It has been said that the allegorical interpretation of The Song of Solomon has not been dominate in church history. It has been said that the “bridal paradigm” or the metaphor/ allegory of Jesus being the Bridegroom, and his church being the bride is a doctrine unique only to IHOP-KC. Here I give none of my own knowledge, but simply present the opinion of others and the Word. This is not exhaustive but an introduction. This is the product of 4 hours of research. I hope to lend much more time to this in the future.
First I will list those who believed in chruch as the bride, and Jesus as the Bridegroom. Also those, in church history who believed in the allegorical interpretation of Song of Solomon. Finally I will add a few biblical references portraying the church as the bride and Jesus as the Bridegroom.
“So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty. Wholehearted love is the duty and bliss of the marriage state in every case, but especially so in this lofty mystic marriage. The church must forsake all others and cleave to Jesus only, or she will not please him nor enjoy the full manifestation of his love. What less can he ask, what less may she dare propose than to be wholly his? Jesus sees a beauty in his church, a beauty which he delights in most when it is not marred by worldliness. He has always been most near and precious to his saints when they have cheerfully taken up his cross and followed him without the camp. His Spirit is grieved when they mingle themselves among the people and learn their ways. No great and lasting revival of religion can be granted us till the professed lovers of Jesus prove their affection by coming out from an ungodly world, being separated, and touching not the unclean thing. For he is thy Lord; and worship thou him. He has royal rights still; his condescending grace does not lessen but rather enforce his authority. Our Saviour is also our Ruler. The husband is the head of the wife; the love he bears her does not lessen but strengthen her obligation to obey. The church must reverence Jesus, and bow before him in prostrate adoration; his tender union with her gives her liberty, but not license; it frees her from all other burdens, but places his easy yoke upon her neck. Who would wish it to be otherwise? The service of God is heaven in heaven, and perfectly carried out it is heaven upon earth. Jesus, thou art he whom thy church praises in her unceasing songs, and adores in her perpetual service. Teach us to be wholly thine. Bear with us, and work by thy Spirit in us till thy will is done by us on earth as it is in heaven.”
- Charles Spurgeon treasury of David Psalms 45
He also wrote over 60 sermons on the Song of Solomon and viewed the allegorical interpretation to be the primary interpretation.
As did John Calvin. As seen in Robert Davidson’s commentary on Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon: (link click here)
John Calvin had Reformer Sebastian Castillo exiled from Geneva for not believing in the allegorical interpretation of song of solomon: (link click here)
St. Austine said this in his Confessions:
Link: (click here)
“It is for Christ the friend of the bridegroom longs. Already he had laid his spiritual harvest, in Christ’s keeping. But still, He groans in his heart. Waiting for that adoption which is the ransoming of our bodies from that slavery. He longs for Christ for he is a member of the church, The bride of Christ. His love for Christ is great, for he is the bridegroom’s friend. And his great love is for Christ, not for himself…Our Bridegroom, the only-begotten son. How bright a light of beauty will shine when we see Christ as he is.”
Here is a list of some of the church fathers who believed in the allegorical interpretation of the Song of Solomon. As it being about us being the bride and Jesus being the Bridegroom. Below the names are the books cited for reference:
A. Patristic Christian
1. possibly Ignatius[1]
2. Tertullian (ca. 160-220)[2]
3. Hippolytus (ca. 200 AD)[3]
4. Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150-216)[4]
5. Origen of Alexandria (185-251)—his magnum opus was a ten volume commentary on the Song. It was hailed by Jerome as surpassing all other books Origin had written and all other books any other Christian author had written. [5]
6. Athanasius, archbishop of Alexandria (295-373)—leader of the opposition against the Arian heresy of the fourth century that asserted that Jesus is a divine man but not God.[6]
7. Gregory Nazianzen (329-380)[7] – one of the leading theologians of the Eastern church
8. Gregory of Nyssa (335-95)—wrote an extensive commentary on the Song only completing through 6:9 by the time of his death[8]
9. Ambrose of Milan (b. 340)—drew upon the Song in many of his writings and sermons[9]
10. Augustine of Hippo (345-430)[10]
11. Philo, bishop of Carpasia in Cyprus[11]
12. Jerome (ca. 348-420)—wrote an entire commentary on the Song[12]
13. Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus in Syria[13]
14. Cyril of Alexandria[14]
15. Gregory the Great (540-604)[15]
16. John Chrysostom—considered by many to be the greatest preacher in the early church[16]
B. Medieval—more commentaries were written on the Song of Songs during the Medieval period, than any other book of the bible.[17]
1. Bede, the Venerable (d. 735)[18]
2. Anselm (1033-1109) (disputed whether of Laon or Canterbury)[19]
3. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)[20]
4. Bernard of Clairvaux—his magnum opus is eighty-six sermons on the first two chapters of the Song. This lifelong project was cut short only by death.
5. Claire of Assisi (1193-1253)[21]
6. Albertus Magnus (1193?-1280)—spiritual father of Thomas Aquinas[22]
7. Thomas Aquinas—arguably one of the greatest theologians of the medieval period[23]
8. Mechthild of Magdeburg (ca. 1212- ca. 1282)[24]
C. Reformation and Beyond
1. Martin Luther (1483-1546)[25]
2. John Calvin (1509-64)[26]
3. The Westminster Assembly—which produced The Westminster Confession of Faith, a classic Reformed creed, understood the Song allegorically[27]
4. Theodore Beza—The 1599 Geneva Study Bible; numerous sermons on the Song[28]
5. John Knox[29]
6. Teresa of Avila (1515-85)[30]
7. John of the Cross (1542-91)[31] – his books are flooded with allegorically understood allusions to and quotations of the Song.
8. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)[32]
9. Puritans—Thomas Brightman (1614), John Cotton (1642), and John Flavel[33]
10. John Owen (1616-1683)
11. James Durham[34]
12. Jeanne Guyon (1647-1717)
13. Francois Fenelon (1651-1715)[35]
14. Matthew Henry (1662-1714)—in his Commentary on the Whole Bible
15. John Gill (1697-1771)
16. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)[36]
17. John Wesley (1703-91)[37]
D. Modern (1800-Present)—Allegorical/Typological Interpretation
1. Robert Jamieson (1802-1880), Andrew Fausset (1821-1910), David Brown (1803-1897).
2. Charles Spurgeon—preached over 60 sermons from the Song between 1859 and 1890
3. Joseph Parker (1830-1902)—The People’s Bible
4. J. Hudson Taylor (1832-1905)
5. C.F. Keil[38]
6. Franz Delitzsch (1885)[39]
7. Merrill Unger[40]
8. C.I. Scofield (1843-1921)[41]
9. F.B. Meyer (1847-1929)[42]
10. R.A. Torrey (1856-1928)[43]
11. Arthur W. Pink (1886-1952)[44]
[1] In his epistle to the Romans Ignatius calls Jesus “my eros” (eros being the Greek word for the more passionate and sexual side of love, sometimes used of the object of love, similar to the word “beloved”). From the time Origin’s commentary on the Song of Songs was written and onward it was relatively common for Christians to use eros as a name for Jesus in connection to the allegorical interpretation of the Song of Songs. Ignatius’ use of such may indicate that such usage of both eros and the allegorical interpretation of the Song of Songs was used even earlier.
[2] Pope, 461.
[3] Pope, 114.
[4] Pope, 671-2.
[5] Pope, 114-117
[6] Pope, 117-118.
[7] Pope, 117.
[8] Pope, 118
[9] Pope, 121, 672.
[10] Pope, 463, 584, 701.
[11] Pope, 118. 122, 237, 302, 443, 517, 520
[12] Pope, 118-119
[13] Pope, 120.
[14] Pope, 121, 170.
[15] Pope, 121-122.
[16] Pope, 465.
[17] Tanner, 28.
[18] Murphy, Exegesis, 512.
[19] Pope, 122.
[20] Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, trans. by Columba Hart and Jane Bishop (New York: Paulist Press, 1990), pp. 133-4, 249, 255-6, 259-60, 439-42.
[21] Francis and Clare: The Complete Works, trans. R. J. Armstrong and I. C. Brady (New York: Paulist Press, 1982), pp. 205; E. Ann Matter, The Voice of My Beloved: The Song of Songs in Western Medieval Christianity (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990), pp. xix, xxxiii.
[22] Pope, 643.
[23] Pope, 558.
[24] Mechthild of Magdeburg, Meditations (Brewer, MA: Paraclete Press, 1999).
[25] Longman, 33; Murphy, Song, 34-5; Martin Luther, Selections From His Writings. ed. John Dillenberger (New York: Anchor Books, 1962), pp. 61.
[26] Murphy, Song, 35; J. Cheryl Exum, Song of Songs: A Commentary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2005), 73-4.
[27] Longman, 34.
[28] Murphy, Song, 35.
[29] Ray Steadman, Highlights of the Bible (Ventura, California: Regal Press, 1980), chapter 16.
[30] Murphy, Song, 37. Teresa of Avila, “Meditations on the Song of Songs” in The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Volume 2. Tr. Otilio Rodriguez and Kieran Kavanaugh (Washington D.C.: ICS Publications, 1980), pp.207-262.
[31] Murphy, Song 37. esp. John of the Cross, “The Spiritual Canticle” in The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross. Tr. Otilio Rodriguez and Kieran Kavanaugh (Washington D.C.: ICS Publications, 1991), pp. 461-632.
[32] Pope, 246.
[33] Murphy, Song, 36; Thomas Brightman. Scholia et analysis in Canticum Canticorum (Basel, 1614); John Cotton, Expliciatio Cantici Canticorum (London, 1642)
[34] James Durham, The Song of Solomon. (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1982).
[35] Fenelon, Spiritual Progress. http://www.ccel.org/f/fenelon/progress/htm/viii.htm
[36] Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers), pp.12, 39, 162.
[37] John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (Bristol, England, 1765).
[38] Tanner, 28.
[39] Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes, 6; Tanner, 32.
[40] Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, 1:1107; Tanner, 32.
[41] C.I. Scofield, The Scofield Reference Bible. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1945).
[42] Bethany Parallel Commentary on the Old Testament. pp. 1318, 1326, 1333.
[43] Reuben Archer Torrey, Torrey’s New Topical Textbook. http://www.ccel.org/t/torrey/ttt/ttt/081.html
[44] Arthur W. Pink, The Nature of God (previously published as Gleanings in the Godhead), (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), pp. 94, 158, 172, 241.
Biblical Refferences: (Just a few to wet the appetite)
First I’d like to site the entire book of Hosea.
The inevitable book: Song of Solomon. Not to mention all through the Psalms.
When God is referring to his relationship with Israel, he calls their apostasy “adultery” and says they have broken the marriage covenant, and asks if He should divorce them. This is in: Jeremiah 3:1-16 and Isaiah 50.
Isaiah 61:10: I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh [himself] with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth [herself] with her jewels.
Isaiah 62:5: For [as] a young man marrieth a virgin, [so] shall thy sons marry thee: and [as] the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, [so] shall thy God rejoice over thee.
Psalms 45 (Whole chapter) “…Listen, O daughter, Consider and incline your ear; Forget your own people also, and your father’s house; So the King will greatly desire your beauty; Because He is your Lord, worship Him…”
John 3:29 “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.”
Revelation 21:2 “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
Revelation 21:9 “And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”
Matthew 9:15 “And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.”
Matthew 22:1-14 “…The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son…”
Matthew 25:1-13 “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.”
Luke 12:36 “and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.”
I pray that helps some this information helps at least some of you on your journey in understanding God’s great love for us.
9 Comments
Jam1000000amSun, 20 Jan 2008 02:24:34 +000008 5, 2007 at Sunday, January 20, 2008
is your copyright the right to copy? =)
Jpm1000000pmSun, 20 Jan 2008 22:16:50 +000008 5, 2007 at Sunday, January 20, 2008
the metaphor/ allegory of Jesus being the Bridegroom, and his church being the bride is a doctrine unique only to IHOP-KC.
I would have to say that this statement is inaccurate. Jesus has always been seen as the Bridegroom and the church the Bride, but never before He returns for us, but not in the sense that Jesus wants to ravish us and is lovesick for us.
I have yet to read past this statement, but I will likely have more to say.
Jpm1000000pmSun, 20 Jan 2008 22:29:48 +000008 5, 2007 at Sunday, January 20, 2008
Berean,
um yeah that isn’t unquie to IHOP either. Go to google books and search Charles Spurgeon with “ravished” in quotation marks. do the same with St. Augustine. It’s not as if we just say things with out massive research.
God loved the world so much, or was love sick enough to send his only Son that we may be saved.
Jam1000000amMon, 21 Jan 2008 09:02:45 +000008 5, 2007 at Monday, January 21, 2008
berean,
“Jesus has always been seen as the Bridegroom and the church the Bride, but never before He returns for us,”
that’s like saying we’re not “saved” until he returns to save us.
Jam1000000amMon, 21 Jan 2008 09:15:00 +000008 5, 2007 at Monday, January 21, 2008
I am glad that your doing this study. I am a novice in my personal development of this paradigm, still in the investigation mode. I have been working through Mike’s SOS series. I hope you do continue adding to these thoughts, it has provoked me to dig a little more.
In reading this post, it has conjured up some thoughts, and in the spirit of helping to define this for myself, I want to share them. The Lord speaks to me a lot from types and shadows in the old testament; they facinate me. One comes to mind in relation to the B P is Genesis 24: Abraham sending his servant to get a bride for Isaac. What a picture this is of the Father sending the Spirit to gather the church/bride and to bring her His Son to be married. I love this.
I’m just going to try and hit the main points of my thinking, hope it comes out like I’m seeing it. (Side note: Rebekah means: Ensnarer, rope with a noose, fettering; which is to imply: “Captivating Beauty.” You have got to love OT names and thier meanings.)
There are two or three things that I am meditating on. Jesus said that He did not know the day or the hour He would return, but the Father only. He wait’s for the timing of His Father to receive His bride. Abraham was very old when he made the oath with his servant to go and get the bride for Isaac. I can see Isaac wondering and longing for this bride and feeling the pain of losing his mother.
We see him in the south country, meditating in a field after the work of the day. You can imagine what the man is pondering. He is thinking of this bride whom he is to receive. You can almost feel his ache, his desire, his wonder. “Who is she, what will she be like? How good,” he thinks, “it will be to have a companion, a friend, a lover.” This thing runs deep with him, that’s why he seperates himself from his friends and servants to be alone in a solitary place. A field in the south country; alone with his thoughts, his longings, his pain and desire. Oh for the day, he thinks, that I will be one with this bride of mine…… Oh hasten the day father, hasten the day…..
Second thought: The Jewish betrothal and marriage ritual. I found the details of this amazing in light of the B P as I looked at it again. The bride would be picked out by either a parent, friend or a brother. Then the betrothal took place as a promise, a covenant to marry. A ring would be placed on the brides finger and a dowery given. the bride would begin to prepare herself for the married life, and the marriage. The bridegroom would return to his or his father’s house and begin to prepare a place for his promised bride. A friend of the bridegroom would be the go between and the keeper of the bride for his friend.
Third thought: Jesus tells the disciples, “John 14:1-3
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Ephesians says:
When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
This sounds a whole lot like betrothal language to me. You have the Son returning to the Father’s house to prepare a place for the bride. He’s leaving gifts behind Him which are the Friends of the bridegroom to communicate His heart to them and prepare, preserve them for the wedding.
I’m seeing Jesus like Isaac out in the field in the south county. He’s not indifferent or unemotional about his bride that is promised Him. John sees Him and His eyes are lamps of fire, LIKE buring passion. I think He jealous for His bride. even in the throne room, around the father’s throne theres this awesome emrald rainbow with thunders and lightnings flashing. I think it’s screaming, I AM A JEALOUS GOD! I WILL HAVE NO RIVAL TO MY LOVE, I WILL TOLERATE NO MIXTURE IN YOUR DEVOTION TO ME! I AM JEALOUS FOR YOUR LOVE!! I AM YOURS AND YOU ARE MINE, I LOVE YOU!!
I’m really feeling that. WOW. Passionate, jealous God. Man that’s good stuff.
Jpm1000000pmTue, 22 Jan 2008 12:59:34 +000008 5, 2007 at Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Haybark, I totally agree with this cry:
“I AM A JEALOUS GOD! I WILL HAVE NO RIVAL TO MY LOVE, I WILL TOLERATE NO MIXTURE IN YOUR DEVOTION TO ME! I AM JEALOUS FOR YOUR LOVE!! I AM YOURS AND YOU ARE MINE, I LOVE YOU!!”
Not only do I like it. It’s biblical.
@Berean you said you had more to say?
Jpm1000000pmTue, 22 Jan 2008 13:08:07 +000008 5, 2007 at Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Ortho I agree with you.
Jpm2000000pmThu, 14 Feb 2008 13:09:51 +000008 5, 2007 at Thursday, February 14, 2008
[...] in the Bible (yep, the BP is set out scripturally… for a list of some references check out this blog). I don’t consider all other Biblical teaching null and void in comparison. All Scripture is [...]
Jam3000000amWed, 19 Mar 2008 02:12:42 +000008 5, 2007 at Wednesday, March 19, 2008
[...] important to know that we are the Bride and he is a Bridegroom because it’s a biblical truth. (references have been cited.) Though it’s not the gospel. It’s part of it. It gives us the big picture of why God sent his [...]