{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/102/1020805.htm","path":"chr/ecf/102/1020805.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/102/1020805.htm","text":"Chapter 25.\u2014The Same Word Does Not Always Signify the Same Thing.\nAnd when it is shown to be figurative, the words in which it is expressed will be found to be drawn either from like objects or from objects having some affinity.\n35. But as there are many ways in which things show a likeness to each other, we are not to suppose there is any rule that what a thing signifies by similitude in one place it is to be taken to signify in all other places. For our Lord used leaven both in a bad sense, as when He said, \u201cBeware of the leaven of the Pharisees,\u201d 1881 and in a good sense, as when He said, \u201cThe kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.\u201d 1882\n36. Now the rule in regard to this variation has two forms. For things that signify now one thing and now another, signify either things that are contrary, or things that are only different. They signify contraries, for example, when they are used metaphorically at one time in a good sense, at another in a bad, as in the case of the leaven mentioned above. Another example of the same is that a lion stands for Christ in the place where it is said, \u201cThe lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed;\u201d 1883 and again, stands for the devil where it is written, \u201cYour adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.\u201d 1884 In the same way the serpent is used in a good sense, \u201cBe wise as serpents;\u201d 1885 and again, in a bad sense, \u201cThe serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty.\u201d 1886 Bread is used in a good sense, \u201cI am the living bread which came down from heaven;\u201d 1887 in a bad, \u201cBread eaten in secret is pleasant.\u201d 1888 And so in a great many other cases. The examples I have adduced are indeed by no means doubtful in their signification, because only plain instances ought to be used as examples. There are passages, however, in regard to which it is uncertain in what sense they ought to be taken, as for example, \u201cIn the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red: it is full of mixture.\u201d 1889 Now it is uncertain whether this denotes the wrath of God, but not to the last extremity of punishment, that is, \u201cto the very dregs;\u201d or whether it denotes the grace of the Scriptures passing away from the Jews and coming to the Gentiles, because \u201cHe has put down one and set up another,\u201d\u2014certain observances, however, which they understand in a carnal manner, still remaining among the Jews, for \u201cthe dregs hereof is not yet wrung out.\u201d The following is an example of the same object being taken, not in opposite, but only in different significations: water denotes people, as we read in the Apocalypse, 1890 and also the Holy Spirit, as for example, \u201cOut of his belly shall flow rivers of living water;\u201d 1891 and many other things besides water must be interpreted according to the place in which they are found.\n37. And in the same way other objects are not single in their signification, but each one of them denotes not two only but sometimes even several different things, according to the connection in which it is found.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. II: On Christian Doc...","type":"page"}