Extensive Use and Personalization of Metaphors in Jesus’ Teaching: In the Gospel of John

Recognizing and interpreting figurative language is one of the biggest interpretive issues in the Bible. Since metaphors are non-literal language and must be interpreted as such, metaphors are more difficult to interpret than narrative or didactic portions of the Bible. As the Bible is filled with figurative language, understanding the metaphors of Jesus will give a template for understanding other metaphorical language in the Bible. Without a good understanding of metaphor and particularly, Jesus’ use of metaphor, some of Jesus’ teachings will remain obscure and confusing. Not understanding metaphors has resulted in the misunderstanding and misinterpretation of several teachings of Jesus. Most of the errors have their root in taking literally passages that are metaphorical. Consequently, the interpreter not only loses the express teaching but also misses the special emphasis which the particular metaphor was designed to make.