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The Bible · Lesson 4 of 10

The Four Senses of Scripture

Every Bible passage has a literal meaning, and on that foundation God can also speak about Christ, about how to live, and about heaven.

This is a summary of Lesson 4 of The Bible, the Catholic Way. The full lesson takes about 3 minutes in the Saints Light app.

Saint Jerome Writing, a painting by Caravaggio
Saint Jerome Writing, Caravaggio, 1605-1606

What this lesson teaches

  • Scripture has a literal sense and a spiritual sense, which divides into allegorical, moral and anagogical.
  • The literal sense is what the author meant, and every other sense rests on it.
  • The spiritual senses point to Christ, to how we should live, and to heaven.
  • Spiritual reading is done with the Church, not as private guesswork.

Catechism paragraphs this lesson cites

  • CCC 111-114
  • CCC 115-117
  • CCC 118

CCC means the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Saints Light teaches it in its own words and never quotes it. Look up any paragraph in a printed copy or at vatican.va. See every lesson by paragraph in the Catechism index.

Scripture read in this lesson: 1 Corinthians 10:11; 2 Corinthians 3:6.

A sample question from this lesson

What is the literal sense of Scripture?

  1. Reading every word as physically exact, including metaphors
  2. The meaning the human author intended by his words
  3. The hidden meaning only experts can find
  4. Whatever the passage makes me feel
Show the answer

The meaning the human author intended by his words. The lesson defines the literal sense as what the author meant, found by careful reading, and notes that literal does not mean literalistic (CCC 116).

The lesson in the app has three questions, each with an explanation.

Words to know

Literal sense
The meaning the human author intended, the foundation of all other senses.
Anagogical sense
The spiritual sense that points to our final destiny in heaven.

More terms in the Catholic glossary. More passages in the Scripture index.

Read the full lesson in the app

"The Four Senses of Scripture" is lesson 4 of The Bible, the Catholic Way. In Saints Light you get the whole teaching, the Scripture quoted in full, all three questions and a step to live it this week.

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