Interpreting scripture spiritually enables one to avoid the pitfalls of the Anthropomorphites and the errors of the Marcionites. In other words, this ancient reading does not stray off into hard literalism forcing one to attribute to the true God characteristics that one would not credit to the most savage or wicked of men nor leading to the tossing away of certain troubling or abhorrent passages. Rather, allegory enables the interpreter to faithfully uphold each jot and title as a mystery pertaining to Christ which ingenuously becomes the glory of kings to discover and to search out.
In a brilliant way, allegory takes the violent and makes it a testimony to God's non-violence, and makes the victories by carnal battles for physical land an inner battle where vain imaginations of God and strongholds in the mind are the enemies defeated by Christ's triumphant love upon the cross and become the advancing of the kingdom of God within us. As the soldiers of Christ, we get to follow in the steps of those carnal commands but only in a spiritual sense (for we know according to the letter this would produce death, yet according to the Spirit this contains life) through driving out all the inhabitants of unbelief and sins stains from every area of our life. To branch out a little further, even in the prayers of the psalmist for God to crush their physical enemy and knock their teeth out, would become a spiritual request in which God answers through crushing satan and knocking out the teeth of what so easily tries to devour us, and He does all this non-violently by His victory on the cross. So while the literal reading may be saying one thing, which we know is strictly forbidden for any Christ-follower, it still has a redeeming aspect as we know our real enemies are not flesh and blood and so Christ ingenuously fulfills it but only in a spiritual sense.
When you start to see the wonders of allegory, it's like a whole new dimension opens up. There is meaning to the smallest twig and a godly purpose to see in even the oddest events. What this does is give you a higher appreciation and an eye for details that might have otherwise been seen as insignificant. The real beauty is, even the most horrific passages now have a redeeming aspect and the violent portraits give way to God's true character and nature as revealed in Jesus. As Christocentric and Cruciform were important aspects to correct interpretation in the early church, it should also be for us, and allegory allows one to keep these in the forefront and not wander off. Let us follow in the path the early church fathers paved for us. Let us knock, and let us seek that God will open our eyes to see. The Scripture is a green pasture of hidden jewels and buried wisdom. The real prize lies beneath and is more then what the carnal eye can perceive. It is a treasure chest and Christ is the key to opening it. May we seek to read not according to the dead letter, but according to the Spirit.
"Unless those carnal wars (of the Old Testament) were a symbol of spiritual wars, I do not think that the Jewish historical books would ever have been passed down by the apostles to be read by Christ's followers in their churches... Thus, the apostle, being aware that physical wars have become personal battles of the soul against spiritual adversaries, gives orders to the soldiers of Christ like a military commander when he says, "Put on the armor of God so as to be able to hold your ground against the wiles of the devil" (Eph. 6:11). -Origen (184-254)
"Your eyes are doves" (Song 1:15), saying, Her eyes are compared to doves, surely because she understands the divine Scriptures now, not after the letter, but after the spirit, and perceives in them spiritual mysteries; for the dove is the emblem of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:16). To understand the Law and the Prophets in a spiritual sense is, therefore, to have the eyes of a dove... In the Psalms a soul of this sort longs to be given the wings of a dove (Ps. 67:14), that she may be able to fly in the understanding of spiritual mysteries, and to rest in the courts of wisdom. -Origen (184-254)
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