains it even now! As God prepared a place for Adam and Eve three days before they were created, so he prepares and plans our lives for us.
The Bible literally teaches that God created the world, and that’s true and good. It also allegorically teaches us that God’s character is that of a good provider. He cares for the world even now—not just during those six days in Genesis!
2. Literal Plus Moral
Another “literal plus” layer in the abovementioned verses from Genesis is the moral sense. Morality deals with how we ought to live, and so the question here is this: How does Genesis teach us to live?
Of course, when we are grounded faithfully in the literal truth that God created the world, then we can easily see the moral truth as well—we belong to God. God has a claim over our lives because he created us. We ought to live the way he tells us to live. If God were not literally our Creator, then this moral truth would not be accurate.
This “literal plus” layer is particularly helpful in reading the Gospel accounts. For if we just read them literally, we can be tempted to think, “Oh, that’s nice that Jesus lived that way” but never realize that Jesus’ actions are moral imperatives for his followers!
That is precisely why Paul says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1), because he understands the moral sense of the Gospels. Paul understands that Jesus’ life is something we not only cherish but follow.
3. Literal Plus Christological
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life (John 5:39-40).
Jesus teaches that all Scripture points to him. All the books of the Bible “bear witness about [Jesus]”; that means if we read the Scriptures and we miss Jesus, then we’ve missed the point entirely.
This is exactly why we need to read the Bible with a “literal plus” mindset. If we go to the Bible looking for wisdom in Proverbs, comfort in Psalms, teaching in Romans, interesting stories in Acts, or whatever else, we can get all of that on the literal level.
But if we miss how the Scripture always points to Jesus Christ, we will miss out on life itself.
In summary, when you open your Bible next, don’t stop when you catch what the Bible says on the surface. Instead, dig deeper until you also see what it is saying allegorically about the character of God, about the moral obligation of mankind, and, above all, about Jesus Christ our Savior.
This article originally appeared here.
