“The Keys to the Bible.” Written by Dr Emmet Fox and read by Dr Ian Ellis-Jones. This piece comes from Dr Fox’s book Diagrams for Living: The Bible Unveiled (New York: Harper & Row, 1968). All rights reserved.
Dr Emmet Fox (1886-1951) was a Divine Science minister and author. He was the pastor of the Church of the Healing Christ, in New York City, from 1931 until his death in 1951.
Dr Ian Ellis-Jones (born 1955) is an Australian lawyer, academic and author. He has also worked as a minister and a teacher of mindfulness and meditation.
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THE KEYS TO THE BIBLE
By Dr Emmet Fox
You are an important person with a glorious destiny and you have a wonderful biography written about you. It is a very different biography from the usual kind because in addition to being a personal history in which both achievements and shortcomings are noted, it shows you how to overcome difficulties and problems, and how to give expression to the deep aspirations that lie hidden in your soul. It outlines diagrams for living so that you can take the necessary steps to make your life worth while and interesting. This biography of you is called the Bible, and, whether you realize it or not, you are on every page from Genesis to Revelation.
The Bible is written in symbol and allegory. Some people know that; yet they continue to read the Bible in the literal way and consequently miss its message of spiritual power. The veil is still over their hearts, as Paul remarked. What do I mean by "symbol"? According to Webster, a symbol is a "sign of . . . an idea." It is not the thing itself but it represents it, as the dove is a symbol of peace, and palms are a symbol of victory. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, a real man did not go down from Jerusalem on a particular day, nor did a certain Levite actually pass by. Jesus told the story to illustrate a point. In like manner, the story of Adam and Eve is an allegory to explain great spiritual Truths.
The reason why many people have given up the Bible is that they have taken it literally, whereas the Bible was meant to be taken spiritually. They say, "the story of Jonah and the whale cannot be true." Of course it is not true, in a literal sense. It is an allegory. Nor is it true that the Prodigal Son was a certain young man who went into a far country and then came back and was wined and dined by his father. These things are parables that come to life and reveal diagrams for living when we have the spiritual key.
Everything in the Bible is significant. All the characters, both male and female, illustrate and dramatize certain states of mind that could and do happen to people in this present day, in New York or Paris or Tokyo. The Bible is not just ancient history: it is a living thing for today.
You can find yourself in the Bible, but there is no guarantee you will be pleased when you do! However, if you do not like the picture you see, you can always change from one Bible character to another. In this great play the actors cast themselves. If they do not like the role they find themselves in, they can change to another because the Bible gives us the key to transforming life.
Just as every character in the Bible symbolizes a state of your soul, so does every incident in the Bible signify something which can happen to you. Abraham moving into Canaan; Jesus at the lakeside; Jesus going up to Jerusalem; Paul on the Road to Damascus - all these represent dramatic, powerful, colorful events in your life today, the things that either age you and give you heartbreak, or lift you up to new levels of joy and accomplishment. They are dramatic, symbolic diagrams for living to show you how you can come out of limitation and find real happiness.
Every name in the Bible has a meaning. For that matter, all names have a meaning. Your name represents the idea of you and your life. The life of every man and woman is a parable of the things that have happened to them since they were born. You were born in Los Angeles or Paris or Berlin, let us say. You went to certain schools and churches. You got such and such a job or entered this or that profession. You married or stayed single. You lived in a particular place and did certain things - good things or bad things, wise or foolish things. Your whole life is a parable which symbolizes the kind of person you are, and your name sums up that parable or represents it. In like manner every name in the Bible has a special meaning, representing certain faculties or conditions of the human soul.
The geography of the Bible is significant, too. Egypt, Palestine, Assyria, Babylon, the Mediterranean - all have symbolical meanings. Every river, mountain, lake, desert, etc. represents certain states of consciousness.
Numbers also are used to convey definite ideas and principles. ... (cont'd)
And finally, the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are particularly significant and have a symbolic meaning that runs through the Bible. ... (cont'd)
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