all creatures

God by names derived from the creature, God himself first established

these names for the creature. Indeed, although we first

apply to the creature the names which designate God because of

the fact that we know the creature before we know God; e.sserz

tially

they apply first of all to God, then to the creature. All virtues

pertain first to God, then to the creature: God possesses

these virtues ‘in essence,’ the creature ‘through participation.’ As

the temple was made ‘according to the pattern shown to Moses

in the mount,’ Heb. 8:5, even so every creature was first conceived

and afterward (in time) created. ‘Every fatherhood’ is

named from ‘the Father’ who created all things – Eph. 3:15; cf.

Matt. 23:9.”74

Bavinck is making two very significant points: First,

all creation

isprirnarily symbolic.

All creatures reflect the glory of God,

and are images of some aspect or other of His nature. God’s personality

is imprinted on everything He has made. The

central

value of anything is that it is a symbol of God. All other values

and relationships are secondary. And, since man is God’s

primary symbol, being His very “image” (both individually and

70. Ibid., p. 86.

71. Ibid., p. 88.

72. Ibid., p. 91.

73. Ibid., p. 92.

74. Ibid., p. 94.

32

THE PRIMACY OF SYMBOLISM

corporately), everything is symbolic of man as well; thus everything

reveals God and man.’s

Second, syrnbolism is

analogical, not realistic. In this the imagery

used in the Bible contrasts markedly with the imagery of

paganism. For example, the Bible speaks of the marriage covenant

as analogous to the covenant between God and His people

(2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:22-33; Rev. 19:7-9; 21:9-11). The Church has

always seen the Song of Solomon as, in part, an analogy of her

own romance with the heavenly Bridegroom. But this is far

from implying that sex is a sacrament; nor is this a doctrine of

salvation through marriage. The symbolism is analogical, not

metaphysical. We do not have a sexual relationship with God.

There is a one-and-many complex of images involved in the Biblical

picture. The theology of the Bible is analogical, not realistic.

In Biblical salvation, man becomes remade in the image of

God by a judicial sentence and an ethical transformation – not

by a metaphysical participation in the divine essence.7c

This means that Biblical symbolism is not a “code.” It is not

given in a flat “this-means-that” style: “Biblical symbols are

fluid, not stereotyped.”7

7 A Biblical symbol is a collectivity, referring

to several ideas at once. Biblical symbolism, like poetry,