Early Christian Views on Allegory in Scripture
Early Christians often read the Bible with both a plain sense and a deeper spiritual sense. Origen and Clement used allegory, symbols, and mysteries to explain many passages, while Tertullian and Arnobius warned against turning every event into a figure. The main pattern is careful spiritual reading without losing the real meaning of the text.
105 early-church witnesses · 222 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about allegory and Biblical Interpretation?
Early Christian writers often read Scripture on two levels: the plain historical sense and a deeper spiritual or figurative sense. Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus, and others say some passages contain allegory, symbols, types, or mysteries, while still keeping the real events in view. At the same time, writers like Arnobius and Tertullian push back against making everything allegory and warn that not every event can be turned into a figure.
The clearest pattern is broad support for figurative reading of many Bible texts, paired with caution against forcing allegory where the text is meant to be read plainly. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Early Christian writers often expected Scripture to have both a literal sense and a spiritual sense.
- Origen and Clement are major witnesses for allegorical and mystical interpretation.
- Tertullian and Arnobius caution that not everything in Scripture can be turned into allegory.
- The strongest early pattern is figurative reading used with restraint, not a rejection of the plain sense.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians teach both a literal and a spiritual sense of Scripture?
Several early writers say Scripture has a literal sense and a spiritual or mystical sense. Origen states this explicitly, and Clement, Gregory, and others also speak of figurative or higher meanings in Scripture.
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Origen, Commentary on Matthew Direct teaching
...pel as the latter does with the law, by reading, hearing, and speaking those things that contain an allegory, Galatians 4:24 so that, while preserving the historical truth of the events, he understands the unfailing rule of mystical interpretation as applied to spiritual things. Then the things learned will not be spiritual things marked by wickedness, Ephesians 6:12 but things entirely opposite to them, namely spiritual things marked by goodness. And one is a scribe made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven in the simpler sense when he comes from Judaism and receives the teaching of Jesus Christ as defined by the Church. But he is a scribe in a deeper sense when, having received elementary knowledge through the letter of the Scriptures, he rises to spiritual things, which are called the kingdom of heaven. And according as each thought is reached, understood in itself, and proved by example and complete demonstration, so one can understand the kingdom of heaven. Thus the one who overflows with knowledge free from error is in the kingdom of the multitude of what are here presented as heavens. So too you will understand allegorically the words, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
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Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Direct teaching
...that is, the Spirit speaking through him, says, "My house has become a hyena's den," he uses a wise allegory to condemn the worship of idols, rejecting the food that consisted of dead bodies. For truly the house of the living God ought to be pure from idols. Again, Moses also forbids eating the hare. For the hare mates at all times, and leaps, with the female sitting there, attacking her from behind. For it is one of the animals that leap on from behind. It conceives every month, and it conceives again while already pregnant. It mates and gives birth. And after it has given birth, it is at once mounted by any hare whatever, for it is not content with one mating, and it conceives again while still nursing. For it has a womb with two chambers, and not only one empty chamber of the womb. It has enough room to receive intercourse, for whatever is empty desires to be filled. But it happens that while they are carrying young, one part of the womb is seized by desire and rages with lust. Therefore they have repeated conceptions. So this prohibition urges us to abstain from violent desires, and mutual sexual encounters, and intercourse with pregnant women, and relations in turn one afte
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching
...n Christ and receive the reward due to his ministry. And again, speaking about the law and using an allegory, he says, “For the woman who is under a husband is bound by law to the living husband,” Romans 7:2, and what follows. And again: “A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is free to marry, only in the Lord. But she is happier if she remains as she is, in my judgment,” 1 Corinthians 7:39-40. But in the first part, when he says, “You were made dead to the law,” he does not mean to marriage, but to the law, “so that you may become another’s, of Him who was raised from the dead,” Romans 7:4, namely, the bride and the Church. And she must be chaste: from the thoughts stirred up within, which are contrary to the truth; and from those who tempt from outside, that is, from those who follow heresies and persuade you to commit fornication away from the one husband, namely Almighty God. “Lest, as the serpent deceived Eve,” 2 Corinthians 11:3, she who is called Life, so we too, led on by the crafty attractions of heresies, may transgress the commandments. But the second part establishes monogamy. For we must not think, as some have thought, that it m
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Hippolytus, Exegetical Fragments Direct teaching
...usic of the strings. So much, then, for the literal meaning of these terms. But as for the mystical interpretation, it would be a psalm when, by striking the instrument, that is, the body, with good deeds, we succeed in good action, though we are not yet fully skilled in contemplation. And it would be a song when, by turning over the mysteries of the truth apart from practice, and fully agreeing with them, we have the highest thoughts of God and His oracles, while knowledge gives us light and wisdom shines brightly in our souls. And it would be a song of psalmody when good action takes the lead, according to the word, "If you desire wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Lord shall give her to you," and at the same time we understand wisdom and are counted worthy by God to know the truth of things that until now had been hidden from us. And it would be a psalm of song when, by considering with the light of wisdom some of the more difficult questions about morals, we first become wise in action, and then are also able to say what action should be taken, and when, and how. And perhaps this is the reason why the first titles nowhere contain the word songs, but only psalm or psalms.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
And these we shall find indicated by symbols under the veil of allegory.
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Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Supporting witness
Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants, and so on.
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Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness
... pattern of the future resurrection. In the same way, the three days before the heavenly lights are types of the Trinity: God, and His Word, and His wisdom. And the fourth is the type of man, who needs light, so that there may be God, the Word, wisdom, and man. Therefore the lights were also made on the fourth day. The arrangement of the stars also contains a type of the arrangement and order of the righteous and godly, and of those who keep the law and commandments of God. For the shining and bright stars are an image of the prophets, and so they remain fixed, not turning aside or moving from place to place. And those that hold second place in brightness are types of the people of the righteous. And those, again, that change their position and flee from place to place, which are also called planets, are a type of the people who have wandered away from God and abandoned His law and commandments.
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Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness
...offered. He says that in Scripture, water refers to baptism, but certainly not to the Eucharist. By types drawn from the Old Testament, he explains the use of wine in the sacrament of the Lord’s body. He also declares that the symbol of water means the Christian congregation.
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness
...ead was promised in the Old Testament, and we see that He was revealed in the New. He fulfilled the shadows and figures of all the sacraments by the presence of the truth in bodily form. For both the ancient prophecies and the Gospels testify that He is the son of Abraham and the son of David. Genesis itself points ahead to Him when it says, "To you I will give it, and to your seed." Genesis 17:8 He is spoken of when it shows how a man wrestled with Jacob. He is also spoken of when it says, "A prince shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from between his thighs, until He comes to whom it has been promised; and He shall be the expectation of the nations." Genesis 49:10 Moses speaks of Him when he says, "Provide another whom You may send." Exodus 4:13 He is again spoken of by the same Moses when he testifies, saying, "God will raise up for you a Prophet from your brothers; listen to Him as if to me." Deuteronomy 18:15 It is He also whom he speaks of when he says, "You shall see your life hanging in doubt night and day, and you shall not believe Him." Deuteronomy 28:66 Isaiah also points to Him: "There shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall grow up from
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Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness
...hey had believed the Scripture or the word that Jesus had spoken before this. For faith in its full sense is the act of the person who accepts with his whole soul what is confessed at baptism. As for the higher meaning, since we have already spoken of the resurrection from the dead of the whole body of the Lord, we must now note that the disciples were reminded by the fulfillment of the Scripture, which, while they were alive before, they had not fully understood. Its meaning was now set before their eyes and made completely clear to them, and they knew of what heavenly things it was the pattern and shadow. Then they believed the Scripture, though before they had not believed it, and they believed the word of Jesus which, as the writer means to show, they had not believed before the resurrection. For how can anyone be said, in the full sense, to believe the Scripture when he does not see in it the mind of the Holy Spirit, which God wants us to believe rather than the literal meaning? From this point of view, we must say that none of those who walk according to the flesh believe the spiritual things of the law, the very first elements of which they do not understand. But, they sa
How did early Christians use allegory, typology, and figures when interpreting the Bible?
The sources show early Christians used allegory, types, shadows, patterns, and figures to read Scripture as pointing to Christ, the Church, and spiritual realities. This is especially clear in Clement, Irenaeus, Novatian, Victorinus, Theophilus, and Cyprian.
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Origen, Against Celsus Direct teaching
...bout what comes first. We hold, then, that the law has a twofold meaning: one literal and the other spiritual, as some before us have shown. About the first, or literal, meaning, it is said—not by us, but by God speaking in one of the prophets—that the statutes are not good, and the judgments are not good. But when taken in a spiritual sense, the same prophet has God saying that His statutes are good, and His judgments are good. Yet clearly the prophet is not saying things that contradict each other. In the same way, Paul says that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. By the letter he means the literal sense, and by the Spirit the spiritual sense of Scripture. Therefore, in Paul as well as in the prophet, we may find statements that seem to contradict each other. Indeed, if Ezekiel says in one place, "I gave them commandments that were not good, and judgments by which they should not live," and in another, "I gave them good commandments and judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them," Paul in the same way, when he wants to speak against the law taken literally, says, "If the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children
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Tertullian, Against Marcion Supporting witness
Another characteristic will be, that very many events are figuratively predicted by means of enigmas and allegories and parables, and that they must be understood in a sense different from the literal description.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Supporting witness
1. If, however, any shall endeavour to allegorize [prophecies] of this kind, they shall not be found consistent with themselves in all points, and shall be confuted by the teaching of the very expressions [in question].
Did any early Christians warn against over-allegorizing Scripture?
Yes. Arnobius argues that real events cannot simply be turned into allegories, and Tertullian says not everything is figurative. These sources show that early Christians did not all treat allegory as unlimited or automatic.
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Arnobius, Against the Heathen Direct teaching
..., without any exception, were written with a double meaning and sense, in a way that allows several interpretations? Or do you think that some parts are not ambiguous at all, while others, on the contrary, have many meanings and are wrapped in the veil of allegory thrown around them? For if the whole structure and arrangement of the story has been covered with a veil of allegory from beginning to end, then explain it to us. Tell us what we should put in place of each thing that every story says, and to what other things and meanings we should refer each one. For example, you want Jupiter to be understood as the rain, Ceres as the earth, and Libera and father Dis as the sinking and casting of seed into the earth. In the same way, you should tell us what we should understand by the bull; by the wrath and anger of Ceres; by the word Brimo; by Jupiter’s anxious prayer; by the gods sent to plead for him, but not listened to; by the castrated ram; by the parts of the castrated ram; by the satisfaction made with these; and by the further acts toward his daughter, even more shameful in their lustfulness. Then, in the other story also, tell us what the grove and flowers of Henna mean; wh
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Arnobius, Against the Heathen Supporting witness
...k for what reason, or for what cause? I answer: because everything that has happened and has been clearly written down in a book cannot be turned into an allegory. What has been done cannot be undone, and the character of an event cannot change into something completely different. Can the Trojan War be turned into the condemnation of Socrates? Or can the battle of Cannae become Sulla's cruel proscription? A proscription may indeed, as Tullius says in jest, be spoken of as a battle and called a Cannae. But what has already happened cannot at the same time be both a battle and a proscription. For, as I have said, what has taken place cannot be anything other than what has taken place. Nor can what has been firmly fixed in its own nature and particular condition pass over into something foreign to it.
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Tatian, Address to the Greeks Direct teaching
...is there no one to tell you? Believe me now, Greeks, and do not explain away your myths and gods as allegory. If you try to do that, your own view of the divine nature is destroyed by yourselves. For if the demons among you are really as they are said to be, then they are morally worthless. But if they are taken as symbols of the powers of nature, then they are not what they are called. But I cannot be persuaded to worship the elements of nature. Nor can I try to persuade my neighbor to do so. And Metrodorus of Lampsacus, in his treatise about Homer, argued very foolishly by turning everything into allegory. For he says that Hera, Athena, and Zeus are not what those people think who dedicate sacred places and groves to them, but are parts of nature and certain arrangements of the elements. Then, of course, you will also say that Hector, Achilles, Agamemnon, all the Greeks in general, and the Barbarians along with Helen and Paris, all being of the same nature, were introduced only for the sake of the poem’s structure, and that not one of these persons ever really existed. But we have said these things only for the sake of argument. For it is not proper even to compare our underst
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Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh Supporting witness
... that were true, the figures themselves could never be recognized, since the real things from which figurative language is drawn would never have been stated. In fact, if everything is figurative, then where is the thing of which it is a figure? How can you hold up a mirror to your face if the face does not exist anywhere? But the truth is that not everything is figurative. There are also literal statements. Not everything is shadow; there are bodies too. So we even have prophecies about the Lord Himself that are clearer than daylight. It was not in a figure that the Virgin conceived in her womb. Nor was it in a trope that she gave birth to Emmanuel, that is, Jesus, God with us. And even if we grant that His taking the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria, Isaiah 8:4, was figurative, it was still literal that He would enter into judgment with the elders and rulers of the people, Isaiah 3:13. For in the person of Pilate, the Gentiles raged. And in the person of Israel, the people imagined vain things. The kings of the earth, in Herod, and the rulers, in Annas and Caiaphas, were gathered together against the Lord and against His Anointed. Again, He was led like a sheep to t
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Arnobius, Against the Heathen Supporting witness
But this being the case, how can you obtain certainty from what is doubtful, and attach one sense only to an expression which you see to be explained in innumerable different ways?
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Arnobius, Against the Heathen Supporting witness
38. Either, then, they must all have been written and put forward allegorically, and the whole should be pointed out to us;
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Arnobius, Against the Heathen Supporting witness
but all these things are understood in allegorical senses, and by means of secret explanations privately supplied.
Common Questions
Did early Christians believe the Bible had hidden meanings?
Yes, many early Christian writers said some passages had a deeper spiritual or figurative meaning in addition to the plain sense.
Did they reject the literal meaning of Scripture?
No. Writers like Origen said to keep the historical truth while also seeking the spiritual meaning.
Did every early Christian accept allegory?
No. Some, like Arnobius and Tertullian, warned that not every event or passage should be turned into allegory.
Source Index for Allegory and Biblical Interpretation
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 222 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 105
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 80 shown of 117
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.
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The Early Christian Methods of Biblical Interpretation
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