Spiritual Interpretation of Scripture
The principle that Scripture has a spiritual sense beyond the letter, requiring divine revelation to be understood. Jerome affirms "the law is spiritual" and uses the images of the sealed book of Revelation and the Ethiopian eunuch's encounter with Philip to show that Christ is the hidden key to all Scripture. Every syllable and the vestments of Aaron breathe forth heavenly mysteries.
Pope Clement VIII, Jerome's Prefaces, On Worship
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II. JEROME TO PAULINUS.
— Jerome declares the law is spiritual and needs revelation, citing the sealed book of the Apocalypse that only the one with the key of David can open.
"For the law is spiritual, and there is need of revelation for it to be understood, and with unveiled face we contemplate the glory of God."
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II. JEROME TO PAULINUS.
— The Ethiopian eunuch held the book and sounded the words on his lips but did not know the one he worshipped in the book; Philip showed him Jesus hidden in the letter.
"Philip came and showed him Jesus, who lay hidden, shut up in the letter."
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II. JEROME TO PAULINUS.
— Leviticus: every syllable and the vestments of Aaron breathe forth heavenly mysteries.
"the individual sacrifices, nay almost every single syllable, and the vestments of Aaron, and the entire Levitical order breathe forth heavenly mysteries."
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II. JEROME TO PAULINUS.
— The Books of Kings: surface history vs. hidden meaning, where the Church's struggles and the wars of heretics are narrated.
"If you look at the history, the words are simple; if you examine the hidden meaning in the text, the smallness of the Church and the wars of heretics against the Church are narrated."
Commentary on the Pentateuch of Moses
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Canons Bearing a Torch Before the Pentateuch
— Origen's purely allegorical method overturned the letter; Jerome judged Origen made his own intellect the mysteries of the Church
"This is against Origen, who thought all these things should be expounded allegorically and symbolically, and thus overturned the letter and the literal sense."
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Canons Bearing a Torch Before the Pentateuch
— A proper allegory must correspond to the history; David's adultery as a type of Christ's love for the Church
"a proper and solid allegory ought to correspond to the history"