The Bible is first of all to be interpreted in its literal sense. The books of Scripture were not written primarily for "the wise and prudent" to give them license for sophisticated interpretations, but for ordinary people with common sense understanding. The Bible means what it says.
However, it does have symbolic levels of meaning, and it gives definite indications as to how its symbolism is to be understood. It is simply that images both speak themselves and also contain a significance larger than themselves, of similar spiritual import. (Charles Williams masterfully employs this same principle in shaping the symbolic significance of images in his novels.)
For instance, the Bible often refers to God as the God of Jacob. Jacob was a man, a man with severe shortcomings. The Lord changed his name to Israel, and the term Israel begins to designate something larger than Jacob, that is, all his offspring, who became the Jewish nation. Further, in the New Testament the term Israel is sometimes used to designate the entirety of redeemed humanity. The movement from the ancient Jacob with all his questionable dealings to the ultimate body of the Redeemed is a remarkable display of the grace of God. Similarly, the ancient shepherd poet David becomes the godly King in whose line Christ is born, the son of David, the Ultimate King who sits upon the throne of David, and who, at his Second Coming, will rule in righteousness and justice.
The principle can be applied to each Christian. Each one comes to Christ sincerely repenting of sin, some bringing a past laden with evil behavior and moral disgrace. God forgives, forgets the past, and the individual is given a fresh start. Then begins the efforts of grace which work to create a new individual, changing "Jacob" to "Israel." This process, which the Bible speaks of as sanctification, progresses as the individual obeys Christ's commands and tries earnestly to live daily in a manner that pleases God. Scripture teaches that as God has begun a good work in each individual Christian, he will bring it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6). Each Christian will one day be a glorious being, the same person as on earth but also very different, all imperfections which mark earthly exisitence having been removed.
Many Scripture passages foretell this glorious future, such as:
"For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life" (2 Cor. 5:4).
"Beloved, we are God's children now, what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is" (1 Jn. 3:2).
C. S. Lewis writes: "The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in th Bible) that we were 'gods' [Psa. 82:6] and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him--for we can prevent Him, if we choose--He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said" (Mere Christianity, book 4, chapter 9).
