What is the difference between intended meaning and literal meaning?
For some the literal interpretation is considered as the author’s intended meaning. However, there are differences in their methodology and usage. Literal interpretation is often or commonly defines as “letterism” which would mean interpretation of every single word into the literal meaning. In biblical interpretation “letterism” is too extreme because it may miss the real concepts of the intended meaning without taking its symbolism. Hence, to understand the literal meaning one must consider its symbolic meaning. For example “Jesus is the Lamb of God.” Generally Lamb is four-footed animal and nothing else related with Jesus without its symbolic meaning. But when it is interpreted symbolically, it simply means innocence and sacrifice. In the same way, literal interpretation is literally interpreting the author’s intended meaning but often times it need to interpret its meaning in symbolic.
Intended meaning can be defined as something what the author or writer really intended to mean or to say. The author or writer normally do not intended to mean diversity of meanings in what they say or addresses but they intended to say one thing to mean a single meaning. The principle of author intended meaning must study thoroughly about the words in their own context because word changes from generation to generation and it may not be relevant to our contemporary world today. Thus, one must research the word with their context and find out the possible meaning of the word that is relevant to the present context because the word of God is to make sense to the hearers and its message must be meaningful to all ages to come.
Indeed, we can not separate literal and intended meaning from each other because both have the same purpose that is to find the author’s intended meaning for the readers. Some of the common features are; one must interpret the word in its context, symbolic language, and also the diversity of possible meaning in a single word. Because the author may intend one meaning by a word whereas the same word may have varieties of meaning that could be discovered in the process.
