Literal Sense
The first sense then for understanding the Bible is
the literal
sense. The literal sense of
Scripture is the meaning
which the human author directly intended and the
author's
words convey.
Criteria to understand the literal sense:
The literary
form that the author used is the
first aid in
determining what the author meant. If the author
wrote poetry
instead of history, then the literary form of poetry
assists in
determining the meaning intended by the author. Some
other
literary forms of the Bible include history, law,
songs, love
stories, stories (parables), etc.
The literary
history of the biblical book or of
the section of
the Bible that contains the book also aids in
determining the
meaning intended by the author. Literary history of
a book
includes what is known about the author, his
background,
his historical period of Israel's history, etc.