“Do Lutherans Do Allegory?” LW Searching Scripture, October 2025: Genesis and Galatians

In 2013, a popular national TV host provoked a sharp reaction from Christian viewers when he asserted that much of the Bible is allegorical, meaning that the narratives of Adam and Eve, Noah, and Jonah are non-literal and symbolic. This is not how Christians have historically understood allegory. Even in the Middle Ages, when ingenious allegorical interpretation sometimes resulted in nonsense, Christians still approached the Bible with the conviction that it was literal and historical — they just thought they were finding additional symbolic or spiritual meanings. While the Lutheran Reformation reined in allegorical interpretation of the Bible, there is one divinely inspired allegory given in Scripture that stands alongside messianic prophecy and typology as an interpretive technique for opening the Old Testament. Whether or not St. Paul’s example gives license to Lutherans to do allegory — that’s debatable! Rev. Carl Roth, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Elgin, TX, joins Sarah to talk about the “Searching Scripture” feature in the October 2025 issue of the Lutheran Witness titled “Do Lutherans Do Allegory?” on selected passages from Genesis and Galatians. This year, “Searching Scripture” is themed “Opening the Old Testament” and will walk through ways that the Old Testament witnesses to Jesus Christ and His grace, mercy and peace, delivered through the holy Christian church. Follow along every month and search Scripture with us! Find online exclusives of the Lutheran Witness at witness.lcms.org and subscribe to the Lutheran Witness at cph.org/witness. Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: [email protected].