📖 Biblical Definition
Literal interpretation (also called the grammatical-historical method) means reading Scripture according to its natural, intended sense — taking into account genre, grammar, historical context, and authorial intent. It does not mean reading every passage as if it contains no figurative language; rather, it means recognizing poetry as poetry, prophecy as prophecy, narrative as narrative, and interpreting each according to its literary form. When Jesus says "I am the door" (John 10:9), the literal interpretation recognizes a metaphor — not that Jesus is made of wood. The Reformers championed the sensus literalis — the plain, intended meaning — against the allegorical methods that had allowed medieval interpreters to make the text say anything. The literal sense is the foundation upon which all other interpretation must rest.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Literal: according to the letter; not figurative or metaphorical. Following the letter or exact words.
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LIT'ERAL, a. [L. literalis.] According to the letter; not figurative or metaphorical. Following the letter or exact words; not free. A literal translation. Note: Webster understood "literal" as the plain, natural sense — the meaning the words were intended to convey.
📖 Key Scripture
• Nehemiah 8:8 — "They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading."
• 2 Timothy 2:15 — "Rightly handling the word of truth."
• 2 Peter 1:20 — "No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
"Literal" is caricatured as wooden literalism to dismiss sound interpretation.
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Critics of literal interpretation often create a straw man: "You take the Bible literally? So you think the sky has pillars?" This confuses literalism with wooden literalism — ignoring that the literal method fully recognizes metaphor, poetry, hyperbole, and other literary devices. The real alternative to literal interpretation is not "sophisticated reading" but unbounded allegorization — the method by which any text can be made to mean anything. When Origen allegorized the Old Testament, he could find Greek philosophy in Genesis. When modern interpreters reject the literal sense, they can find sexual liberation in Song of Solomon and Marxism in the prophets. The literal method — attending to grammar, genre, history, and authorial intent — is not naive; it is the only responsible way to read any text, sacred or otherwise.
Usage
• "Literal interpretation does not mean ignoring metaphor — it means reading each passage according to its intended literary sense: poetry as poetry, narrative as narrative, prophecy as prophecy."
• "The Reformers recovered the sensus literalis because the allegorical method had turned Scripture into a mirror reflecting whatever the interpreter wanted to see."