Over and over again I hear the claim that if we interpret Genesis literally, we need to interpret the whole Bible that way. But I actually don’t say we should interpret the Bible literally. I always say we should interpret the Bible “plainly” or “naturally.”

This means we read the Bible how it was meant to be read. You see, Scripture is made up of many different types of literature that aren’t all meant to be understood the same way. We read history, like Genesis, in a straightforward fashion. But poetry, like Psalms, clearly uses non-literal figurative language.

We need to read the Bible plainly or naturally so we can properly interpret its message.