SORTING QUOTES
 

Ludovici ab Alcasar (1614)
On Revelation 1:7, and the 15th Hermeneutical Principle : "And this was accomplished in such a manner, that the universal mechanism of things created should maintain a most beautiful harmony with the wonderful counsel of God in the salvation of men ; and that things corporeal should subserve to the representation of those which are spiritual." (Vestigatio Arcani Sensus in Apocalypsi)

Pseudo Clement (145)
"Now the Church, being spiritual was manifested in the flesh of Christ, thereby showing us that if any of us guard her in the flesh and defile her not, he shall receive her again in the Holy Spirit: for this flesh is the counterpart and copy of the spirit. No man therefore, when he hath defiled the copy, shall receive the original for his portion. This therefore is what He meaneth, brethren; Guard ye the flesh, that ye may partake of the spirit." "For the Lord Himself, being asked by one when His kingdom would come, replied, "When two shall be one, that which is without as that which is within, and the male with the female, neither male nor female." And "that which is without as" that which is within meaneth this: He calls the soul "that which is within," and the body "that which is without." ""the Books and the Apostles teach that the church is not of the present, but from the beginning. For it was spiritual, as was also our Jesus, and was made manifest at the end of the days in order to save us." ("Second Clement", Chapter 14)

Toby Janicki (2007)
"Yet, before we point fingers at that generation we should remember the old rabbinic dictum, "each generation in which the Temple is not rebuilt should count itself as being among those who brought its destruction." (Destruction in Jerusalem: The Spirit vs. the Letter)

INCIDENTAL IDEALIST APPROACHES

Wilhelm Martin Leberecht De Wette (1826)
"However strongly the historic standpoint is to be asserted, we must yet insist also that the work contains an ideally prophetic element, which has force even for us." (An Historico-Critical Introduction to the Canonical Books of the New Testament)

Steve Gregg
"The idealist [herein labeled the "spiritual" approach] views the Revelation as a great drama involving the transcendent truths such as the conflict between righteousness and unrighteousness or the victory over Satan." (Revelation: Four Views, xiv.)

"What I am calling the spiritual approach (often called the idealist or symbolic approach) to Revelation does not attempt to find individual fulfillments of the visions but takes Revelation to be a great drama depicting transcendent spiritual realities, such as the spiritual conflict between Christ and Satan, between the saints and the antichristian world powers, and depicting the heavenly vindication and final victory of Christ and his saints.  Fulfillment is seen either as entirely spiritual or as recurrent, finding representative expression in historical events throughout the age, rather than in one-time, specific fulfillments.  The prophecy is thus rendered applicable to Christians in any age." (Revelation: Four Views, p. 2-3)

"..most modern commentators, both of the evangelical wing and of the literary-critical type, have mixed some of the ideas of the spiritual approach with one of the other historically-based approaches.  This is not a difficult merger to effect, as Pieters rightly observes: [Spiritual] interpretations combine readily with those of the Preterists or of the Historicists, because any symbol, understood by them to refer to a certain force or tendency may be considered fulfilled in any event in which such a force or tendency is dominant." (Revelation: Four Views, p. 44)

"The most common tendency is to mix the spiritual approach with the preterist and then either call their view preterism, leave their view unlabeled, or give it an original name." (p. 44)

William Hendricksen
"PROPOSITION VI. The seals, trumpets, bowls of wrath, and similar symbols refer not to specific events, particular happenings, or details of history, but to principles - of human conduct and of divine moral government - that are operating throughout the history of the world, especially throughout the new dispensation. [idealism]

PROPOSITION VII. The Apocalypse is rooted in contemporaneous events and circumstances.  Its symbols should be interpreted in light of the conditions which prevailed when the book was written. [preterism]." (More than Conquerers, pp. 43-45, quoted and noted by Gregg)

Ron Maness
"It is here that we should note that the lines are not as clearly drawn as one might imagine. For example, one common tendency is to mix the spiritual approach with the preterist, such as Leon Morris and Michael Wilcock. Gregg also classifies William Hendriksen’s commentary as “essentially spiritual/idealist in character, with some preterist or historicist elements” (page 45). George Eldon Ladd is a futurist who believes that “the correct method of interpreting Revelation is the blending of the preterist and futurist methods” (page 46), but he also in some instances brings in spiritual/idealist views. The same can be said for futurist Robert Mounce." (review)

Albertus Pieters
"Today, scholars are prevailingly in favor of this system [preterism], either unchanged, or combines with the ideas of the Philosophy of History [spiritual] School." (The Lamb, the Woman and the Dragon, p. 44)

J. Denny Weaver
"Idealist and preterist views are complementary rather than mutually exclusive. The universal message derived from idealist interpretation supplies the contemporary relevance of a preterist interpretation. This comparison of views shows that the combination of a preterist approach with the general meaning of an idealist view is the only approach that takes seriously both the significance of symbolism for first-century readers along with relevance for contemporary readers." (Revelation as Nonviolent Rhetoric, Introduction)

PRINCIPLES AND APPROACHES

Luis de Alcasar (1614)
"I say a profound philosophy teaches, that in the Creation of things it was the intention of the Artificer and Builder, that in those objects of Creation which come within the reach of our vision, men might also be in possession of wonderful symbols and hieroglyphics, serving to point out to them mystically such lessons as would most highly concern them, viz., true instruction in faith and morals.

Origen, after pursuing the subject in a beautiful train of reasoning, concludes at last with the following words, 'Therefore may all things be referred upward from the visible to the invisible, from the corporeal to the incorporeal, from the manifest to the hidden ; so that the objects of the world may be understood to be created by divine Wisdom according to such a divine dispensation, as from visible things, by means of the things and exemplars themselves, teaches us the invisible, and transfers us from earthly things to those which are of heaven.'  Thus far Origen ; who doubts not that, in the creation of things corporeal, it was the principal design of the divine Artificer that they should be symbols and traces, as it were, of the mysteries of our faith.  Therefore the merely natural office proper to every particular thing, in virtue of which it ministers to other bodies, and in which the philosophy of Aristotle rests, by no means satisfies the infinite Wisdom of God, and His especial providence in the salvation of souls ; nor indeed His own wonderful counsel whereby He hath determined to raise us from the corporeal to the incorporeal.  It is probable, therefore, that the omnipotence of God, when He had the power of making infinite species of souls, plants, and stones, selected and created out of the infinite things which he had in his power, such as were the more apt to signify the mysteries of our salvation, and a conformably moral instruction. "And this was accomplished in such a manner, that the universal mechanism of things created should maintain a most beautiful harmony with the wonderful counsel of God in the salvation of men ; and that things corporeal should subserve to the representation of those which are spiritual."  Vestigatio Arcani Sensus in Apocalypsi

John Chrysostom
"Since Scripture addresses human beings and uses also human illustrations, which are indeed insufficient to represent the thing spoken of, those which exhibit the full proportions of the matter, suffice for the infirmity of the hearers". ("Homily 2: After Eutropius Having Being Found Outside the Church had been Taken Captive," Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1956, p. 258)

Alpheus Crosby
"It may be remarked alike of Dr. Lightfoot and of most of his successors in the figurative interpretation, and that without any disparagement of their merits, that they have been more successful in establishing the necessity of such an interpretation, than in rising to the fulness and spirituality of the figurative sense. They have rested too much in the outward, to the neglect of the inward; too much in the sign, to the neglect of the thing signified. Their thoughts have been too much occupied with the intense tragedy of the destruction of Jerusalem, and too little with those vast, those infinite spiritual transactions, of which that destruction was a mere circumstance. They have rested too much in the outward, to the neglect of the inward; too much in the sign, to the neglect of the thing signified." (The Second Advent: Or, What Do the Scriptures Teach, Respecting the Second Coming of Christ,  Page 131)

Samuel Lee
"In all which cases it should be remembered, that language is the mere vehicle of things conceived of, or entertained, in the mind : and that the things themselves, so entertained, are the great objects of our inquiries ; and hence, that we should not confuse ourselves and others, by inconsiderately mistaking one for the other." (The Events and Times of the Visions of Daniel and St John investigated. . xxi)

Peter J. Leithart, Ph.D.
"[T]ropologically, the history of Jerusalem can be understood as a model for the history of the soul (secundum tropologiam).  Just as David conquered Jerusalem and set up the Lord's throne there, so Jesus, His Son, conquers the inner city of the sinner and consecrates him as a saint, a holy one." (Peter Leithart, Ascent to Love, pp. 22)

Tim Martin
"the Mosaic covenant (sanctions and all) pictured greater, eternal realities in Christ. The Mosaic Covenant is a shadow of something else - something greater - the Covenant of Christ.  It cannot be the case that the end of the Mosaic sanctions mean that all covenant curses are ended. If that were the case, Jesus really did come to destroy (abrigate) the Law. Yet, he did not come to abrogate the law, he came to fulfill it (Matt. 5)- bring it up to its fullest measure. The Mosaic sanction are typological. This is what the Comprehensive Grace'rs (and the Theonomists for that matter) miss. The blessings and curses of the Mosaic covenant are pictures of the reality of the blessings and curses which are inseparable components of Christ's covenant. I agree the Mosaic sanctions have ended, but NOT THE REALITIES THEY POINTED TO. Christ's covenant is greater than Moses'." (Discussion Board)

Kurt Simmons
"The temple ritual and Mosaic law were indicative of a larger, all-pervading reality; a reality the law and temple ritual were created in response to, but did not themselves make." (Christ's Eschatological Coming: Jewish or Universal?)

Frederick Whitfield
"We are to give to everything a heavenly meaning.  We are to invest everything with a spiritual character.  The mind of heaven is to be impressed upon our words and deeds, and on the way in which we look at all earthly things.  This will be the case if the mind is spiritual.  Everything will then take colouring of the mind.   It is not as Christians that we shall thus see all things reflecting the deep things of God.  It will only be as our own souls are living in God's presence." (Earthly shadows of the heavenly kingdom, p. 13)

John Calvin
"God's wrath followed the profanation of the Temple. The Jews never anticipated the final cessation of their ceremonies, and always boasted in their peculiar external worship, and unless God had openly demonstrated it before their eyes, they would never have renounced their sacrifices and rites as mere shadowy representations. Hence Jerusalem and their Temple were exposed to the vengeance of the Gentiles. This, therefore, was the setting up of this stupefying abomination; it was a clear testimony to the wrath of God, exhorting the Jews in their confusion to boast no longer in their Temple and its holiness."  (Commentary)

"we are to lay hold on that kingdom which cannot be shaken; for the Lord shakes us for this end, that he may really and forever establish us in himself." (Hebrews 12:27)

Wilhelm Martin Leberecht De Wette (1826)
"However strongly the historic standpoint is to be asserted, we must yet insist also that the work contains an ideally prophetic element, which has force even for us." (An Historico-Critical Introduction to the Canonical Books of the New Testament)

Johnathan Edwards
Typological Connection Between Sodom and Jerusalem "Jerusalem was like Sodom, in that it was devoted to destruction by special divine wrath; and indeed to a more terrible destruction than that of Sodom. Therefore the like direction is given concerning fleeing out of it with the utmost haste, without looking behind, as the angel gave to Lot, when he bid him flee out of Sodom.  If it be inquired why Christ gave this direction to his people to flee out of Jerusalem, in such exceeding haste, at the first notice of the signal of her approaching destruction; I answer, it seems to be, because fleeing out of Jerusalem was a type of fleeing out of a state of sin. Escaping out of that unbelieving city typified an escape out of a state of unbelief. Therefore they were directed to flee without staying to take anything out of their houses, to signify with what haste and concern we should flee out of a natural condition, that no respect to any worldly enjoyment should prevent us one moment, and that we should flee to Jesus Christ, the refuge of souls, our strong rock, and the mount of our defense, so as, in fleeing to him, to leave and forsake heartily all earthly things." (Folly of Looking Back in Fleeing Out of Sodom)

Patrick Fairbairn (1854)
"Thus, the deliverance accomplished from the yoke of Babylon formed a fitting stepping-stone to the main subject of the prophecy - the revelation of God in the person and work in the Son.   The certainty of the one - a certainty soon to be realized - was a pledge of the ultimate certainty of the other ; and the character also of the former, as a singular and unexpected manifestation of the Lord's power to deliver his people and lay their enemies in the dust, was a prefiguration of what was to be accomplished once for all in the salvation to be wrought out by Jesus Christ. There are few portions of Old Testament prophecy, which altogether resemble the one we have been considering.  Perhaps that which approaches nearest to it, in the mode of combining type with prophecy, is the thirty-fourth chapter of Isaiah, which is not a direct and simple delineation of the judgments that were destined to alight upon Idumea, but rather an ideal representation of the judgments preparing to alight on the enemies generally of God's people, founded upon the approaching desolations of Edom, which it contemplates as the type of the destruction which awaits all the adversaries."  (The Typology of Scripture - Two Volumes in One 2nd., 1854; pp. 125-126)

Toby Janicki (2007)
"Yet, before we point fingers at that generation we should remember the old rabbinic dictum, "each generation in which the Temple is not rebuilt should count itself as being among those who brought its destruction." (Destruction in Jerusalem: The Spirit vs. the Letter)

Isaac Penington
"To the Jews, who were an outward people, there was an outward rule given, a law of commandments, statutes, judgments, and ordinances, proper to that  state wherein they were, and to that thing to which the ministry was: but all this was to be done away, and to end in that which all this represented. So that to Christians, Christ the substance being come, which is the end of all these shadows, the true Jew being raised in the immediate life, now there is a necessity for the immediate life for the rule." (Axe Laid to the Root of the OLD CORRUPT TREE; and the Spirit of Deceit struck at in its Nature)

Prophetic & Typological Imagery Pointing to Personal Realities in Christ

Ludwig Eichrodt
"But while in prophecy the messenger of God proclaims the future which has been opened to him and seen by him, a type possesses its significance, pointing into the future, independently of any human medium and purely through its objective factual reality; and in many cases its function is still hidden for contemporary people and is disclosed only when the gaze is turned backward from the New Testament time of salvation. From this point of view one might designate typology as "objectivized prophecy." It differentiates it, first from allegory, which has often been lumped together with typology, so that the latter has often had to bear the burden of the former's errors. Yet it is quite impossible to confuse the two if we look at them closely. For typology, the historical value of the text to be interpreted forms the essential presupposition for the use of it. For allegory, on the contrary, this is indifferent or even offensive, and must be pushed to one side to make room for the 'spiritual' sense which lies behind."  (EOTH: 229)

J. Nelson Kraybill
"Because Revelation is poetry and metaphor, it is inappropriate to "nail down" a precise meaning for every image. It is possible, though, to discern overall contours of what the book meant to the first readers. Then we listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church today through the same images." (Christianity Today, 10/25/99)

M. Guyon
"When Jesus Christ directs us in the “Lord’s prayer” to ask for “His kingdom to come,” He desires us next to say: “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” In other words, He asks us to say this: That you might reign, O God, we must make such a complete renunciation of self that, having no longer a will of our own, we do “your will” only, never our own, and do it as perfectly as the blessed “in heaven.” They do it the more perfectly as they are most completely free from the encumbrances of self. That the kingdom of Jesus Christ must come is beyond question: this takes place by the loss of our will in God’s after the gospel of the kingdom has been preached. The Gospel has been preached in all the world, but the gospel of the kingdom has been welcomed in but few hearts. When men learn, however, what it means to let Jesus Christ be King by complete self-renunciation, then they will endeavor to enter this kingdom. Then will the “Dragon” be chained. The Dragon is none other than self-love." (OF THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD BY THE INWARD LIFE)

William Edward Painter (1858)
"The real point and full force of the apostle Paul's argument is seldom apprehended : it is not that the Jewish symbols and service typified Christ and the service of the Christian Church ; this they did, but this is not the argument.  The argument is, that the whole Jewish economy, though upon earth, prefigured an economy not confined to the earth ; and that although the correspondency between the different parts of the Jewish economy prefigured a relationship which should subsist between the analogous ordinances in the Christian Church, yet the sphere and the locality being enlarged to heaven, by the ascension thither of the Head of the Church, this enlargement and transference rendered our service toto coelo different from that of the Jewish economy." ("Church of England Quarterly Review", vol. xi., p. 277)