What Are the Four Senses of Scripture?

Why did early theologians feel the need to distinguish “senses” of the Scriptures in the first place? Denys Turner asserts that there are three reasons. First, Scripture itself distinguishes between the literal and allegorical senses. Even though the biblical authors didn’t fully outline this form of interpretation, they themselves distinguished between the literal and spiritual senses (2 Cor. 3:6). They interpreted literally but also allegorically (Gal. 4:24; 1 Cor. 10:3–4), tropologically (Rom. 15:4), and anagogically (Gal. 4:26).

Second, early interpreters distinguished between the senses because the quadriga was a useful method in uniting the Jewish Scriptures and explaining how Christ’s coming had changed history. The four senses allowed them to read the whole of the Scriptures as a Christian document. Thus, every text had something to say to God’s people even if it was written under another covenantal epoch.

Finally, distinguishing between the senses provides a mechanism by which interpreters can commune with God. For most of Christian history, this was the primary purpose of biblical reading. Modern methods, by contrast, seek the correct interpretation—a worthwhile goal but not the ultimate one. Each of the four senses leads interpreters higher up the ladder until they reach an interpretation that points to the glorious future and causes us to proclaim, “Maranatha.”

The Literal, Allegorical, Tropological, and Anagogical

Now we turn to a more philosophical summary of the senses. The four senses are essentially two senses: the literal and the spiritual. The literal sense indicates what God is saying in the text, and the spiritual senses show where God is going with the text. The spiritual sense is broken down into three categories, which results in the quadriga. The four senses historically have been described as the literal (littera, historical), allegorical (allegoria, symbolic), tropological (tropologia, moral), and anagogical (anagogia, futuristic).

The literal sense refers to the most natural sense of the words in their grammatical and historical context, a sense that will be discovered by sound exegesis. It, as some have paraphrased Aquinas, is “the way the words go” and is the author’s intention in accordance with genre. The literal sense contains, discloses, but also veils the mystery of Christ. When we seek the literal sense, we ask questions of the text like “What is being said?” and “To what does this refer?”

The allegorical sense refers to symbolic or figural meanings that have some connection with Christ or the church. To discern an allegorical sense is to assert that the words point to things that point to other things. But an allegorical sense will always be in conjunction with the literal sense. This sense has gone by a variety of names throughout history—typological, mystical, sacramental, spiritual, theōria (contemplation), and hyponoia (deeper sense). To seek an allegorical sense is to ask questions such as “Where is Christ or the triune God in this text?” and “How does this text point to the church?”

The tropological sense is another spiritual sense, but when we seek this sense, we narrow our focus to the formation of the church and persons in the church. We’re concerned with morality, ethics, and being. A tropological interpretation affirms that the Scriptures are meant to be lived, not simply studied; they pertain to what we are called to do. This phase of interpretation asks questions such as “Who are we?” and “How is this text calling us to act?”

The final spiritual sense is the anagogical. This sense pertains to what is to come, what we are hoping for, and our ascent to God. When we interpret anagogically, we ask questions like “How does this text point to the new creation or God’s judgment?” and “How does it help me ascend to God?”

Literal > Allegorical > Tropological > Anagogical

The four senses have been expressed in this little jingle:

The letter teaches facts, allegory what you are to believe,

The moral meaning what you ought to do, anagogy what you should strive for.

Bonaventure puts it this way: “By tropology, they teach us how to act as men; by allegory, show us what to believe with faith; by anagogy, reveal to us what to desire for our eternal delight.”

In essence fourfold interpretation affirms that meaning is referent. The literal sense points to an immediate referent, whether abstract or concrete. The spiritual senses extend that referent. The referent changes in one sense (Moses is not Christ), but in another it is simply drawn out to its true and ultimate referent (Christ is the new Moses). The curtain of the temple in the Old Testament truly was the sewn cloth that resided in the tabernacle and temple of ancient Israel. Yet the referent is ultimately Christ, since the curtain participated in and points to something greater that Christ fulfills. Because Christians believe in a providential view of history and because Christians believe all things participate in Christ, a word can have multiple referents in accordance with the progressive nature of revelation. These referents are linked but distinct.

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The most famous example of the fourfold sense can be found in ancient interpretations of the name Jerusalem. Though such interpretations are usually done with reference to Galatians 4, we will look at Matthew 23.

In Matthew 23:37 Jesus says, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her.” The fourfold sense can be explained in this way. Jerusalem refers first to a historical city and its first-century inhabitants. The city was once inhabited by the Jebusites, captured by David, and made the capital of Israel and later the capital of the Southern Kingdom of Judah (literal). Jesus is entering that historical city and referring to the people of the city on his way to his death on the cross.

But Jerusalem is also more than simply a historical city and its people. Jerusalem can also be understood as a cipher for all God’s people, both past and present (allegorical). Jesus’s words refer first to the historical city and the people who rebuff him. Yet Jerusalem spiritually represents all God’s people who have killed the prophets—past, present, and future (Gal. 4:25).

Jerusalem also represents the individual human soul (tropological). Christ’s lament is personal. He longs for his own people to be ready to accept their Savior. He longs for you and me to have our hearts opened to him. We shouldn’t be like historical Jerusalem, which sought to kill him.

Finally, Jerusalem reminds us of the new Jerusalem (anagogical). Christ’s cry of agony over Jerusalem is a prayer aimed toward the time when his great city will welcome him with open arms. His cry is laden with hope: On the last day, Jesus will no longer lament over his people but rejoice over them (Gal. 4:26; Heb. 12:22–23; Rev. 21:2).

The Reformer Johannes Oecolampadius makes the same sort of exegetical move when speaking of Babylon’s destruction as described in Isaiah 13–14. He says that the prediction concerns Babylon’s fall in history (literal sense). Then he describes how Babylon’s destruction should be understood according to the other three senses. “Babylon has been destroyed by Christ who has restored our every freedom. For he says, ‘Take heart, for I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33). And through him we are daily conquering Babylon within ourselves. But the full and true overthrow of the world will not occur until the end of the ages of this world.” Babylon, as representative of the kingdom of this world, has already been overthrown by Christ (allegory), has to be daily conquered by the Christian (tropology), and will finally be destroyed in the last day (anagogy). Even a Reformer employs the quadriga.

The Fourfold Sense

Another example comes from Aquinas, who articulates the four senses through a phrase from Genesis 1:3, “Let there be light” (as it is rendered in the Latin of the Vulgate: “Fiat lux”). He says that, with reference to the literal sense, “let there be light” pertains to corporeal light. God created physical light at creation. However, according to the allegorical sense it means “Let Christ be born in the church.” This is confirmed in John’s Gospel, which compares Jesus’s coming to the light shining in the darkness (John 1:5). The tropological sense refers to “Christ illumining our understanding and kindling our emotions.” Paul commands us to walk in the light (Eph. 5:8), and the psalmist says God illumines our darkness (Ps. 18:28). The anagogical sense urges us, “Let us be led into glory through Christ.” In the last day, the earth will be illuminated by Christ’s splendor (Rev. 18:1; 21:23). Inherent in the language of Genesis are all these senses.

We have looked at examples of the quadriga that interpret a single word (Jerusalem, Babylon) and a phrase (Let there be light), and now we will see an illustration of this practice through a major event—the exodus. The literal sense tells us that Moses and Israel crossed the Red Sea to escape from Pharaoh; it relates both to the event and to the narration of the event. The allegorical sense is that the literal sense points beyond itself to Christ’s death on our behalf and his victory over the powers. This victory is then embodied in us as we are baptized and practice a new way of life (tropology). Finally, we long for the day when we make our final journey and cross from death to eternal life (anagogy). Dante puts it this way: “For if we inspect the letter alone, the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt in the time of Moses is presented to us; if the allegory, our redemption wrought by Christ; if the moral sense, the conversion of the soul from the grief and misery of sin to the state of grace presented to us; if the anagogical, the departure of the holy soul from the slavery of this corruption to the liberty of eternal glory presented to us.”

Content taken from The Four Senses of Scripture by Patrick Schreiner, ©2026. Used by permission of Baker Academic.