GOD IS BIGGER THAN ONE LITERAL MEANING
Fundamentalism is a term use to describe religions that hold to Biblical literalism. It is a kind of doctrine that appeals to people who by character and/or training are inclined to hold to rigid interpretations and applications of truth as they understand it in the conduct of their life.

While fundamentalism is useful as an orientation for attracting people to certain religions, it has problems when applied to understanding God and interpreting the Bible:

Considering these problems, Biblical literalism represents a kind of false wisdom based on human abilities to understand words and concepts that are essentially spiritual (i.e. without form).

All words human words and concepts are open to multiple meanings and nuance that varies from one culture to another. There is always risk in trying to represent spiritual truth with natural words.Spiritual maturity is a process of learning how to manage these truths. We do what we can with what we have and let God fill in the blanks and correct the errors. That is what we will hear when we listen to his voice.

A critical phase of the maturing process is in the beginning where conviction of sin and repentance occurs. This phase of spiritual growth is impossible to represent in detail because it is so personal for each person. Nevertheless, there are three things that we can say about the process because God has outlined them in the Bible.

The significance of this process in establishing the New Covenant in Jews and Christians is immense. With respect to Literal or Symbolic Interpretation, however, we must make a few key points.

In Luke 8:9-18 and  Matthew 13:16-23 Jesus explains to his disciples the spiritual meaning of the parables. The blessing to which Jesus refers in these scriptures is the blessing associated with being in a New Covenant relationship where the meaning of the law and the parables is written on their hearts. This is the common experience for all who are in a New Covenant relationship with God.

Those who have the law written on their hearts effectively have the mind of Christ speaking to them spiritually — just like he spoke to his disciples — to explain the meaning of the parables and the rest of God’s word. This “knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God” comes as a quiet revelation by the Spirit of God to the mind of  a New Covenant believer. This revelation only came to the disciples after they asked Jesus about the meaning of the parable about the sower he had just told a large crowd. Many heard the story, but only the disciples asked Jesus to tell them the meaning. Everyone else in the crowd was satisfied with their literal understanding of what Jesus said, but the disciples were discerning enough to know that there was more to the story than the literal facts. They were curious about the true meaning so they had the courage to ask Jesus to explain the meaning to them. And Jesus satisfied their curiosity. As Jesus puts it, they had “ears to hear.” And when he said, “let them hear” he was affirming God’s guarantee that hidden spiritual truths would be revealed to those who ask.

A clear and critical lesson in this whole story is that you need to ask for the spiritual meaning. If you are satisfied with the literal meaning, that is all that you will get from it. Since the ability to discern deep spiritual meanings is a function of having the law written on your heart (i.e. New Covenant), failure to obtain deep spiritual meanings is a clear indicator that you are still in an Old/First Covenant relationship with God. And if that is where you are, you don’t even know enough to ask for spiritual meanings. For you, there is nothing more to the Bible than the literal word. Indeed you may have read through the Bible many times, and you may know all the important stories, and you may know some doctrines, and you may have memorized a lot of scripture, but if you don’t ask for and receive spiritual meanings of scripture, it is all intellectual exercise to gain information. You are not pursuing spiritual life. You may even be zealous to learn about God, but it is not zeal based on knowledge.

Jesus gave his disciples several stern warnings about how we seek for hidden secrets and apply what we learn. What he said is that what you think you have in terms of knowledge will be taken away from you. The only way to understand these scriptures is to recognize  that Jesus is talking to religious Jews who prided themselves on their religious knowledge.

The lessons here are these:

However, if we assume, as true New Covenant disciples will do, that there are deeper meanings to scripture, God will reveal those deeper meanings to us. This is what it means to be a disciple.

Since true disciples are learners, they will make the effort to ask for more information. And since God encourages disciples to ask for wisdom (i.e. knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God), he will be faithful to give it to those who bother to ask.

In the story where Jesus told a large crowd about the parable of the sower, it was only the disciples who came to Jesus afterwards to ask for the spiritual meaning. Others in the crowd were content to hear the literal story. Members of the larger crowd were content to hear and understand with their natural capabilities (eyes and ears). This was not true for the disciples. They knew that there was more to the story and they went out of their way to ask Jesus for the deeper spiritual meaning. Jesus’ disciples prove that they have spiritual ears to hear by asking for deeper spiritual understandings of God’s word.

This story reveals a key quality of New Covenant disciples. They know that there is more to the story than natural eyes and ears can absorb and they will do what they need to do to get that deeper meaning — even humble themselves to admit that they do not understand.