SYMBOLS
Symbols of sacred things are, at one and the same time, precious and dangerous. They are precious as they are observed with holy and adoring reverence for the spiritual realities for which they stand. They are dangerous for the very reason that it is so easy to observe them without any sense of the precious truths that lie behind the symbol. Judaism, with its temple, priests, and rituals, was replete with symbolism. Christianity deals more with reality. Religions that purport to be Christian have invented a host of rituals unknown to the New Testament, but true, biblical Christianity is quite short on symbolism. There are, however, a few symbolic things that Christians are commanded to observe. Like all other symbols, these are both precious and dangerous. One thinks first of the Lord's Supper, where literal bread and wine are partaken of as symbols of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus. The early Christians ap...