Chapter 25.—The Same Word Does
Not Always Signify the Same Thing.
And when it is shown to be
figurative, the words in which it is expressed will be found to be
drawn either from like objects or from objects having some
affinity.
35. But as there are many ways in
which things show a likeness to each other, we are not to suppose
there is any rule that what a thing signifies by similitude in one
place it is to be taken to signify in all other places. For our
Lord used leaven both in a bad sense, as when He said, “Beware of
the leaven of the Pharisees,”
1881
and in a good sense, as when He
said, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman
took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was
leavened.”
1882
36. Now the rule in regard to
this variation has two forms. For things that signify now one
thing and now another, signify either things that are contrary, or
things that are only different. They signify contraries, for
example, when they are used metaphorically at one time in a good
sense, at another in a bad, as in the case of the leaven mentioned
above. Another example of the same is that a lion stands for
Christ in the place where it is said, “The lion of the tribe of
Judah hath prevailed;”
1883
and again, stands for the devil
where it is written, “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring
lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.”
1884
In the
same way the serpent is used in a good sense, “Be wise as
serpents;”
1885
and again,
in a bad sense, “The serpent beguiled Eve through his
subtilty.”
1886
Bread is
used in a good sense, “I am the living bread which came down from
heaven;”
1887
in a bad,
“Bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
1888
And so in a great many other
cases. The examples I have adduced are indeed by no means
doubtful in their signification, because only plain instances ought
to be used as examples. There are passages, however, in regard to
which it is uncertain in what sense they ought to be taken, as for
example, “In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is
red: it is full of mixture.”
1889
Now it is uncertain whether this
denotes the wrath of God, but not to the last extremity of
punishment, that is, “to the very dregs;” or whether it denotes
the grace of the Scriptures passing away from the Jews and coming
to the Gentiles, because “He has put down one and set up
another,”—certain observances, however, which they understand
in a carnal manner, still remaining among the Jews, for “the
dregs hereof is not yet wrung out.” The following is an example
of the same object being taken, not in opposite, but only in
different significations: water denotes people, as we read in the
Apocalypse,
1890
and also
the Holy Spirit, as for example, “Out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water;”
1891
and many other things besides
water must be interpreted according to the place in which they are
found.
37. And in the same way other
objects are not single in their signification, but each one of them
denotes not two only but sometimes even several different things,
according to the connection in which it is found.
1881
Matt. xvi. 6; Luke xii.
1
.
1882
Luke xiii. 21
.
1883
Rev. v. 5
.
1884
1 Pet. v. 8
.
1885
Matt. x. 16
.
1886
2 Cor. xi. 3
.
1887
John vi. 51
.
1888
Prov. ix. 17
.
1889
Ps. lxxv. 8
.
1890
Rev. xvii. 15
.
1891
John vii. 38
.