MULTIPLE LAYERS

By George Card

Someone once said that studying the Bible is like peeling an onion. After you peel the first layer then you find another layer underneath and so forth. First you study the plain meaning of a verse and you keep on going, but then later on another scripture gives you some insight on that prior verse, so you go back and you see that there is indeed another layer under the original plain one.

Per example we find in Deuteronomy 25:4 the commandment “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.”, but then Paul tells us that there is another meaning to that scripture. He uses this verse to show us that the minister of the Church should rightfully receive financial support from the church; no minister should not be expected to work for free. In the first layer this verse applied to feeding an animal while it is working. In a deeper spiritual layer this verse applies to providing support for a minister who works for the church.

Here is another verse with layers. (Psalm 91:11) “For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.” The first meaning is that God will protect those who are his people, the second layer meaning is prophetic in that this applies to Jesus being protected by angels. As you keep on going you will often find passages that have two or more layers, you just have to have an open mind to revelation. 

There are some critics of this type of approach to the Bible and they warn that such approach to reading the scriptures might end up denying the literal meaning of the scriptures and engender bad theology which might give birth to all kinds of heresies. Of course there is always a literal meaning to the scriptures, but even Jesus used literal meanings to teach spiritual truths. If the Bible says that Jesus died, and resurrected after three days, we cannot simply spiritualize his resurrection and deny the literal resurrection of Jesus.

I believe that in certain ways the Bible is like a tree, which have many different layers. Each layer in the tree is important and the tree needs all of them for its survival. Likewise the different layers of the Bible are all united as a single trunk. Each layer supports the other and none of them are superfluous or expendable. So the fear that the literal meaning of the Bible will be cast aside is not well founded, for the literal meaning is like the outer bark of the Bible, it encompasses and protects the inner layers.

Some have claimed that there is a prophetic layer in the Bible, that many passages are actually prophetic of things that were yet to come when those scriptures were spoken or written down. Others claim there is a Christological layer in the scriptures, that it is like a thin coat of lacquer thru which you can see a slight resemblance or image of Christ. The types of layers or number of layers in the scriptures vary depending on who is describing them.

Coming from a military background I understand the concept of a layered approach to different situations. We can think of a layered defensive set up which will frustrate and tire the enemy and then that weakened enemy can be defeated. Also in the technology sector, which I also understand quite well, we use layers of protection which prevents a hacker from infiltrating a system just by overcoming one single obstacle. The use of multiple layers in the Bible works defensively as a sort of threefold cord which cannot easily be broken.

Another reason I believe the Bible uses a multi-layered approach is because God in his infinite wisdom created a book that is able to impact billions of different individuals with different cultures and different needs at various stages of life. The Bible must be rich enough in its diversity and content to satisfy the spiritual hunger of all of humanity in their different manifestations. This richness shows the flexibility of the Bible to adapt to numerous races, languages, and personal philosophies which are available in the world. A person from one country can read a passage and relate it to something in his culture, while another person from a different country can also apply it to something else in his own culture.