Parables in the Gospels: History of Interpretation and Hermeneutical Guidelines1 Robert L
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Parables in the Gospels: History of Interpretation and Hermeneutical Guidelines1 Robert L. Plummer bout one-third of Jesus’ teaching is in story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious A parables. So influential are these parables principle.”2 While these definitions are correct, that even people who have never read the Bible use the most fundamental component of a parable is expressions drawn from them (e.g., that there must be a comparison.3 For example, in Robert L. Plummer is Associate Professor of New Testament “the good Samaritan” or “the prodi- the parable of the hidden treasure the kingdom of Interpretation at The Southern gal Son”). Though widely known, heaven is compared to a treasure (“The kingdom Baptist Theological Seminary. Jesus’ parables are also notorious of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field,” Matt for their frequent misinterpreta- 13:44). The Greek word parabolē which underlies He has served in missionary assign- ments of varying length in China, tion. In this article, I will begin our English word “parable” has a broad range of Israel, Trinidad, Ghana, Malaysia, by defining “parable” and giving a meaning. It can refer to proverbs, similes, figura- and Turkey. Dr. Plummer’s articles brief historical survey of how the tive sayings, stories, etc. For our purposes, how- have appeared in Westminster Theological Journal, Journal of the parables have been interpreted. ever, we will limit our discussion primarily to the Evangelical Theological Society, Then, in the second half of the story parables that are found in the Bible. New Holman Bible Dictionary, The article, I will offer some guidelines Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, for properly interpreting parables. History of interPretation and other publications. He is the author of Paul’s Understanding of At this point, we will briefly survey the way the Church’s Mission: Did the Apostle Defining “Parable” parables have been interpreted throughout church Paul Expect the Early Christian Com- When asked the definition of history. This summary will be helpful in two munities to Evangelize? (Paternoster a parable, most Christians might regards: (1) In seeing the interpretive missteps Press, 2006) and 40 Questions about Interpreting the Bible (Kregel, forth- respond, “An earthly story with a commonly taken throughout history, the reader coming) from which this article is heavenly meaning.” The diction- will be forewarned not to repeat them; and (2) it taken. ary definition is “a short fictitious can be instructive to see how scholarly insights 4 SBJT 13.3 (2009): 4-11. resulted in significant shifts in the understanding Priest The Law of parables. The interpretation of parables is sur- Levite The Prophets veyed in five historical periods below. Samaritan Christ Wounds Disobedience, vices, Jesus’ Original Setting and the and sin Writing of the Gospels Beast (Donkey) The Lord’s body, which At the least, we can say that Jesus and the bears our sins inspired Gospel authors properly understood his Stable (Inn) The Church parables. Thus, when Jesus gives an explanation of Two Denarii Knowledge of the Father his own parables (Matt 13:36–43; Mark 4:13–20), and the Son or the Gospel authors give contextual clues as Manager of the Head of the Church “to to the meaning of the parables (e.g., Luke 10:29; Stable (Innkeeper) whom its care has been 15:1–2), those interpretations are definitive. It is entrusted” (guardian important to note that while Jesus used parables angel) to illustrate truth (Mark 12:12; Luke 10:36–37), Promised Return of Savior’s Second Coming he also used parables to conceal truth and increase the Samaritan the culpability of his hard-hearted opponents (Mark 4:10–12, 33–34; cf. 2 Thess 2:11–12).4 Early Christians interpreted parables in this way for several reasons: (1) Jesus himself explains The Early Church to the Reformation at least a few details of his parables allegorically Very soon after the completion of the New Tes- (Mark 4:13–20; Matt 13:36–43). If Jesus can do tament, early Christians began interpreting the this, why not his followers? (2) Allegory was a text allegorically. That is, they proposed many common approach to interpreting religious texts allegorical meanings unintended by the biblical in the Greco-Roman world. Some early Chris- authors. For example, every early post-New Tes- tians uncritically adopted some of the interpretive tament interpretation of the parable of the Good methods of their day. (3) Allegorical interpreta- Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37) explains the story as tion emphasizes the interpreter’s access to the an allegorical message of salvation, with the Good “secret” meaning of the parables. Such a method Samaritan signifying Jesus. In the text, however, is inevitably attractive to humans who have a pro- Jesus clearly tells the story to answer a Jewish legal pensity towards the secretive and conspiratorial. expert’s question, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). A typical example of such allegorical inter- The Reformation pretation is below. The Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth cen- tury decried the allegorical excesses of their for- The Parable of tHe gooD bearers. Martin Luther (1483–1546) said that samaritan, as interPreteD by Origen’s allegorical interpretations were “silly,” origen (ad 185–254)5 “amazing twaddle,” “absurd,” and “altogether use- 6 Parable Details Allegorical Explanations less.” While isolated voices throughout pre-Refor- Man going down to Adam mation church history had criticized illegitimate Jericho allegory, the Reformation was the first time that Jerusalem Paradise such focused criticism descended systematically Jericho The world even to the parables. Unfortunately, out of habit, Robbers Hostile powers carelessness or for other reasons, many Reformers (John 10:8) continued to provide allegorical reflections on the 5 parables. John Calvin (1509–1564), the prince of for interpreters to hear parables as they were heard Reformation biblical expositors, was most con- by Jesus’ original first-century Jewish Palestinian sistent in keeping to the authorial intent of the audience.11 Jesus announced an in-breaking of parables. In reference to allegorical interpretation, God’s kingdom mediated through his messianic specifically as represented in the allegorization of reign. Any interpretation of the parables which the parable of the good Samaritan, Calvin wrote, fails to consider this original historical context is doomed to failure. I acknowledge that I have no liking for any of Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, schol- these interpretations; but we ought to have a ars known as “Redaction critics” drew attention deeper reverence for Scripture than to reckon to the final editorial contributions of the Gospel ourselves at liberty to disguise its natural mean- authors. For parables, this emphasis was impor- ing. And, indeed, any one may see that the curios- tant because Gospel authors gave their readers ity of certain men has led them to contrive these editorial clues to the proper interpretation of speculations, contrary to the intention of Christ.7 Jesus’ parables. Through grouping similar para- bles, providing important contextual information, The Reformation to the Late or employing other literary devices, the authors Nineteenth Century of the Gospels provided guidance to the correct The Reformation broke the allegorical stran- understanding of Jesus’ parables. glehold on much of the Bible, but a majority of In the late twentieth and early twenty-first cen- Christian writers continued to allegorize the par- tury, there has been somewhat of a regress towards ables. The many unexplained and striking details early allegorical tendencies. On one front, some in Jesus’ stories were irresistible fodder to these reader-response and “aesthetic” critics insist on interpreters who, due to historical influences, were reading the parables apart from the original his- predisposed to see allegorical significance that the torical context.12 The parables are taken as hav- biblical authors did not intend. ing a dynamic meaning-producing polyvalent life of their own. While this description may sound The Late Nineteenth to the Early somewhat appealing in the abstract, in real life Twenty-First Century it means parables can mean whatever the reader Several important developments in the inter- wants them to mean. Clearly, however, Jesus pretation of parables have occurred in the last used parables to convey specific, definable truths. century and a half. In 1888, the German New Tes- Admittedly, the affective power of story cannot tament scholar Adolf Jülicher published the first of be reproduced in propositional summary, but the his two-volume work, Die Gleichnisreden Jesu (The basic meaning of Jesus’ parables can and should be Parable-talks of Jesus).8 Jülicher’s study sounded so summarized. the death knell for allegorical interpretation of On other fronts, there has been an increasing the parables.9 Instead of allegorizing the details uncritical interest in the history of the church’s inter- of a parable, he focused on the main point of why pretation of biblical texts.13 In other words, various Jesus gave the parable. Unfortunately, Jülicher interpretations of biblical passages are valued in their interpreted parables according to his skeptical and own right and given a level of authority and influence liberal theological predilections and mislabeled which sometimes equals or exceeds the inspired text. many legitimate teachings of Jesus as later histori- While a study of “reception history” (the way a text cal accretions.10 has been received throughout history) can be quite In the early to mid-twentieth century, scholars informative, the text itself must maintain a clear such a C. H. Dodd and Joachim Jeremias called primacy over aberrant interpretations. 6 Hermeneutical guiDelines the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32), there are three If parables have been so infamously misinter- main characters—the father, the older brother, preted throughout church history, what are some and the younger brother.